Questions regarding Powder Coating.

[zootfloot]

Hi,

Just a few quick questions for those of you who have gone down the powder coating route.

1) Can plastic parts and filler be powder coated...i have read conflicting info regarding this.

2) I believe the parts must be cleaned first, this is usually done in a chemical bath or media blasted...is this true.


Normally i would have contacted the powder coaters that i intend to use but they are having a 2 week shut down for refurbishment, and i really need to know the score before i do any more work on my project.

Thanks

Zoot

 

[Ghost-Reaper]

I don't know about 1 but when I had my 900 resprayed I had to completely strip all the paint off and give it a light sanding, they were quite clear it had to be very clean. There were a few sections around the hdd cages I missed which show on the powdercoated finish

 

[JonJ678]

I believe powder coating amounts to spray with paint, heat lots. Depending on what temperature the oven is, plastic will either be fine or a completely lost cause. I suspect you do not want to powder coat plastic.
As some point of reference, a 200 degree stanley knife cuts through fans like butter. Doesn't take much heat for thermoplastics to give up

"Normally the powders cure at 200°C (390°F) in 10 minutes" from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_coating, so it's not looking good.

Yes to clean it, clean and sand it lots. Otherwise it wont take as well.

 

[TheMorningStar]

powdercoating can even damage metal. I have heard of alloy wheels failing after coating due to the heat changing the metal. plastic.. cant see that working. posibly those fire retardent plastics but they crumble in heat. lightbulb surrounds are usually made from these plastics