Those of you who do your own powder coating….

[Mayhem63]

re

I preferred to blast the custom parts in house, we used something called star blast.
It looked almost like a combo of fine sand and glass bead.
But it left a really clean and smoother surface.
You don't want a perfectly smooth surface, the powder has to have something to bite into.
If you ever want to powder over chrome, the surface must be abraded in someway.
One of those green scuff pads works good.

I found this company back in the day http://www.prismaticpowders.com/
The have 1000's of colors and have the best quality powder IMHO
Not the cheapest but well worth the money if anyone is really into a total resto project.

[tkent02]

Fail, what happened?



Did the red first, cooked it a little, then the black. Planning on taking the black powder off of the red strips with a damp finger, that part worked fine.

But the black wouldn't cover the red. Just in a couple places, it just wouldn't stick to the red. In the middle here:



And here:



Tried the higher Voltage setting, no good. The black just wouldn't be attracted to the red. Any ideas?

[GateKeeper]

I thought you couldn't powdercoat over powdercoat ?

.

[tkent02]

Hmmm, I read about people doing this two color thing, and also doing multiple coats of the same color. Never heard you can't do it.

Anybody know?

[Mayhem63]

Yes you can.
Depending on what type of equipment you are using its really simple.
The first coat should only be flashed (once the first coat glosses only leave it in for half the cure cycle) a fully cured coat acts as a resister and can cause cratering or rejection of the second coat.
Also by the first coat not being fully cured it allows the two coats to bond during the second coat cure.
The trick is to lower the KV setting on the gun and not to get to close to the part. Also move or wiggle the gun back and fourth as you are coating the part(this helps to break the Faraday effect caused by first coat and any angles that are present.
And make sure your part is grounded well... It may take a couple of tries.
If it doesn't work simply blow off the powder of the second coat (make sure there is no residual on it) even can wipe (lightly) with a tac rag.
put it in a hot oven for just a few minutes...this releases the static electricity that has built up. let it cool and try it again.
They make two coat candy's that have a base coat/ tinted clear top coat that are outstanding.
It is all in technique and with a little practice I know you could do it!

[GateKeeper]

^^^^

Well one gets to learn something everyday....

.

[tkent02]

Yes you can.
Depending on what type of equipment you are using its really simple.
The first coat should only be flashed (once the first coat glosses only leave it in for half the cure cycle) a fully cured coat acts as a resister and can cause cratering or rejection of the second coat.
Also by the first coat not being fully cured it allows the two coats to bond during the second coat cure.
The trick is to lower the KV setting on the gun and not to get to close to the part. Also move or wiggle the gun back and fourth as you are coating the part(this helps to break the Faraday effect caused by first coat and any angles that are present.
And make sure your part is grounded well... It may take a couple of tries.
If it doesn't work simply blow off the powder of the second coat (make sure there is no residual on it) even can wipe (lightly) with a tac rag.
put it in a hot oven for just a few minutes...this releases the static electricity that has built up. let it cool and try it again.
They make two coat candy's that have a base coat/ tinted clear top coat that are outstanding.
It is all in technique and with a little practice I know you could do it!

I may have cured the first coat too long. I waited for it to get shiny, then get dull again, but it's a shinier powder so it didn't get dull again like the matte black I have been using, maybe waited too long. Also I turned the oven off and opened the door but left it in the oven to cool. I think the end of the valve cover that was in the deep end of the oven might have stayed too hot too long. It worked fine on the other end. Also I was in a hurry, it was getting dark and windy, so didn't think of blowing it off and trying agin.

What would happen if I did the black again now after the full cure? Would curing it twice mess it up? I have heard overcuring is a bad thing?

[Mayhem63]

Over curing can be a bad thing, but it mostly pertains to to high of a temp or leaving the part in way longer at temp than what is called for full cure.
What I use to do if I was on the fence about cure,
is to scuff the part that has been cured (green scuff pad works great) only do the black as much as you can.
Blow it off with air and do the whole in hot oven for few minutes thing (let cool)
Then you can shoot the black again.

[tkent02]

I think, since this engine is going in an old Jeep, and the only person who will ever see it is me right before I spill oil on it, that good enough is good enough. It looks better than it did.

Thanks for the advice.

[Mayhem63]

No problem...always willing to ramble on about something I actually know something about

[SVSooke]

Thanks to this thread I'm looking hard at getting one of these PC guns.Tool place locally has then for less than I could bring it in from the US.Thanks tkent02

[tkent02]

Go for it. I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Gloss is a lot harder than Matte.

[SVSooke]

Anything gloss is harder than matte.Be a bit before I can get it but I'm sure it will be handy for all the black I have on the GPz.Tried the wrinkle finish?Some on the GPz I'd like to refinish.

[tkent02]

No, I haven't tried it yet. I think that's next. Hopefully it works well on messed up surfaces. Seems like it would hide most anything.

[TowPilot]

Which color did you select in your kit

Which color did you use? I noticed there were no less than 6 black options : vtwin, powder, wrinkle, mirror, satin, high gloss.