Powdercoating?Powdercoating?Has anyone used powdercoating in lieu of spray painting in their restoration? If so what are the pros and cons of each method (other than cost)? Also, is there a standard color for the CA77 white than might be available in a powdercoat? I will not do the job myself as there are many excellent powdercoaters. I just want to know how I select the correct white, if possible.
PowdercoatingWatchwait,
I'm powder coating my CL77 frame and associated parts. The company I work for does this so I can get it done for free. The main benefit of PC versus wet paint is that powder coating is thicker, usually 3-4 mils versus 1.5-2.5 mils for wet paint. It is applied using an electro static charge wherein the gun and powder is usually negatively charged while the target part is positively charged. This results in the powder being "pulled" onto the part being coated. This is advantageous in that the powder is pulled into small cracks and crevices that wet paint won't reach. It's also baked at around 400°F to allow the powder to "Flow". It is also extremely durable and withstands chips and scrapes better than wet paint. There are several powder coating suppliers online. I have used Pendry Powder Coating for a source for online purchasing. As far as matching your original white color, do you have any pieces that have the original white color intact? Perhaps your powdercoater could do a color match by "Shooting" it much like the hand gun used by paint suppliers use when matching wet paint. Maybe Pendry or another supplier could answer your matching question better than I can. Hope I helped you at least as far as the actual PC process. Gary '65 CL77 Owner
Re: PowdercoatingThanks Gary! I'm tending towards powder coating, but it all boils down to cost. I'll be checking into it soon! Thanks again! powder coatingNot a problem, let us see the parts when you get them done......either way!!!
Gary '65 CL77 Owner
powder coati also was interested in having a powder coat put on various parts on my cb77 (especially the gas tank with the problem of gas/paint reaction ) but...i heard? that you couldn't powder coat over body filler because of the oven temps being so high- is this still the case? -bk
According to the powdercoat guy my company uses (for fluid handling tubes etc.) you can't powdercoat over filler because the filler doesn't hold an electrical charge. The object you're coating is given a negative (I believe) charge and then the powder is applied having a positive charge causing it to stick to the object. The heat might also be a problem for the filler but due to the charge issue you really never get that far.
Powder coating is great for frames and parts that have a good basic finish. Any blemishes are really obvious so it is not so good for old fenders and when you try it on a tank, the finish is not as smooth as paint. The selection of colours (in our area anyway) is not too wide but you can get fairly good matches to Black and Scarlet red. The high temperature stoving can be a problem with rubber bushes which can melt and light parts which can warp. On the plus side, it is not much more on top of the blasting cost.
I usually do as much as possible in powder and spray the tank and anything else needing filler in cellulose to match the powder. As an aside, if you try to straighten out a powder coated part, use a heat gun first to avoid the powder cracking and again afterwards to take out the stress marks. Eric
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