harbor freight powder coater: my fault or pos

[angus67]

So I got the HF powder coater, and the first run of HF red was very thin, seamed to run away from the edges of the metal. figured because I needed practice, then read some were that the directions were a little off. I cant remember who said it, but, read here to reduce the cook time to 15 minutes instead of 20 minutes after it glosses out at 400*, then take it out to air cool immediately.
I did a few steel pieces, and they turned out fine, but I did a friends mids for his 96 rf 900, in matte black, the pieces were aluminum, all clean and stripped(used a soda blaster) and the powder didn't seem to adhere very well in some spots.
I thought that if it conducts electricity, it can be coated.
Should I have wiped it down with acetone to remove possible hand oils? we did his chain adj's at the same time, which are steel, and they did fine.
Is it the cheap powder? the 'gun' works fine.
should I buy a higher quality powder like Eastwood, or better?
oh, btw, this shyt is messy. and tastes wierd. just sayin.

 

[racerdave]

What does it taste like?

 

[angus67]

tastes like....mollasses and jagermeister

 

[RFLIVES]

You need to cure to "part metal temp" not oven temp it make take 15 min just for the part to get to 400 degrees. most powders are cured at 365-380. I get my powders from columbiacoatings.com and powder365.com check out powder365's forum for some good tips. also powder dosent like sharp edges take a file and knock them back a bit

 

[angus67]

do you meen to pre-heat the part before I coat it? I did that on the red stuff.I did start the time(15 min) after the powder glossed out.
think I should reduce the temp to 385?
if I could get a handle on this, Ide get some 'o that almost chrome stuff for my exhaust.

 

[RFLIVES]

You don't need to preheat however heating the part up to around 100 degrees will help the powder stick with that low voltage gun. get your self a cheap ir thermometer it will help out a great deal. That almost chrome stuff will not take the heat and will burn off.

 

[swbill]

Are you outgassing the parts first? Any dirty or porous parts should be baked at 500 for 20-30 minutes then cooled to room temperature before spraying. After the piece is sprayed and baked (most items I bake at 400 for no more than 15 minutes period) turn off the oven and prop the door open to let it slow cool back to room temperature. If its cooled to fast it will orange peal.

 

[angus67]

i did not out gas the parts. i will try that next time. thanks. i will try the slow cool also.

 

[eric123]

Aluminum can be a real bastard to PC sometimes...

 

[angus67]

Aluminum can be a real bastard to PC sometimes...

ya... it puddled up inthe bolt reccesses

 

[smurph]

I typically sandblast the part, then wash it with dish soap/warm water. Then I handle it with gloves and wipe it down with mineral spirits, blow dry the part with the compressor. Get it set up to spray (attach it to rack) preheat part in oven, remove and spray, back into oven. 20 min at 400 deg after flow out. Its all in the prep.

 

[I am Carbon]

if your product is to be exposed to outside environment, then polyester primer is the way to go. I know of a motorcycle frame and other motorcycle parts that was powder coated black chrome high gloss 90%.

Then top coated it with Candy-Red polyester powder coating. It looks as good today as it did in 2001

It does not get affected with the rain, snow, and sun. So far, it has virtually zero fade and still has a great high gloss.

If you had suffer poor adhesion on your product be sure that inadequate cleaning or pretreatment was the reason. in powder coating preparation is the key. Sandblasting with good media will definitely help on the adhesion.

On the other hand, if film thickness looks too high you should reduce thickness by lowering voltage or shorten spray time on the powder gun.

The biggest issues I've found with powder coating so far are:

1) No "bondo" over your parts. If you put bondo on the part, I don't think you can put it in the oven, or if you do, the bondo won't survive and your powder coating will look a mess.

2) It shows every fingerprint and dust a lot when you use the Smooth and or, the Glossy Black. I have ZERO reservations about starting over.

 

[angus67]

i used a soda blaster, but didnt wipe down

 

[I am Carbon]

i used a soda blaster, but didnt wipe down

For powder coating properly done, metal parts must be free of any oil, dirt, or other contaminants before starting powder coating.

No question about it. You must clean with metal wash or spray down with pre-painting. But, before you must completely wipe and blow dry the part.

If you would like to have amazing powder coating results this a must!

 

[angus67]

thank you. I will try a metal wash

 

[RFLIVES]

I degrease,blast,blow off,wipe down with iso alcohol, wipe with tack rag then a quick pass with the blow torch to kill the fuzzys