1.
What is Powder Coating?
Powder coating is
an advanced method of applying a decorative and
protective finish to a wide range of materials and
products that are used by both industries and consumers.
The powder used for the process is a mixture of
finely ground particles of pigment and resin, which
is sprayed onto a surface to be coated. The charged
powder particles adhere to the electrically grounded
surfaces until heated and fused into a smooth coating
in a curing oven. The result is a uniform, durable,
high-quality, and attractive finish. Powder coating
is the fastest-growing finishing technology in North
America, representing over 20% (and quickly growing!)
of all industrial finishing applications.
 |
2. What are
the advantages of Powder Coating?
* More Durable
Powder coating gives consumers, businesses, and
industry one of the most economical, longest-lasting,
and most color-durable quality finishes available.
Powder coated surfaces are more resistant to chipping,
scratching, fading, and wearing than other finishes.
Color selection is virtually unlimited with high
and low gloss, metallic, and clear finishes available.
And colors stay bright and vibrant longer. Texture
selections range from smooth surfaces to a wrinkled
or matte finish, and rough textures designed for
hiding surface imperfections.
* What about the environment?
The powder coating process itself offers another
advantage—it’s environmentally friendly—virtually
pollution free! Powder coating is highly protective
of our environment. While liquid finishes contain
solvents which have pollutants known as volatile
organic compounds (VOCs), powder coating contains
no solvents and releases negligible amounts, if
any, of VOCs into the atmosphere. Thus, there is
no longer a need for finishers to buy costly pollution
control equipment.
* Saves Money
Elimination of VOCs and reduction of wastes saves
money and helps companies comply more easily and
economically with the regulations of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
In fact, one of the major elements in expanding
the market for powder coating has been the implementation
over the past 30 years of stringent air pollution
control legislation.
* It Looks Like Paint But It Acts Like Armor
It's tough. It looks great. And it lasts a long,
long time. Powder coating is a superior finish that's
found on hundreds of products you come in contact
with each day. It makes products durable, attractive,
and scratch-resistant, too.
|
3.
How Can You Paint Parts With Dry Powder?
The powder coatings are applied using a specialized
powder coating spray gun. This unique spray gun
has an adjustable electrostatic corona charge of
between 10,000-90,000 volts with a negative ion
orientation. This is similar to the way dust sticks
to your television screen, except that we supercharge
the dust (in this case, the powder), causing the
coating to stick to the parts!
For the complete process of powder
coating, click here!
|
4. Do
powder coated parts drip, run, or sag?
As the powder passes through the spray gun, the
powder is given a negative electrical charge. The
part to be powder coated is grounded or positive.
Powder exits the spray gun in a fog like fashion
and is attracted to the positive (grounded) part.
This is one of the major differences between wet
and dry paint. Wet paint is blown onto a part with
a lot of pressure; powder is sprayed with low pressure
causing the fog (Cloud) to be gently “pulled” to
the part. The advantage is the fog reaches all recessed
areas (like between the fins of a head, providing
a more complete and uniform layer), which results
in a smooth finish typically without the runs, sags,
light spots, etc., that can occur with wet paint.
|
5.
What does sandblasting do, and what is glass beading?
Sandblasting ‘etches’ the surface of the metal,
creating a solid mechanical bond adhesion during
the curing process. It also cleanses the metal.
We use very fine angular aluminum oxide media because
it gives the best results for powder coating adhesion.
Picture in your mind that they type of etch this
media leaves behind would be similar to ‘sharp peaks
(hills) and valleys’.
Glass beading uses a round glass media that ‘pocks’
the surface other than impinging the surface. This
kind of media is used more for aesthetic purposes
than functional uses. Glass bead media does not
provide the best ‘anchor tooth’ for best powder
coating adhesion. Glass beading a surface (especially
aluminum) reflects the light to your eyes better,
and makes metal appear whiter or brighter.
|
6.
What if my parts are chrome plated when I bring
them to you?
If your parts are chrome plated, we will sandblast
the top layer of chrome away, leaving the copper
and nickel layers. We will then check the part and
the integrity of the remaining layers by pre-baking.
Doing this will make sure the remaining layers of
copper and nickel are well adhered to the substrate.
Providing that the sandblasting and oven temperatures
don’t cause ‘blistering’, or lifting of the copper
and nickel, we will then powder coat right over
it.
If the remaining chrome plating (copper and nickel)
do blister, we are forced to have the parts reverse
plated to remove all platings and back to bare metal.
Blistering occurs less than 10% of the time, so
we do not suggest spending the money for the reverse
plating process until we have checked the parts
to see if that process is necessary.
|
7.
How should the surface be prepped?
Leave this
up to us! We do not like to coat over anything on
the parts already (especially primer!) so don’t
waste your time or money trying to "get it ready".
Powder coating is no different from any other "compliant"
coating. What that means is that when the Clean
Air Act went into effect, many of the older paints
that had a lot of solvent (high VOC) in them were
no longer able to be used. These older, high solvent
paints, had the ability to "cut through" thin layers
of oil or soil and bond to the metal. As newer coatings
were introduced such as water based, high solids/low
solvent, powder and E-coat it quickly became apparent
that these coatings required very clean substrates
for good adhesion and performance. Powders are not
unique, but they do
require a clean surface as does any modern
coating.
|
8. What kinds
of materials can be powder coated?
Any objects made from metal (aluminum, steel, brass,
copper, bronze, titanium, magnesium, etc.) can be
powder coated. All of these metals, weather sand,
die, investment casting, extruded, forged, and of
course billet metals can be powder coated. Low density
cast parts may require additional handling and possibly
surface restoration by the experienced technicians
at Andrews Powder Coating.
|
9. What
are some of the specific items that can be powder
coated?
Some of the items that we powder coat include: patio
and indoor furniture, decorative architectural pieces,
car, boat, plane, bicycle and motorcycle parts (including
chassis, frames and exhaust systems), wrought iron
gates and fencing, birdcages, wheels, plumbing and
lighting fixtures, railings, hand rails, metal cabinetry
(i.e. medicine cabinets, etc), appliances (front
and side panels of ranges and refrigerators, washer
tops and lids, dryer drums, air conditioner cabinets,
water heaters, dishwasher racks, cavities of microwave
ovens), and more!
Click here for a larger list!
10.
Can non-metallic items be powder coated?
Yes, Andrews Powder Coating has experience coating
non-conductive materials such as glass, abs/nylon
plastics, ceramics and porcelain.
11.
Can wood be powder coated?
New curing processes for powder that are under development
now will, in the near future, allow powder coatings
to be applied to wood and even common plastics.
Currently, there are unique specifically designed
powder coatings manufactured for medium density
overlay (MDO) and medium density fiberboard (MDF)
products such as speaker cabinets and large production
cabinetry applications. Generally, powder coating
typical wood products at this time is not practical
or recommended.
12. Can scratches and dents
be (re) filled?
Surface restoration services are possible using
a combination of welding/brazing and proprietary
filing composites. Our technicians have many years
experience in working with these “liquid metal”
filing agents. They are difficult to use and must
be used at correct temperatures. Non-metallic body
fillers, such as “Bondo” cannot be used prior to
powder coating any part.
13. Is Powder
Coating better than liquid paint?
Powder coating is applied thicker than liquid paint
(usually 3-4 mills compared to 1-2 mils) and powder
coated surfaces are more resistant to chipping,
scratching, fading, and wearing than liquid paint
and other finishes. Powder coating is more versatile
than liquid paint, and can be used on springs without
cracking the coating. You can’t do that with paint!
|
14. Why not
use the hobby powder guns kits advertised elsewhere
and just do it myself?
Powder coating is like painting your car, you may
be able to do it your self but you will not get
the quality or durability of an experienced shop.
An experienced shop will have all the right tools
to get the best possible quality job. The hobby
guns you see only charge the particles to 10kv,
even if that much. It takes a lot more electrostatic
charge to correctly get a proper finish with quality
that will last and look the best. The industrial
type guns charge particles from 30kv-100kv, and
also charge in different ways for different applications.
I have seen it mentioned to use a kitchen oven;
there is no way to keep correct process controlled
temperatures with a kitchen oven. You will not get
uniform heating and curing, which the quality and
durability will not be there. The powder coating
will not hold up as long, so in the long run you
will spend more money and time with having to re-powder
the part because of fading, chipping, etc that is
caused from improper curing and improper application.
|
15.
Do you use any reclaimed powder?
NEVER. All of our powder is 100% virgin powder.
Reclaimed powder can introduce all kinds of defects
and contamination. The powders we use are some of
the best on the market and are stored in a cool
65 degree environment at all times.
|
16. What
kinds of finishes are available with powder coating?
With powder coating, color selection is virtually
unlimited with high and low gloss, metallic, and
clear finishes available. Colors stay bright and
vibrant longer. Texture selections range from smooth
surfaces to a wrinkled or matte finish, and rough
textures designed for hiding surface imperfections
are also available. Common formulations applied
at Andrews Powder Coating include epoxies, hybrids,
urethanes, polyesters and acrylics.
Standard coatings commonly used include fluorescent,
metallic, textured, hammertone, wrinkle, candy color/transparents,
and of course all old world standard color finishes.
All of these are available in flat, matte, semi
and high gloss.
If you’re looking for something different, we are
now applying Reflectra, a chrome look-alike powder
coating! Reflectra is not as reflective as real
chrome, however, it is still very bright. The look
is similar to satin polished aluminum. We also apply
coatings that are electro statically dissipative
(ESD), electrically conductive, voltage insulating
and phosphorescent (glow in the dark!!).
|
17. Are custom colors available?
Virtually any color, texture and gloss level can
be custom matched. Due to the process involved in
manufacturing powder resin, custom colors can be
expensive unless the requirement is large.
Click here to see all about color
selection!
18. Can parts
be coated with clear Powder Coating?
Yes! We offer clear powder coatings that can be
applied over polished brass, aluminum and stainless
– such as wheels, plumbing fixtures and lighting
fixtures! We also offer an industrial strength clear
powder coating that can withstand very harsh cleaning
solvents (such as Methyl Ethyl Ketone ‘MEK’ and
acetone). These types of clear coatings can be applied
over silk screened/pad printed parts or panels to
protect the graphics.
Many of the motorcycle enthusiasts polish the lip
of their rims and powder the centers one color,
and clear the entire rim for that eternal polished
look!
19. How does the oven temperature
affect my metal parts?
The oven temperature is low enough to avoid any
metal fatigue or retemperment. We have powder coated
automotive and leaf coil springs for hundreds of
customers over the last twenty years without incident.
20. How much
does powder coating cost?
Powder coating costs about the same as other professionally
applied paints or coatings on small projects, and
can often be substantially less expensive on larger
quantities of parts. Some bulk plating processes
similar to anodizing may be slightly less expensive.
More decorative finishes, such as chrome plating,
are substantially more expensive than powder coating.
The problem with
listing items on price lists is that it does not
reflect the pricing on having more than one part
at a time powder coated. For example a single head
will cost about $165 to be powder coated, a pair
of heads about $235 (cylinders are the same), but
to have 2 heads and 2 cylinders powder coated the
same color at the same time is only about $400 for
Standard Colors or $600 for 2 stage, Candy Colors
or cylinders with polished fins.
Pricing is determined
by our labor, material and power costs, with the
main expense being the cost to operate the ovens
to cure the powder. Next on the expense list is
labor with it taking more time to change colors
than to spray them. The equipment and the spray
room have to be spotless as a few specks of powder
from one color can ruin the next color. So the more
parts sprayed per color and the more parts cured
at one time, the lower our costs are which lowers
your cost.
The most cost effective
way to have powder coating done is by having a number
of pieces done at one time. We are used to customers
combining orders with others and sending parts from
several motorcycles at one time. We encourage this
as it allows us to give you the highest quality
powder coating at the best possible price.
To see our
basic price lists, click here!
|
21. What
if I scratch or ding my parts once I bring them
home? How can I repair them?
Once you have your precious parts powder coated,
you will never be able to have repairs (chips, scratches,
etc.) redone in powder, without tanking it apart,
stripping and recoating. You can have a small touch
up kit made by your local automotive paint supplier
"made to match" as close as possible. Remember,
special effect powders will not be able to be duplicated!
To make life easier, we suggest having a 3"x5" or
4"x6" "Q" panel as they are called in the trade,
or flat piece of metal coated at the same time as
your parts. We will write the powder manufacturers
company name, part number and color name on the
panel for future reference, (i.e. Tiger Drylac Bengal
Black 549/88888). Save this panel! Take it to an
automotive paint tinter for a touch up kit. Many
of them use color computers today and this is the
easiest way to get the match.
|
22. What
is the difference between Andrews Powder Coating
and other powder coaters?
Andrews Powder Coating has been in the custom powder
coating industry since 1980. Although many large
companies send their work to us to be powder coated,
we still consider ourselves a custom facility, and
not a high run production shop. We carefully examine
each and every piece by hand several times during
the powder coating process. We provide services
that other powder coating services either do not
know how to provide, or will not provide. We pride
ourselves on the difficult and often tedious masking
and preparation situations we are presented with!
If you would like a special transparent or candy
color for your piece, it is not a problem! We also
do not have a minimum piece order.
We credit all of our customers (large and small)
for the choices they make when choosing a powder
coater. They know that by taking their parts to
Andrews Powder Coating, they will get their parts
done correctly the first time, saving valuable time
and aggravation.
To meet the staff, click here!
|
23. How do
I get my parts to you?
If you are located nearby and wish to drop parts
off to us, our offices are open Monday through Friday
from 8 AM PST until 5 PM PST. To
better accommodate your schedule, we have newly
extended our shipping and receiving hours, starting
at 6:00AM!
Andrews Powder Coating, Inc. also offers pick up
and delivery services. If you are put of the area,
out of state, or even out of the country, we recommend
using UPS, FedEx, or US Priority Mail to get your
parts to us. Our experts in shipping will carefully
package up your parts when they are finished and
return them to you safe and sound, undamaged!
