Powder Coating

• Advanced method of applying a decorative and protective finish to a wide range of materials and products.
• Finely ground particles of pigment and resin are electro-statically charged and sprayed onto pre-washed and surface etched objects to be coated.
• The object to be coated is electrically grounded so the charged powder paint particles adhere to it until melted and fused into a solid coating in a curing oven.
• Powder painting is: tough, attractive, durable, scratch-resistant, offers high-quality appearance, colorful, versatile, and long-lasting.
• The process is environmentally-friendly and virtually pollution-free. Unlike liquid paint, no solvents are used, so no amounts of VOCs are released into the air.

• Our focus is low volume painting on either large or small parts. We can powder paint objects that fit within a 8' x 8' x 30' space.
• Quick turnaround - facilitating lean manufacturing operations.
• Specializing in numerous colors and color changes.
• Customized projects includes multiple color options and masking.

• Powder paint only comes in pre-made colors. They cannot be mixed. The most common paints are the polyesters which use the RAL color system (see below), but are available in some other stocked colors. Any special colors must be custom made which add cost and may prolong delivery time.
• Typically, the powder paints come as high gloss. However, you can get some medium gloss and low gloss colors. There are additional ways to change the gloss for your application as well.
• There are various textured and metallic looking paints, all at higher costs. For the best durability and longest life in long-term weathering or abusive service applications, we recommend an epoxy primer undercoat with your color of choice for a polyester topcoat. We need to know about areas that need to be masked and plugged so they do not get painted.
• The most important thing to consider in your powder coating project is part preparation. Typical single coat wet paint thickness is less than 0.0005 inches. See chart below for typical single coat powder paint thicknesses.

• Existing surface corrosion cannot be removed from incoming parts without some mechanical process like sandblasting, sanding, or wire brushing. This needs to be done by the customer. Corrosion will eat thru any coating, powder or other type. Unfortunately, because of the various sizes we coat, we do not do sandblasting.
• Please do not clean with any rust prohibitor or solvent, as they can be very difficult to wash off.
• All greases, plastic parts, or anything that cannot withstand 450°F must be removed, as powder painting is heat dried and cured.

All parts are cleaned and oven-dried prior to painting. We have a 3 to 6 step process for cleaning. We use an iron phosphate pre-treatment for steel items, while we use an etchant soap for aluminum or stainless steel items. Some folks will only sandblast parts prior to painting, but powder painting experts believe cleaning with an etchant soap, like we use, is still necessary for long life.

• Powder coating is best utilized on bare metal. However, just like other coating types, they can still be applied over other finishes. The results will only be as good as the undercoat's adhesion.
• If the undercoat’s surface is very hard and/or smooth, the paint will have difficulty adhering to the surface. We recommend sanding or blasting it first.
• Also for better surface cosmetics, we recommend taper sanding discrepancies in surface height on the existing surface, i.e. bare metal to old coating. A metal filler like JB Weld can be used to fill in major surface height changes.