• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Those of you who do your own powder coating?.

No but I did find out my old riding gloves have a hole in the thumb. OWwwww.
 
This is just an example of the products used to plug,cap or cover before you coat.
If you do a search you can come up with others...I personally liked to use the glass cloth tape on the surfaces that take a gasket or on the triple tree where your tubes slide into.
It's flexible and withstands 500 deg.
All the plugs are silicone so the powder doesn't stick to them.
And the tapes (different colors = different temp threshold) hold up pretty good.
The best being the glass fiber tape

http://www.intechservices.com/Masking-Products
 
Last edited:
GateKeeper said:
NO, don't do it that way.....tape it off.....the powder coat will stick to the nut, bolt, washer, and when you go to remove, it will crack the powder coating and could leave you a mess......

plug holes with plugs be it cork or wax, or something, but not with a bolt to remove latter....

just tape off the area you don't want the powder coat to be......

.
Click to expand...

Should have clarified...I had no intention of baking the part with the bolts and washer in place. Just applying the powder and ever so gently removing the washers and bolt prior to baking. :D

But masking still sounds like a better idea!
 
If you bang the part or whatever too hard, the powder will fall off, by the time you get the nuts and bolts and what not off, you will need to powder again.....

just mask it off

remember for a great job, prep work is key.....

Hey I am no expert on this, and have never actually done any powder coating, but from reading and talking to folks this is the way it's done......

.
 
Cassius086 said:
Should have clarified...I had no intention of baking the part with the bolts and washer in place. Just applying the powder and ever so gently removing the washers and bolt prior to baking. :D

But masking still sounds like a better idea!
Click to expand...

Hard to remove the bolts without knocking off some of the power, it just falls off if you bump it or anything.

I have been using regular masking tape, put it on with a little "tab" so you can peel it off easily before curing the part. Still sometimes a bit of powder falls off.

Also in some places just lick your finger and wipe the powder away from where you don't want it, works well in places you can reach.
 
Cooler cure temp worked a lot better?

20140401_171856.jpg


Still a bit of an orange peel texture, is that too much powder or not enough?

Something else?
 
I wish I knew.....but that is looking really good,,,,,your getting better and better at this....way to go.....

.
 
Could be one of two things (or both)
Could be a tad to much powder and/or
Not knowing who manufactures the powder for Eastwood it might have to be hotter initial temp to let the powder flow, then drop down for final cure.
I remember you saying they recommend 500 till glossy then down...that just seems to high for my taste.
I would try 400 to flow then drop down and let cure longer.

Like I have said it just takes practice and patience/trial and error.
Then it becomes second nature.
But it does look much better!
 
Getting better, but not perfect yet:

20140403_173333-1.jpg


Another question, is there something I can use to fill little gouges in the metal? I have some pieces that are good but for one or two big gouges, too deep to grind or polish out. Can something like JB Weld be used as bondo to fill the holes before powder coating? I think it would work if it can take the heat.
Anything else work better?

I have a broken stator cover here, may try the JB on it unless someone has a better idea.
 
I have used JB Weld in the past on some things with moderate success.
Sometimes it works good, others not so much... the trick is to make sure there is no air bubbles in it.
There's little alternative
They tried something years ago but it didn't pan out.
We usually send something to a friend of the shop and he uses brass and a welder to fill in stuff, then we just ground it down.
 
Because of this thread I picked up an Eastwood powder coat gun.The place here just had the guns not the kits:(So I'm now looking for some silicone plugs and heat resistant masking tape that won't cost mega bucks to ship to Victoria.
 
Any one have a technique for cooling fins? Looks good from the top or at an angle like you would if it was on a bike, if you look from the side the powder never got to the inside of the fins, way back in there. There must be some way to do it right, this is OK for a DIY on a daily rider bike but if someone was doing it for a customer it wouldn't cut it.

Any ideas?
 
tkent02 said:
How is the learning curve? I have an engine I'm rebuilding now, and a couple complete bikes that need to be rebeautified.

I do my own paint, I'm getting pretty good at it.

Can I just buy the Eastwood gun and go to town or will there be a lot of ugly parts made before the good ones start to happen? I know it's all in the prep like anything else, but is it tricky? Any down side to it?

I'm sitting on the fence between doing this now and continuing with spray cans of epoxy paint, engine paint, caliper paint.

It seems like with these projects lined up, now is a good time to start. I have a toaster oven to use, and there's a full sized electric kitchen oven down the street for free?.

Or do I need something better?


This bike would have looked a lot better If I had powdercoated everything?

20130829_174904.jpg


Of course it would have looked a lot better if I had painted all those parts, too.
Click to expand...

The powder coating is great. Bake the hell out of the parts first. They do what is called out gassing. If that happens after the powder coat is on then it can show up in the finish. For engines there is some other stuff you should look into too. It is expensive, but it sprays on with a HVLP paint gun. It is Cerakote, I use it all the time on guns, and engines. It is a catalyzed ceramic matrix coating, really tough. It bakes on too, you do have sand blast the surface before application. It is great for engines, for frames I would use powder or epoxy paint. Cerakote sticks like nothing else I have seen. You can look on You Tube there are people beating on it trying to scratch it. Those videos give you an idea how tough it is. They also have a non bake on product "Type C" for high temperatures.
 
Been doing this for a couple years now, experimented on scrap parts and done some good ones, but these are my first cylinders. Pressure washed them thoroughly, some paint remover and pressure washed again. No out gassing, so I'm happy with the results, but have you got any advice about the cooling fins?
 
tkent02 said:
Been doing this for a couple years now, experimented on scrap parts and done some good ones, but these are my first cylinders. Pressure washed them thoroughly, some paint remover and pressure washed again. No out gassing, so I'm happy with the results, but have you got any advice about the cooling fins?
Click to expand...

Cooling fins are tough, you need a fan pattern, and use the fan to get between the fins. By fan I mean have the spray pattern where if you briefly pulled the trigger it would make a vertical stripe, and not a round pattern. Then stand the cylinders up and use small shots to get between the fins and make the coverage. Cast aluminum doesn't anodize very well, but you could black anodize the head and cylinders. You have to coat the inside of the cylinders with something during the process.
 
metalfab said:
Cooling fins are tough, you need a fan pattern, and use the fan to get between the fins.
Click to expand...

That would work spraying paint, but the powder just kind of falls out of the gun in a cloud which attracts itself to the metal by it's static charge. It doesn't really shoot out like paint. It attracts itself to the tips of the fins and doesn't make it down into the deep valleys between them.

It's good enough for this bike but I just want to know if there's a better technique for next time.
 
tkent02 said:
That would work spraying paint, but the powder just kind of falls out of the gun in a cloud which attracts itself to the metal by it's static charge. It doesn't really shoot out like paint. It attracts itself to the tips of the fins and doesn't make it down into the deep valleys between them.

It's good enough for this bike but I just want to know if there's a better technique for next time.
Click to expand...

Look on youtube. There's a video out for a liquid powdercoat. Don't know if it's just for touch up or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top