Powder Coating is about one of the strongest coatings you can put on a part of your vehicle. What this does mean is that changing the color or design on your powdered parts can be a bit difficult to do. Recently Product Manager Beau B. decided to redo the color scheme on his motorcycle and document the process of stripping the powder off some of the parts and recoating them with fresh powder. It’s not as bad as you think!
Here’s the bike before starting the tear down. Something a little more eye grabbing was wanted so a lot of the plain silver parts are getting a face lift.
- Beau started by stripping the parts using fast-acting Eastwood Dekote Paint and Powder Stripper. This quickly started attacking the powder and wrinkling it up off of the surface.
- After the powder coating pealed up he then cleaned the parts with PRE and Woven Abrasive or “Scuff” Pads. Once the majority of the powder was removed he blasted the parts in bench top blast cabinet with walnut media to remove any let over dirt or powder coating.
- After removing from the cabinet Beau cleaned the parts with a blow gun to remove the dust from blasting and then used low VOC PRE to remove any oil that might be left on the parts.
- He then capped any openings he didn’t want powder to flow into with high temp silicone plugs and used stainless steel wire to hang the parts for coating.
- The foot peg brackets were, bolts and miscellaneous parts were coated in Eastwood Satin Black powder using the Eastwood dual voltage gun on the low power setting. The parts were then baked in the Eastwood bench top oven following the recommended curing instructions.
- The foot pegs were also coated using a two stage process of appliance white as the base color and then top coated the with atomic yellow . After the parts were fully cured they were removed and allowed to cool below 150 degrees F. Doing this will allow you to get an even coating of the transparent top coat.
- Finally the top coat of atomic yellow was sprayed on using the dual voltage gun with the diffuser tip on the gun. This tip helps get better coverage when stacking or applying multiple coats as it helps to prevent faraday cage effect.
- Then all parts were inserted in the oven and allowed to flow out and cure completely. The result is a nice contrast of black and bright yellow that will make the bike stand out from the rest on the street!
I always prebake all my parts to rid the parts of any nasty s .I also powder coat the part warm less waste of powder and I get a better finish. I also let parts cool to about a 162 degrees then I apply the second coat this works great for I have had no problems with lifting bubbling especially when i do cast iron tubs that take several coats. Most of all is your prep work it will make or break your project.
Fisheye would be from contaminants on the surface before you spray or contaminants inside the part that bake out during curing. We suggest pre-baking all parts to force any of that out before coating.
It doesn’t change the finish, but is easier to apply when still hot.
The easiest way is to apply the top coat after the basecoat has flowed out and the part is still hot. If you let it cool you must have a powerful enough powder gun to be able to pull the current through the entire part.
I want to powder coat my aluminum wheels from my truck with a silver basecoat and then apply a transparent candy black over that. I’m unsure how to apply the topcoat. Do I let the wheel cool from the application of the silver basecoat and then apply the topcoat,? What is the proper procedure?
I am curious, I have heard that heating the parts before applying the powder makes for a better finished product. Anything to this?
I did not see any pictures of the finished product on the bike. Only before no after.
How do you stop the powdercoat from fisheyeing or becoming rough when you do the second coat.