Dare to be different

Ask questions about Harbor Freight trailers, or questions about building your own...

Postby artwebb » Sat Feb 06, 2010 1:41 am

I appreciate the posters who've had issues with powder coat coming forward. I have older vehicles with painted frames and while there is surface rust, it's not a mess. I thought powder was supposed to be superior to paint? I also wonder what process the automakers used under that paint.
Those posting bad things they've seen in powder coating have seen them I'm sure in less than the 22 years my Dakota's been around, and while as I said there is some surface rust, nothing structure threatening.
I am re thinking the purchase of powder coated wheels I was considering for one of my cars in favor of paint, now.
I believe in this build galvinizing is the smart move
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Postby Classic Finn » Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:25 pm

I promised before to show a photo of a huge yacht trailer that was just done for the upcoming boat show here by friends of mine. After the show its being exported to its Swedish owner.

Well here it is. Both Galvanized and Powdercoated. :o This is the same place where our Lil Swan Tear frame is being built. ;)

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Postby synaps3 » Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:01 am

:o

You could fit a house on that thing! :lol:
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Postby Classic Finn » Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:58 am

synaps3 wrote::o

You could fit a house on that thing! :lol:



I was thinking of building Mikes Lil Diner on it. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Do you think its big enough for that? :whistle: :rofl:
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Postby DasBaldGuy » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:13 pm

Galvanized Metal can be powdercoated after a sanding/media blasting but Galvanized Metal (alone) will eventually rust over a long period of time (look at very old chain-link fence).

I had my entire frame powdercoated because I wanted silver and because Powder is superior to paint in many ways. One powdercoating session is equivalent to 4 to 6 coats of paint.

Powder coating is also much more scratch resistent and bends/flexes much more so than paint. I have had many many many items powdercoated over the past 7 years including my entire Vintage Vespa, all of my suspension hardware for the frame and lots of Car bits (engine, suspension, intake and body parts on my cars) and find Powder cannot be beat in quality, durablity, finish and cost.

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Postby Cliffmeister2000 » Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:50 pm

I had a truck rack custom made and powder coated back in 1987. As a truck rack, it got a lot of abuse, and was constantly exposed to the elements. The finish became dull and unattractive pretty quickly. However, the only rust after many years of exposure and rough treatment were at 2 weld locations that had pitting and held water in those pits. I sold the truck in 1994.
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Postby flip18436572 » Sun Mar 07, 2010 2:49 pm

If powder coating is done in a professional environment and they clean the metal properly, rinse it and then run it through a phosphate bath before powder coating then you should have a decent job. Then it should be run through an oven to raise the temperature of the powder to the proper temperature for the proper time according to the specs of the powder being used.

Some places are also doing a zinc plating before running it though the powder coating process to help eliminate or slow the rusting process.

One of the problems I have seen with Paint/Powder Coating/Autophoretic Deposition is that the drain holes are not in the proper locations on the part when they are being run through the cleaning and rinsing process, so then there is water in the inside of the part that has to try and get out at a later date which usually causes rusting. Not so much with Autophoretic Deposition, but much more with paint and powder.

The automotive frames used to run through a cleaner, rinse, iron phosphate, rinse and then a flow coating process. Then they were baked in an over at 500 degrees for about 30 minutes which helped the painting process. But, remember they also used formaldahyde in the paint mixture which also made a big difference.

This is just my experience over the last 20 years in the automotive industry. Different places do different things as I am learning in my new position.

I will probably just prep my frame for paint and I will do a base coat/clear coat process, and just put on multiple coats of clear.
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Postby SSchumacherCO » Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:03 pm

My father made a dog poop scooper in the 1960s out of steel and had it galvanized where he worked. It always sat outside for the next 40 years and never rusted. Granted "processed" dog food did not exert large forces on it, the welds never failed.
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Postby Ageless » Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:29 pm

:lol:
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Re: Dare to be different

Postby Andrew Herrick » Tue Oct 11, 2016 11:17 am

Just wanted to thank everyone on here for sharing their wisdom. Some great information here. :wine:

In case anyone else hops on, I've been told that you don't need to sandblast a trailer before powder coating it IF the steel (not galvanized) is brand new. That true? Any experiences?
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Re: Dare to be different

Postby Camp4Life » Tue Oct 11, 2016 12:11 pm

Andrew Herrick wrote:Just wanted to thank everyone on here for sharing their wisdom. Some great information here. :wine:

In case anyone else hops on, I've been told that you don't need to sandblast a trailer before powder coating it IF the steel (not galvanized) is brand new. That true? Any experiences?


Another bonus to sandblasting is that the media hitting the steel creates tiny pits in the otherwise smooth surface of the steel. This lets the powdercoat stick to the steel better in the same way that you would sand down a smooth surface (or use self-etching primer) before painting to give the paint some texture to cling to. This prevents that paint from just peeling off, or delaminating.
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Re: Dare to be different

Postby KCStudly » Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:20 am

Best prep for any coating on structural steel is "grit blast to white", meaning all rust, mill scale, contaminants, etc. have been removed and the surface has a matte finish. There are some other spec's that can be applied for removal of grease and oil prior to blasting, the specific blast media, percentage of white, cleaning off the blast media after the fact, and whatnot, but you get the point.

The big thing is that the mill scale is not necessarily a stable base for painting or powder coating. It can flake off and/or have a slick hard sheen that won't take either coating nearly as well. Yeah, some fab shops will paint right over it, but that is a low buck approach, usually to suit the cost expectations of the customer. It will look good straight out of the booth, but won't hold up as well in the field.

When I was in the lighting industry, mostly stamped sheet metal parts, we used galvanealed stock (similar to galvanized but with a finer finish), ran it thru a degreasing wash (to remove oils from the punch press operations), a phosphorous metal prep solution, drier and then onto powder coat. Mill scale was not a factor.
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Re: Dare to be different

Postby Andrew Herrick » Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:54 am

Thanks for the responses, guys. Sounds like an acid wash or self-etching primer is the minimum required metal prep for powder coating, and sandblasting is certainly preferable. Gives me hope :worship:
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