Paint or Powder Coat Experience

boatdrinks wrote: I'm thinking about having my control housings powder coated this winter. I figure pc will stand up to brake fluid better than paint will, in the vent of a leak or spill during filling.

I have too many irons in the fire to take on powder caoting although I have been tempted
for small parts

I get really weird paying for stuff I think I can do :laugh:
I got a buddy that owns a mechanic shop I'll pay him labor but I can get parts wholesale so it kills me to pay him markup on parts :laugh:

but so far I think I will use powder coating on smallr parts and paint my frames with a high solids
name brand eurathane (such as the imron or the delleet)

Powder coat is permanant. I did many parts including the frame on my H2. Came out great and is very durable. Removing it is another issue. I tried to bead blast a part that did not come out right and eventually started removing some of the base aluminum and ended up replacing the part. There are solvents but they are slow and not 100% effective. I painted my Z1 with Imron back in the early eighties and in most places it still looks great. Cost is not much different. I spent $400 on my H2, they did all the blasting and prep. My Z1 I did all the prep and the paint with activator ran maybe $100. As it always is there are pro's and con's to each.

We have a few powder coaters around here but only a couple who can do frames. One is expensive, does top end work the other is pretty reasonable but doesn't want to give me the black I want, gloss wet black, his end up black with a grey tint. Biggest things I've seen with the powder coat is it is durable but get a guy with a good rep to nail the finish.

Les

true that I'm now thinking do I go Gloss or satin its a couple hundred bucks for a gallon
of either single stage.

I think I am going gloss but hevent made my mind up yet

and I know what your talking about black should be black not have a milky tint
used to get that back in the day with using laquer clears

If I had to guess with powder coating the milky black is do to too low of temp in the baking process
but may just be quality of powder Like coffee is brown til it liquifies with heat
just a theory since I have no experience with it