Help with powder coating

[boman]

HPC over the other side of the city - great work and service so well worth the drive IMO.

Yep I agree. Had a customer who used a cheaper powder coating firm. The finish was very poor, and the wheels rusted after a couple of months. He had them redone by HPC and 2 years later they look like new. Ask them about alloys, as I seem to remember that they can do cylinder heads engine blocks etc. You never know, it could be a viable option nowdays, although I think Laquer would be more flexable and able to withstand stone chips without chipping too badly.

[roadracingoldfart]

The myth of altering the structure of an alloy component has agian come to the fore. Its just that , a myth.
Any powder coater worth his salt will preheat the alloy prior to painting to not only allow the powder to stick well but to also do whats called "degas" the alloy , especially castings.
200 deg C is not very hot at all and it wont alter the structure unless the alloy is spun at high speed or dropped / impacted while at that temp.
I was powder coating for 5 yrs and did litterally hundreds of wheels including my own and i am still racing on the wheels i have now had 3 diff colours on.

My advice is to pick a coater and then listen to just him / her as to whats the best as there is approx 4 diff preps available and several diff types of ovens. A gas oven is more dangerous than elect unless it has a dryer etc.
each application is differant to the next.
Cheers Paul.

[Crisis management]

The myth of altering the structure of an alloy component has agian come to the fore. Its just that , a myth.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree. I'm not getting into a pissing competition about it but I know my metalurgy (I've run foundries for Repco engineering and was the process engineer on the powder coating facility for Ford Motor co).
The heating and cooling cycle of powder coating softens cast aluminium wheels, thats a fact.

I raised this issue simply to inform people of possible side effects from powder coating and to allow them to make some enquiries with that information in mind. Obviously different wheel manufacturers use different alloy compositions and heat treatments and they will all react to the powder coating cycle in different ways and the fact they are softer does not mean they will automatically fall apart. As you state there are lots of powder coated wheels out there still in use so the application of powder coating doesn't automatically lead to catastrophic failure.
My concern is that people know what they are getting into and the possible consequences.....they have to make their own decisions after that.

[Coldrider]

In the mid 90's I peeled a front rim (very minor), I sent it away to an alloy repair eng company, they said they could 'cold roll' it and certify their repair.
I asked about powder coating it, using 'powder coating' interchangibly with painting it all black as it was. I was told un no uncertain terms that they would not powder coat, but laquer as they should.
In the end I purchased a new wheel as I wasn't going to worry about a repaired wheel. Life = more than money.
For the number of people that have probably got powder coated rims on their MC's I thought I would take a hammering on the powder coating of rims line.
But it is strangely silent, no authourative references stating it bis OK, and lets face it, why would they.
By the other references on this thread there seems to be things that can go wrong with this process, what are the controls in place for such errors.
People turn up and just ask for their rims to be powder coated and that's it.
They don't know what questions to ask.
That's my say and like I said in a previous thread, I will never inherit a cycle with such work performed.

[classic zed]

I had my frame and loads of other bits done at

Arkro Powder Coaters
3/30 Porana Rd
Glenfield
09 443 4051

They can organise the shot blasting so everything can be done "in house".

Give them a call they do an excellent job and very reasonable too

[buellbabe]

HPC over the other side of the city - great work and service so well worth the drive IMO.

is this who you mean?

http://www.hpcoatings.co.nz/

Yep, these guys have been around for a while and have an excellent reputation.