POWDER COATING AT HOME
Pretreatment:
A) Sand Blast Parts with fine or medium grade abrasive material.
1) You do not have to blast if parts are raw material or have been previously powder coated.
2) Heavy blasting abrasives leaves a poor profile on the metal for painting and can actually
cause painting defects such as pinholes.
3) For best results in final finish lightly sand parts to knock down profile from sand blasting.
4) If previously powder coated, sand down lightly with 220 grit sandpaper, or give a light texture (By Rubbing) with course steel wool. This will allow the powder paint to adhere to the previous powder coated part.
B) Wash raw parts with Columbia Coatings Prep & Paint or a solvent base material such as lacquer thinner, acetone, MEK or other Non-Petroleum Solvents.
C) Spray on Prep and Paint and rinse after 30 seconds.
If rust is on parts a second application may be required. Our Prep and Paint Turns Rust Back into Black Metal. DO NOT LET PREP & PAINT DRY ON PARTS!!! IF SO SAND (SCUFF) DOWN OXIDATION LEFT BEHIND!!!
Powder Painting:
A) Make sure gun is properly color changed to color desired for coating. With a Electric Gun make sure you remove plastic screw at bottom of shaft of gun (Between End Of Gun And Trigger) and blow thoroughly as the screw sometimes holds powder and can cause cross powder contamination.
B) Make sure gun has proper air pressure. (Refer to Powder Gun Manual). We highly recommend
putting Air Regulator on gun itself and do not rely on compressor to regulate because of actual volume that builds in air hose itself is more than gun requires and can cause bursting of powder at end of gun.
C) Make sure part is properly grounded by gun clamp or through other grounding source. You can also ground out to hook or wire that is touching part!!!
D) We suggest preheating parts for 375-400 Degrees for 10 minutes to help outgas parts and kill any material such as oils that could have been missed when cleaning parts.
E) Coat parts 3 to 5 minutes after preheating as this helps in getting down in the areas powder has a hard time getting to (Cracks and Creases) with the use of less powder.
Curing:
A) Single Coats, Secondary (Final Coat), Third (Final Coats)
1) Light Parts: 375 degrees for 10-20 minutes. (Pulleys, Brackets and other small items.)
2) Heavy Parts: 385-400 degrees for 15-25 minutes. (Wheels, Intake Manifolds, Etc.)
B) Base Coats and Secondary Mid Coats. (Such as Chrome base for Translucent Color and or with Clear, White Base for Fluorescents and Neon's or Our Zinc Rich Coating.)
1) Partial Cure for 10 to 15 Minutes at 375 to 400 Degrees.
2) Remember: This is for all base and or mid-coats that is going to have a final coat such as clear on top for exception of chrome below.
3) Chrome as a final coat !!! Chrome must be fully cured at 375 to 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes to get full luster of the chrome. After Chrome base cools apply Clear for the Topcoat for Optimum Protection and Appearance!!!