Mud in my Veins
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Memphis, TN
Posts: 5,301
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Re: Paint or powder coat?
Actually, the powder in powdercoating is a plastic (possibly polyester). Baking paint is just "baked-on enamel".
The guy who runs the biggest powdercoating facility in my area lives less than a mile from me & he's given me the grand tour of his plant. They have an overhead chain loop that passes near the loading dock, where they receive ALL KINDS of $#!T. They hang the stuff & it makes its way thru a giant dishwasher-type machine, then thru a low-temp drying oven. Then it goes into the powder booth, where they have 12 automatic guns & ports for 2 operators with manual guns (depending on color & batch size) where the powder is electrostatically applied to the items. Then it goes into a 400°F oven where it stays for 22 min, baking the powder into a continuous coating of plastic. Then it cools as it makes its way back to the loading dock, where they package it & ship it back to the supplier.
This plant can handle any object up to 3'x5'x8' ! [img]images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] He's done all my recovery equipment (shackles, snatch blocks, hooks, etc), my door handles, some spotlights, & the hardware for my sliding side windows for me, and he did some walk-grates for a car washing rack for my company.