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Powder coating question

M

Meatman

Well-known member
Lifetime Membership
Long story short, the guy that did the powdercoat on my bulk head messed it up and there is a thicker layer on there than there is metal....the coat is so heavy on the bulkhead that its sagging, and there are drip marks from it hanging.

My question is, what is the quickest way to get the coating off? Is there some kind of acid dip to soften it up then blast it? basically I want to get it bare aluminum again.

Thanks in advance
Brandon
 
Blasting it should take care of it, but if you find a more experienced place to do it, there is a chemical out there like an acid that will take it off, not sure of the name but if nobody else knows the name, PM me and I will talk to the guy who did mine, we were playing with it the last night I was there, I can get the name of the chemical if you want.
 
Blasting is going to take you forever! Get a big propane torch used to burn weeds and cook that sh*tty powder off. Use it on sprint car frames and it works great, smells bad, and is faster than blasting.
 
I do my own coatings(powdercaoting,ceramicoating,thermal coatings,etc) and if it is put on correctly sandblasting will not touch it whatsoever it will only dull the surface but not penetrate it. You need to use an acid based powdercoat stripper or a waterbased stripper. The acid stripper works faster but if left on or soaked on too long it will disolve the metal to liquid (before I started doing my own coating lost a new gas rack as company that powdercaoted left it in overnight and next day no more gas rack). The water based stuff you apply and let stand then blast with water,less effective than acid based but safer. Caswell Canada/US or Eastwood Canada/US sells both types. The only other thing that may attack powdercaoting is aircraft stripper than can be picked up from most local hardware store(lordco/KMS tools). Powdercoating runs,sags and build ups can be repaired to an extent MEATMAN. You just use razor blade to cut run drips and sags/runs with some 40grit wetsand and then finer as you get to satisfaction. Dry then use a cut polish and polishing it will bring back the shine. However if it is a thick as you say better to strip but it is not going to be fun getting it off an outta the recesses nooks and crannies. May be better to take to powdercoating shop and have then tank it to get it all off.
 
Here are some that most performance shops or hardware store will carry

Kryon - industrial stripper
VHT- Strip fast
Mar Hyde-Aviation stripper
Caswell - super stripper

These are a few,next time or if anyone needs some help recommendations or parts coated I can and will do and stand behind my work no ands ifs or butts. I ceramicoat,powdercoat,thermal and antifriction coatings to piston skirts,domes,cylinders,combustion chambers and valves. I can email pics of work already completed to date if people need to see the work I do.
 
Bake it at 500F for 20 minutes, then blast it clean and start over. Cooking it will degrade the powdercoat enough to allow it to be blasted off without taking forever. If there's "drips" in the PC, it wasn't cured/baked at the proper temp for the proper amount of time. PC is a really simple process ... prep, temp and duration is the key. Good luck with your project.
 
Not to start a pissing match but runs are not from being cured/baked long enough its from to much powder applied and attracted to the area. Same as painting to much applied it leaves runs. Baking at 500 and then sandblasting will not work either,as soon as metal cools you still have hard durable powdercoat. If you put hot powdercoated parts into a sandblaster your looking for a nightmare as sticky powder will make sand blasting substrate stick all over it. A perfect example is doing translucent colours say fluorescents you first lay a white coat of powder bake to the temps and time. You then pull out and then immediately lay second coat of colour and cure again for time and duaration that colour calls for. You can also let white coat cool after out of oven then lay colour coat on cold material then bake for time. Same as clears you have to bake the first colour before applying clear and rebaking. If heating the powder to 500 degrees like the above states as degrading powder we would never be able to do clears,fluorescents,second/third coats,repairs or any other application that needs to be baked more than once. Some powders call for 5-550 ranges for baking,you would have to be way higher in temps to break down powder for removal. Like Chapman states above a torch of some sort will also work as temps are high enough to do this. Propane torches can reach 3623 degrees Farenheit and a oxy/acetylene torches can reach 6000 degrees farenheit which will easily destroy basically any finish especially powdercoating. Problem with this way is it smells very bad when burning,makes a nice mess and you do not want to much heat to aluminum as distortion,warping or even meting could occur. Remember aluminum will melts at roughly 1220 degrees farenheit which is much lower than what the torches can heat to. You just need to make sure your not holding heat directly or too long to areas but moving it around to reduce metling and distortion. I would still advise on the chemical methods which are safer for the aluminum.
 
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1100Cat said:
Not to start a pissing match but ...
Click to expand...

Just called my powder coater to confirm ... my mistake on the baking removal process. It was paint we were baking and blasting off, not PC. The baking temp was 500 Celsius or 900+F. As far as runs, he just laughed and stated that you could call an overage of powder a "run" ... lousy powder application on the part, regardless. Sorry for any confusion.

Meatman ... my powder coater said the same thing many have said here; make this person remove and redo the part.
 
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the guy who did it said he would pay to have the coating taken off...I was good with that, which is why i'm doing a little research on the best way to go about doing it. Thanks for the info guys

I would try and fix it but there is a rediculous amount of paint on it, 2 thick coats and a coat of clear
 
looks like i'm going to go with the caswell super stripper, anyone know what i can use for an immersion tank? would a kiddie pool work or whill it eat through the pool? any suggestions?
 
Hey Meaty here is a suggestion for you and will be able to be used over and over again for other uses. When I first started I picked up a tote/bin one of the bigger ones from Walmart about 36x20x24 roughly(for your application you can get a larger one or even like you stated a kiddie pool as long as its the plastic type not rubber),picked up a pool pump just a smaller one,pvc or abs 2 feet put in a t in center to run pump hose to,and other pump hose just submerged and hung freely into liguid at bottom for pick up,drill numerous holes in pvc bar to make like a shower head effect,drilled hole in top of bin for pump hose to go through attach to tee. Just put solution in tub hose from pump into corner to pick up fluid put part in and close lid and turn pump on. With lid closing nicely no mess,keeps any odour down,parts are constantly showered over and over,powder coat stripper is filtered through pump filter for long and clean life. Takes powder off very quick and you can reuse your set up over and over again with any chemicals from strippers to varsol. I used it lots for prepping rusty metal and used and acid etch solution on all metal parts especially headers and pipes for ceramicoating. Give it a try only going to cost you $50-$60 for set up and it makes like a varsol tank but more efficient with shower head effect from pvc bar. Once you see how well it works you will be amazed and wil be using it for many applications.

Hope that helps as worked for me for many projects until started doing so much went to larger more shall we say proper not rednecked equipment.

1100Cat
 
I work at a local powder coater here in AK, if the it was done right and when I say right I mean the metal was blasted then run through a phosphate tank followed by a anti-gasing primer or a zinc rich primer then shot with what ever color top coat, you are going to have a hell of time getting it off. The reason we use this method is because 95% of our work is aircraft parts and we are bounded by the FAA to do aircraft parts in this fashion. When we get parts in that are PC that are not done like this we just use aircraft stripper and the coating just comes right off.

Hope this helps
 
thanks for the info 1100.....I'll see what i can come up with

aircraft stripper it will be
 
Aircraft stripper like you get at the local hardware store won't touch it and neither will the ordinary blasting set up they you might have at home. You'd be there all week even if you used aluminum oxide at 120 PSI. It will have to soaked in commercial stripper and blasted probably several times before all the coating is removed.

Powder Coating your bulkhead might possible conceal any cracks you end up with over time! ;)
 
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