Powder coating

Hrtmn450

Member
Anyone know of any good shops to have a kart chassis powder coated around the Pittsburgh Pa area? Would like someone to sand blast and coat.
 
I doubt the sandblasting process will do any damage, you bake it at 350-450 degrees for 10-20 minutes. They make low temp powder but let’s be honest most shops use standard issue hi temp cure powder. I’ve had mine done twice already. I’d say you got a better chance of damaging the chassis with how most strap them as opposed to them undergoing a powder color change.
 
i have actually seen an argument that powder coating a chassis will actually help it to be more like original because the heat relaxes the metal back to the way it was to start with. I honestly don't know whether to believe that or not. hopefully someone else will weigh in on it.
 
Mike Ward told me to never sandblast as it pits the tubing, chemically strip only and try not to coat it too many times
 
Be aware that some/many powder coat shops will use a "burn-off oven" if they are removing existing powder coating. Those go to *very* high temperature, and probably best to avoid that process!

PM
 
I doubt the sandblasting process will do any damage, you bake it at 350-450 degrees for 10-20 minutes. They make low temp powder but let’s be honest most shops use standard issue hi temp cure powder. I’ve had mine done twice already. I’d say you got a better chance of damaging the chassis with how most strap them as opposed to them undergoing a powder color change.
You are correct on the temps of baking the powder, however that process is done in an controlled setting with the entire chassis being heated equally, now the sand blasting process is very different with the heat being concentrated to a small area for possibly lengths of time depending on the difficulty of removing the materials, especially in those hard areas and tight welds where you don’t want the heat to be l.. a weld is most likely where heat fatigue can cause damage.. hope this helps
 
I had one of our older chassis's sandblasted over the winter and that thing has never been faster! I wouldn’t worry about it 99.9% of people would NEVER be able to tell the handling difference between blasting and not blasting. Blast,coat, race, repeat.
 
My brother and I ran a weld/fab/powder coat business for years. We did a bunch of kart/quad/bike frames. We did them both ways. We would pre bake at low heat after to burn off contamination but never did the burn off oven thing. I have never had a bad experience on one blasting or dipping. All what the customer wanted to pay for. I have my personal chassis’ blasted. I dunno... each to their own. I also don’t align my chain with a laser like most swear you have to so sometimes I think we look to far down the hallway at times.
 
The thing is there all abrasives . Just not as abrasive .
I can get behind the pitting theory .
Overheating the weld zone via sandblasting , not so much .
if they werent abrasive, they wouldnt work. But they dont take away or "pit" the metal like sand does. Im with you on overheating the part via sandblasting. I guess it could be possible? but im guessing you'd already be blowing holes through the material before that ever became a real concern.

As for dipping it, what do people dip them in to remove the powder coat? if its an acid dip, that'll take off the metal and "pit" it just like sandblasting does.
 
The heat affected zone where the metal meets the weld is the critical area . The weld process it way hotter then sandblasting . Controlled heating would actually be stress relieving .
 
B17 Benco is what we used it was a Tri sodium phosphate. Breathing it in darn near put ya out.., it worked great but was a pain and dangerous to have in the shop. So we went back to sand.
 
B17 Benco is what we used it was a Tri sodium phosphate. Breathing it in darn near put ya out.., it worked great but was a pain and dangerous to have in the shop. So we went back to sand.
I used to work in the paint shop of an auto manufacturer. All bodies were dipped in a phosphate solution(definitely nasty stuff). That phosphates purpose was to etch the metal. So whoever has the idea that chemical stripping a frame is better because it doesnt take off or 'pit' the material like sand blasting is simply wrong(at least with a phosphate solution).
 
Proper technique and stripping is key. I used to own my own powder shop and coated frames for many different things over the years from race quads to karts to legend cars. We always chem-stripped and never blasted except small spot blasts to get old material left over. If you are concentrating the blast in any area long enough to build damaging heat, you are doing something wrong!!

Most regular powders cure at 300-350*F so that is in no way damaging to the 4130 CM tubing that most all chassis are made of. I discussed with metallurgists and welders many times and all told me to not worry one bit. But I personally think if you get around to recoating a chassis more than twice, its time to replace her!

B17 stripped is a completely different chemical than phosphate dip. The phosphate dip is only used to prepare raw steel and acts as a primer for the powder adhesion. B17 is a chemical stripper and a very nasty one at that! But it gets the job done and does not alter or hurt the tubing in any way.
 
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