JNZTuning
04-16-2009, 04:15 PM
There has been a huge influx in powdercoating and ceramic coating companies in the past year or two. Some of these people are true enthusiasts who do everything they can to do a "good job" and stand by the customer's satisfaction, and those who fly by night without regard to the long-term results.
We've been doing this for a couple of years and have had to invest thousands of dollars in equipment in order to make sure that the customer is satisfied on a long-term basis (we thank those customers that have had to send parts back to be redone during our learning experience, and your patience).
In the meanwhile, while we wish that we didn't have to invest all of this money and apologize to the couple of customers that suffered the inconvenience of having us re-do their parts in our learning experience (thank you guys, again!) we've gotten to the point where we're pretty well equiped to handle jobs with VERY good reliability rates in the long-term aspect.
As of this, we want to educate the consumer in the world of powder and ceramic coating so that they can make an informed decision on what to look for in a service provider (believe us, it took a while to learn the in-depth aspects even while doing it on a daily basis!).
Without further preaching, here's our findings/experience:
1) Preperation Work For Powdercoating:
A) The part must be cleaned!
We incorporate a $5000 parts washer for the initial cleaning to get the bulk of the grease and oil off of your part. We then rinse the part with clean water, manually flushing out the ports (in the case of valve covers especially) as well, then allowing them to dry (in some cases this takes a couple of repetitions).
B) The part must be etched!
Whether this is by blasting, wire wheel, or sanding, the part must be brought down to a clean surface even to a microscopic aspect, and have some roughness to the surface in order for the powder/ceramic to really grip to. Manufacturer's of powder suggest using highly abrasive (80 grit or better) aluminum oxide to be used to create the ideal surface for the powder to bond to (think: trying to paint a polished surface with spray paint=fail) and even say that glass beading (much finer but still highly abrasive) isn't even good enough.
As a side note, we've tried doing it without etching, or using glass bead on long-term projects and while it might take a while, the coating typically will peel off after a span of time.
C) Valve Covers and Blasting!
It's a well-known fact that just simply blasting a valve cover like any other "easily sanitized" part (piping, exhaust parts, etc. that can be rinsed entirely and effectively) can be a killer of engines (those baffles like to collect sand to come out at a later time). However, as just explained in section "B" you need to media blast a part in order to have the coating last. What to do?
Well, this is a big part of our business, and after a lot of tweaking, we've addressed this.
First of all, we take valve covers and run them for several hours through our high temp/high pressure parts washer. This is done to force oil residue (which is a prime candidate to hold blast media in the cover until the heat thins it out and it releases (while back on the car) to kill your oil pump/gears/(and as a result unless you're constantly monitoring it) engine, out of the cover. At this point we remove the cover, dry it, apply chemical paint stipper, let it soak, manually rinse it, then put it back in the parts washer for another hour or so.
Once the above process is done, we examine the part/valve cover to see if most of the paint/grease is removed. If not, we repeat the process.
At this point, the cover is clean inside and out, however the outside is still not etched (and the inside, while clean may have some staining which is part of the game with a used point, will never be seen, and won't affect anything). We've now explained (Section A) that a proper coating must be done on an abrasively etched part and that valve covers done in this way have been known to kill motors.
What to do??
Well, we've addressed this issue and have built custom jigs to mount the valve cover onto (including gaskets for proper and 100% sealing) so that no media gets introduced to the baffles, PCV, Crank Vent Port, or Valve Cover Cap while blasting it with the proper media for long-term powdercoating durability. It takes a lot more time to even bolt it to this properly, but it's the only way to ensure that you're not left with either a peeling cover in a few months/weeks, or a ruined motor just to put something pretty on top of it.
We then put the part back into the parts washer for at least an hour again to ensure that even if a spec of media (if it somehow found an unlikely entrance into the underside or a port) got in, it won't be there for the coating.
D) Gassing out the part:
Most manufacturer's of powder suggest that parts (especially cast aluminum parts) be "gassed out" or pre-baked for at least an hour at 450 degrees in an oven for pre-coating. We typically (depending on the composition of the material the part's made out of) gas it out @ 475 degrees for at least an hour and 1/2. It takes no more work on our part (we have other things to do while it's just sitting in the oven ;-) ) and helps ensure that you won't get fisheyes in your finish (with dirty Mitsubishi castings especially, this is a big issue).
D) Your Part is Finally Ready for Coating!
Your part is washed, stripped, washed again, blasted, washed again, gassed out and now ready to strip! Let's get onto the coating part which is the least consuming and easiest part, but still can pose an issue to those shade-tree coaters. We have spent a lot of money for the powdercoating gun that we use (voltage and powder delivery are highly important in custom coats, and multi-colors/coats) to ensure that we can complete the actual finish to the best results. Weaker guns (voltage wise) can leave spots uncoated, and without the even delivery runs, lumps, and uneven coloring can result. We try to avoid this and make sure you're happy with the results!
E) Knowledge/Skill of the Coater!
Joe (who does most of the actual coating application) has been doing this daily for well over two years. This is not "two years, every once in a while" but almost EVERY day (including Saturdays) as he has an almost O.C.D. passion for this. Still, sometimes there's a hiccup, and at that point, he starts back at square one and will re-do the part (thankfully, that rarely happens anymore! http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/images/smilies/tat.gif ).
At this point your part is bubble-wrapped, insured, and back on its way to you for your enjoyment!
This is the reason why we have some of the biggest DSM/Evo/3000GT race shops come to us for powdercoating of critical parts on their race cars (Magnus Motorsports and Turbotrix Racing are prime examples). If they're willing to risk our process and end results on their high-dollar race engines, you know we're doing something right!
I'll post up about ceramic coating tomorrow (and the reason why we've spent a lot of money on a seperate oven that will reach 1000 degrees vs. coating the parts in a regular powdercoating oven to cure them correctly) but I hope this enlightens some people as to what's required to properly powdercoat parts that will last vs. the people who buy an inexpensive gun from Ebay and a used home oven and open up shop.
We may charge *slightly* more for some parts, but I can guarantee we complete the process properly and now you know the reasons why.
We've been doing this for a couple of years and have had to invest thousands of dollars in equipment in order to make sure that the customer is satisfied on a long-term basis (we thank those customers that have had to send parts back to be redone during our learning experience, and your patience).
In the meanwhile, while we wish that we didn't have to invest all of this money and apologize to the couple of customers that suffered the inconvenience of having us re-do their parts in our learning experience (thank you guys, again!) we've gotten to the point where we're pretty well equiped to handle jobs with VERY good reliability rates in the long-term aspect.
As of this, we want to educate the consumer in the world of powder and ceramic coating so that they can make an informed decision on what to look for in a service provider (believe us, it took a while to learn the in-depth aspects even while doing it on a daily basis!).
Without further preaching, here's our findings/experience:
1) Preperation Work For Powdercoating:
A) The part must be cleaned!
We incorporate a $5000 parts washer for the initial cleaning to get the bulk of the grease and oil off of your part. We then rinse the part with clean water, manually flushing out the ports (in the case of valve covers especially) as well, then allowing them to dry (in some cases this takes a couple of repetitions).
B) The part must be etched!
Whether this is by blasting, wire wheel, or sanding, the part must be brought down to a clean surface even to a microscopic aspect, and have some roughness to the surface in order for the powder/ceramic to really grip to. Manufacturer's of powder suggest using highly abrasive (80 grit or better) aluminum oxide to be used to create the ideal surface for the powder to bond to (think: trying to paint a polished surface with spray paint=fail) and even say that glass beading (much finer but still highly abrasive) isn't even good enough.
As a side note, we've tried doing it without etching, or using glass bead on long-term projects and while it might take a while, the coating typically will peel off after a span of time.
C) Valve Covers and Blasting!
It's a well-known fact that just simply blasting a valve cover like any other "easily sanitized" part (piping, exhaust parts, etc. that can be rinsed entirely and effectively) can be a killer of engines (those baffles like to collect sand to come out at a later time). However, as just explained in section "B" you need to media blast a part in order to have the coating last. What to do?
Well, this is a big part of our business, and after a lot of tweaking, we've addressed this.
First of all, we take valve covers and run them for several hours through our high temp/high pressure parts washer. This is done to force oil residue (which is a prime candidate to hold blast media in the cover until the heat thins it out and it releases (while back on the car) to kill your oil pump/gears/(and as a result unless you're constantly monitoring it) engine, out of the cover. At this point we remove the cover, dry it, apply chemical paint stipper, let it soak, manually rinse it, then put it back in the parts washer for another hour or so.
Once the above process is done, we examine the part/valve cover to see if most of the paint/grease is removed. If not, we repeat the process.
At this point, the cover is clean inside and out, however the outside is still not etched (and the inside, while clean may have some staining which is part of the game with a used point, will never be seen, and won't affect anything). We've now explained (Section A) that a proper coating must be done on an abrasively etched part and that valve covers done in this way have been known to kill motors.
What to do??
Well, we've addressed this issue and have built custom jigs to mount the valve cover onto (including gaskets for proper and 100% sealing) so that no media gets introduced to the baffles, PCV, Crank Vent Port, or Valve Cover Cap while blasting it with the proper media for long-term powdercoating durability. It takes a lot more time to even bolt it to this properly, but it's the only way to ensure that you're not left with either a peeling cover in a few months/weeks, or a ruined motor just to put something pretty on top of it.
We then put the part back into the parts washer for at least an hour again to ensure that even if a spec of media (if it somehow found an unlikely entrance into the underside or a port) got in, it won't be there for the coating.
D) Gassing out the part:
Most manufacturer's of powder suggest that parts (especially cast aluminum parts) be "gassed out" or pre-baked for at least an hour at 450 degrees in an oven for pre-coating. We typically (depending on the composition of the material the part's made out of) gas it out @ 475 degrees for at least an hour and 1/2. It takes no more work on our part (we have other things to do while it's just sitting in the oven ;-) ) and helps ensure that you won't get fisheyes in your finish (with dirty Mitsubishi castings especially, this is a big issue).
D) Your Part is Finally Ready for Coating!
Your part is washed, stripped, washed again, blasted, washed again, gassed out and now ready to strip! Let's get onto the coating part which is the least consuming and easiest part, but still can pose an issue to those shade-tree coaters. We have spent a lot of money for the powdercoating gun that we use (voltage and powder delivery are highly important in custom coats, and multi-colors/coats) to ensure that we can complete the actual finish to the best results. Weaker guns (voltage wise) can leave spots uncoated, and without the even delivery runs, lumps, and uneven coloring can result. We try to avoid this and make sure you're happy with the results!
E) Knowledge/Skill of the Coater!
Joe (who does most of the actual coating application) has been doing this daily for well over two years. This is not "two years, every once in a while" but almost EVERY day (including Saturdays) as he has an almost O.C.D. passion for this. Still, sometimes there's a hiccup, and at that point, he starts back at square one and will re-do the part (thankfully, that rarely happens anymore! http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/images/smilies/tat.gif ).
At this point your part is bubble-wrapped, insured, and back on its way to you for your enjoyment!
This is the reason why we have some of the biggest DSM/Evo/3000GT race shops come to us for powdercoating of critical parts on their race cars (Magnus Motorsports and Turbotrix Racing are prime examples). If they're willing to risk our process and end results on their high-dollar race engines, you know we're doing something right!
I'll post up about ceramic coating tomorrow (and the reason why we've spent a lot of money on a seperate oven that will reach 1000 degrees vs. coating the parts in a regular powdercoating oven to cure them correctly) but I hope this enlightens some people as to what's required to properly powdercoat parts that will last vs. the people who buy an inexpensive gun from Ebay and a used home oven and open up shop.
We may charge *slightly* more for some parts, but I can guarantee we complete the process properly and now you know the reasons why.