New guy question

[polarisbob]

Hi my name is bob. I have been lurking here for a short while and have been reading a lot of the posts here. Great stuff to be found by just reading a little

My question is, just how much powder would one expect to use to coat a quad type of frame? Assume no reclaiming is going to be done.



Are we talking about a pound or so or are we talking about 5 pounds or more to do the job?

My reason for asking is that I am considering getting my own set up to do my frame and an weighting the cost difference between having it done and doing it myself.

The few "professional" coaters I have talked to seems to be rather tight lipped to many of my simple questions.

One guy was throwing around what he thought were some scary terms and statements that might fool the common man but after reading here for a while I know know that he is full of it and wont be getting my business what so ever at all. Things like the cost of the powder is twice the cost of using liquid paint, that conveyor ovens wont cure the paint right, you can't get good results with out having a 50,000 dollar oven and a 7,000 dollar gun and things like this.

I want to do my quad frame in a candy red and he has said that just the powder alone is gonna cost 250 dollars for him to buy as he needs at least 5 pounds just for the frame. My comment was just a simple REALLY?? That much huh?

So tell me guys what the real skinny on powder consummation for a project like mine?

[polarisbob]

Nobody has an opinion on this??

[sswee]

Patience grasshopper. The guys here work and sometimes take a little bit to get time to check the forum out. They'll answer before long. SS

[polarisbob]

Originally Posted by sswee

Patience grasshopper. The guys here work and sometimes take a little bit to get time to check the forum out. They'll answer before long. SS

Not a matter of patience, it's a matter of time and whether or not I do this myself or I have it done. And one could expect that with 38 or so views that someone would have an opinion and reply!!

I would not expect to have to wait a week or so to get a simple question answered, especially seeing how the question was asked during the weekend when most guys are off and at home!!

But thanks for your reply any ways.

[jtagger19]

I do bike frames and doesn't take more than 1 Lb to finish each coat
for candy colors you will need chrome powder as base and then top coat

you have to consider you will need and oven for it to fit inside and that alone is a lot of money even buying an IR lamp would be more than just paying some one to coat it. and on top of that you will need to blast it , the gun, and the powders and most of all a lot of practice cuz if you screw up stripping powder coat from a frame is and pain.

if you are going to do it your self and only do this frame you are better off having some one else do it for you

once you have everything set up a frame can be done for around $30 + blasting wich I most of the time have some else do it.

as for the guns you don't have to worry caswells hobby gun will work great

[polarisbob]

Thanks for the reply jtagger19. I figured that the guy I was talking to was full of something when he said it took 5+ lbs of powder to do a frame, 1 coat that is.

As for the oven I might have something in the works for that. I am a sheet metal worker so I should be able to come up with enough spare "scrap" steel to make the oven And the hunt for a few scrap ovens for their inners is also in the works. I all ready have a sand blaster and can make a temporary bigger cabinet to fit the frame in to get it blasted. So that part in covered. I can make up a spray booth from spare wood that I have in the garage and I already have a big enough compressor to run a few sand blasters at one time.

The main reason for asking was that I am finding it difficult to find a place that does PC in my area that has a big enough oven to fit the quad frame, and if they do, they want a ridicules amount of money to do it. I have been quoted any where from $400 to $850 just to do the frame in a two step candy coat. For that kind of money it is cheaper to go in on it with a few friends of mine and start doing it ourselves!

Not counting the cost of a gun or the powder I figure we can build the oven for around $100 bucks out of pocket. Add on the cost of a starter kit, $100 or so and figure around $100 for powder and plugs and what not and we could be PCing for $300 or so. A whole lot less than the 450-800 I have been quoted for a one time deal!!!!!

The only real problem as I see it right now is the fact that I will be trying some rather difficult coating technique's right off the bat.

I will probably do some small things on the bike first to get a feel for it first though.

Oh well it looks like I will be trying my hand at it after all! Again thanks.

[bzer1]

Where are you from that they're charging that much to 2 stage a frame? I don't get anywhere near that and I sandblast and iron phosphate in shop.