metal prep NEED HELP PLEASE

[skooterbum]

i am having problems with pretreatment of metal. i have used picklex and ortho from ace hrdwr. both leave gooie trails and balls on parts. my last attempt was with the ortho. i sprayed it on and let it set for 15 min then rinsed it off, no goo but had flash rust on parts. i am missing something here and would really appreciate any and all ideas on this. my work is starting to accumulate and i am learry to continue on till i figure this out. also i have found that black beauty is to aggresive, it leaves to rough a finish even after going over part with scotch brite. i would like to simplify the operation some what. what recomendations does anyone have for this one also.
thank you all in advance
ron

[skooterbum]

i think i the ortho should be ospho sorry its been a long trying day!
ron

[sswee]

You may need to checkout the phosphate primer Caswell offers. It's made for powder coating.

http://www.caswellplating.com/powder/pcprimer.html

I use ospho all the time doing restoration work and what you describe is just the nature of the beast. I use glass bead, brake wash and compressed air to prep most of the parts I do.
SS

[bzer1]

I never had any success spraying picklex. I just wet a rag with it and wipe it on. I use lint free rags and it works great for me.

[skooterbum]

bzer1 do you have any problems with the picklex acting as an insulater and not getting good powder coverage i used the ospho on last attempt and seemed like the powder was not covering as good as on bare metal. i have a hobby gun and am wondering if i need to step up to a better gun now.
thanks for all the help here
ron

[bzer1]

It sounds to me like you probably need to find a better ground. These conversion coatings shouldn't affect transfer. I have never had an issue with that myself. In your case I might be tempted to test it with a multimeter just to make sure that you're getting a good ground. Using a conversion coating shouldn't be a show stopper, even with a hobby gun.

[skooterbum]

thanks for the help i will check the ground for sure. never gave that a thought. one more question on the picklex do you or can you put part in oven after picklex to speed up the drying time or is it best to let air dry
i really appreciate all the help on here!!!!!!!!!!
thanks
ron

[bzer1]

I wouldn't if I were you. It will stink the place up, and you really don't want the vapors sticking to the inside of your oven. Definately do not try to hit any parts with picklex until they're cooled down. Just let em air dry. When I'm waiting for it to dry I use that time to fill the gun and do other prep like put plugs in the part. So basically here's how I do it.

Accept and tag the part
Check the part for obvoius damage and note.
Degrease and clean the part
Sandblast or strip the part
Check the part for not so obvious damage
Call customer with the bad news
Make necessary repairs
Outgas
Apply conversion coating(picklex, Chromate, Phosphate...)
Plug, mask, and prep gun and booth while drying
Shoot it
Bake it
Remove from the oven and hopefully admire my work.

[skooterbum]

bzer1 thank you for all your help it is greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!
thanks
ron

[sdold]

When you guys use Ospho, do you spray it on and let it dry? If so, how do you prevent the thick crud that accumulates at the bottom of the part?

Or do you let the Ospho sit for a while, then rinse?

I tried the second method once and seemed to get a thin layer of rust when it dried.

Steve