​Powder Coating for Dummies.

Powder Coating for Dummies.

I really wish I wrote this long time ago.

I’ve been involved in the  powder coating industry for exactly 10 years now. That is because I met my husband. Typical “chit-chat” when you meet someone: So what do you do for living? And he, very naturally said: I sell powder coating….

Probably all of you can imagine the look on my face… Powder coating? Do you bread chicken filets with it? Or is it like a baby powder and you coat babies butts with it?

So yes, while he chuckled, he just said: It is paint!

And that brings me to a whole new number of questions I had going in my head. I felt very uncomfortable asking too much information, I mean, I was trying to be cool haha, I liked the guy! I didn’t want to look dumb!

So little by little, I started learning about it over time, but then it came the dreaded situation, where everybody close to me, asked me: So what does the “lucky guy” do for living?

Okay, here we go!.... Uhm, He sells  powder coating….

And then, I could see their clueless faces, as they had NO idea of what was powder coating, so then I had to explain.

photo source

I’m sure most of you have seen those reactions from other people, and you’ve heard this questions as well:

-Powder Coating?… so do you put water in it to dissolve it and make it into paint? Mmm nope

-Oh so then maybe you just put some Elmer’s glue on the part and then you stick the powder to it? Mmmm nope!

And like that, I’ve heard the craziest ideas. I have to give it to them, they are pretty creative ideas.

Actually my  husband has been in the industry for almost 20 years. And these days, when he really doesn’t want to have the “talk” (Powder Coating talk, that is) and someone asks him what he does for living, he just says “I sell paint” that’s it. People right away say: Oh that’s nice! The other day I painted my living room in a red salsa color and it looked great, but I should’ve gone eggshell rather than satin, what do you think? Oh and I also need to paint the exterior of my house, can I buy that from you? What do you recommend? And there he goes, he has to explain that is not that kind of “paint”...

WE SELL  POWDER COATING.

So what is that? How to explain that, to the “normal” people. Lets be honest, this product is not something you find at a hardware store or at your local grocery store.

1. Powder coating is a paint in powder form, instead of liquid form, however one of the main purposes of powder coating is to protect, but it definitely helps with looks as well.

2. The same way that regular paint comes in latex, acrylic, oil based, water based, etc… powder coating has different chemistries as well:  epoxy, acrylic, hybrid, polyester, polyurethane, etc. It also has different finishes, regular paint has the satin, eggshell, semi gloss, gloss etc. Well, powder coating could be:  high gloss, semi gloss, matte, semi matte, it could have textures like vein texture or hammered texture, etc.

And as regular paint, there are lots of colors to choose from!

3. It adheres to the surface after applying an electrostatic charge to the part you are going to paint. Pretty much said if you rubbed a balloon on your hair, and I spray you with some powder coating, you will be ready to go in the oven! Ok maybe not, but that is the idea. The powder will stick to your head, because it has an electrostatic charge.

4.The powder coating is applied with a gun, which is powered, and air goes thru it, think of an air compressor. And there is a deposit where you put the paint into, and while air goes out, powder goes out so you can spray evenly.

5. It is mainly used to coat metals, as the electrostatic charge is very easy to achieve and also it resists the high curing temperature.

6.Then you put the sprayed part in the oven (not a fancy oven, it could even be a regular stove oven that’s not used for cooking, but if you want to paint a chair you might have a hard time sticking it in there) at approximately 400 degrees temperature for about 10 minutes so it cures (bakes, gets hard).

7. And then that’s it! You have a painted surface. But more than just painted, you have a protected piece. It will protect against, rust and weather. Some powder chemistries are better for outdoors, or for high humidity environments or some are just good enough for indoors, etc.

8. No…..powder coating is not only used in Russian bunkers and NASA spaceships, in fact you can find lots of powder coated items in the room you are presently in: office furniture, automobile industry (cars, rims, metal parts etc.), outdoor furniture, bike frames, pallet racks (the huge metal structures where you find the goodies at Costco or Sam’s Club)… Even if a part looks like bare metal, it will very likely have a clear coating for protection, you can’t see any color but it has powder coating, think of top coat nail polish.

So if your wife, her friends, your kids, neighbors, oh the IN-LAWS!!!! Or whoever is interested enough in you to ask further questions about what you do for living, ask you: What is powder coating? I would strongly recommend making some copies of this article and giving it to them… have them handy that will save you time and you could just go and drink a beer ( yes!), while you powder coat your next project!