I recently picked up a 2012 Street Bob that was laid down. Needless to say I have to get some powdercoating done. A friend offered to do the powdercoating for nothing but the cost of the powder. The company he works for does garage doors and he has offered to put my parts on the powdercoat line. This means I will need to do all the prep. I have no experience with powdercoating. I have educated myself from reading and watching videos so I have most of it covered but I do still have a few questions. I want to make sure I do it the correct way and that I don't run into fitment issues afterwards.

The parts I am doing is both triple trees, the mid controls and linkage, the fork sliders. My first question is after I media blast the parts, does a primer have to be laid down before the powdercoat. I saw a few videos where they said you definitely want to use a primer first. I have seen others where they don't use a primer.
2nd, I know plugs have to be put it the holes to protect the areas that I don't want powder coated. My question is do plugs get put into the area of the fork sliders where the tubes go into? Do plugs get put into the holes of the trees where the fork tubes go. Do they make plugs that big or is there some other way people protect those areas. I have scoured forums and videos but I can not find any step by step.
Any insight that could be given would be greatly appreciated.

 

there are many powder formulas each with +/-'s. if you media blast, i see no need for prime unless the top coat calls for it. i powder coat steel guitar parts and never used primer. what i use as a mask is plain ole painter's tape (blue). it will withstand the 400*+F temps and since the adhesive is weak, comes off easily, just do so before the part cools too much. plug the holes or you will need to chase the threads. be careful with clears as they can yellow around heat and fuel and oil. you can go wild also with color upon color as the powder will just reflow.

http://www.pedalmastersteelguitar.co...KMICAR1007.jpg

 

Busters, Thank you for the info. Since I posted this I came across something that said to use high temp masking foil tape but if blue painters tape will work then I will just use that.
By the way, beutiful slide guitar you made there. Did you do the pin stripping? Is that painted pin stripe on powdercoat?

 

Sorry about the misspelling of your user name. It's the damn phones auto correct. Bustert's becomes busters.

 

the decorative is actually a decal. most powders cure at 350*f some 400*f. haven't had issue with painter tape, but you must remove before the part totally cools. as far as the fork sliders, ring the inside of the cup with tape and stuff newspaper inside the cavity. or you can lay in tape across the hole going down one side and up the other till it is covered and then trim the tape.
now if the dude applying the powder doesn't like it, you'll have to go with the flow.
if you do leave the tape on too long, mineral spirits will remove it.

 

I just taught myself how to powder coat and blacked out everything that was chrome, and other items like fork sliders and lever clamps and switch housings etc. I blasted everything with aluminum oxide, no primer or anything after, just used a good final wash cleaner that painters use. On amazon you can find silicone plug kits and high temp tape. I used the tape to cover opening at top of sliders. Theres also silicone thread protectors for bolt threads.

 

Did you do the actual powder coating yourself?

 

You can get a lot of these powdercoating supplies (tape, silicone plugs, etc) from www.eastwood.com as well.

 

Did you do the actuall powdercoating yourself also?

 

I have watched a few how to videos from Eastwood. Thanks for the info.