Painting options

[ECAP]

Hi all – I've followed the automotive industry for many years, and I've noticed that they have excellent painting processes. And they seem to progress and iterate new painting processes at a fairly fast cadence – some company or another is always rolling out a new paint process, new technology, etc. Relatedly, today's cars take a lot longer to start rusting.

Is any of this paint technology trickling down to machine shops and non-automotive manufacturers? Is it possible to get automotive quality finishes on equipment and electronic cases? Do these processes have particular names, are there specific technologies in play, etc.?

I have two applications in mind: custom one-off jobs I'm going to give to machine shops, and manufactured electronic cases similar in form to a rack server (think pizza box, maybe thicker). The latter would be aluminum (probably a 606x alloy), and the former maybe 1018 or 1045 steel.

Automotive grade finishes would come in handy, especially the color range they open up and the toughness. Melonite and Tenifer type processes seem good too, but I don't think they offer anything but Model T color options (any color, so long as it's black...) Where do you go for durable color painting options for metal parts? I know about anodizing for aluminum, but the best anodizing processes have very limited color choices. It seems like where color is concerned, nothing beats paint. Is an auto body repair shop going to have better paint processes than machine shops use?

Thanks.

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[D Nelson]

Powder coating


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[tnmgcarbide]

lead paint. sure.... it may cause nerve damage, but is very time tested.

just anodize the AL .

steel- zinc-chromate , or galvanize and paint . better do that stuff
after any additional machining or welding .

auto bodies' paint could be a really tough Imron , or such . a paint, hardener, and clearcoat. that shit ain't cheap. and you have minutes to
use it , once you've mixed it . it also takes skill and experience .

do the research .

good luck

 

[EPAIII]

That's what I was thinking. I need to get set up to do that or find a local shop where I can take parts.

Powder coating


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[jonesbett]

You can find a special anti-corrosion primer that will make the painting process much easier. You need to clean the parts very well before applying the primer and you won't have any problems. Well, or you can find a payday loan at Online Payday Loans McKinney, Texas | CashLoansNearby and give this work to specialists, and not do it yourself. All the same, paint is not the most healthy thing.

 

[Limy Sami]

You can find a special anti-corrosion primer that will make the painting process much easier. You need to clean the parts very well before applying the primer and you won't have any problems. Well, or you can find a payday loan at and give this work to specialists, and not do it yourself. All the same, paint is not the most healthy thing.

Fuck off spamtwat.

 

[mjk]

Nice to see retirement hasn't taken the edge off.....

 

[Dan from Oakland]

Most electronic sheet metal houses and many machine shops use powder coaters and wet paint vendors, as well as plating shops to do their 2nd ops like this.

 

[EPAIII]

I am just noticing that you are in the ALAND ISLANDS. That probably sets some limits on what you can find locally. Do you plan to send these parts to machining and/or painting shops on the mainland or even in Europe in general? Or beyond that? Or are you going to stay with local shops?

I do not think that there are any painting products that can not be shipped to almost any location on the planet, but there may be local problems and time considerations. With one-off parts (small quantities and therefore small order sizes and prices), you are probably going to be limited to what is available locally or to your ability to find a more distant shop that is willing to handle your orders.

In any case I doubt that there will be many on this BB that will have any specific knowledge that applies to your situation.

 

[Trboatworks]

First thing that comes to mind is to buy anodized sheet stock for your cases.

 

[ECAP]

Thanks guys, I didn't see the last few posts, should've checked again. I'll clear up some of the questions below.

 

[ECAP]

I am just noticing that you are in the ALAND ISLANDS. That probably sets some limits on what you can find locally. Do you plan to send these parts to machining and/or painting shops on the mainland or even in Europe in general? Or beyond that? Or are you going to stay with local shops?

I do not think that there are any painting products that can not be shipped to almost any location on the planet, but there may be local problems and time considerations. With one-off parts (small quantities and therefore small order sizes and prices), you are probably going to be limited to what is available locally or to your ability to find a more distant shop that is willing to handle your orders.

In any case I doubt that there will be many on this BB that will have any specific knowledge that applies to your situation.

Thanks for noticing that it was saying Aland Islands. That was incorrect, some sort of error. I'm in the US, usually in Arizona. I tried fixing it in the Tapatalk app, but my update wouldn't stick. So I tried the Tapatalk website, and finally the Practical Machinist website where my update worked.

So I don't have the challenges of being in a remote island group. (I actually never heard of the Aland Islands before, didn't know they were Finnish.) I have access to anything available in Phoenix or Tucson. (Though when I was a kid Tucsonans would drive to the border town of Nogales, AZ for extremely inexpensive car paint jobs...It was a car painting hub.)

Why do you say that people here wouldn't know how to help my situation? I'm talking about color finishes for pizza box size products like servers. Do machinists not usually deal with finishes of that sort?

Thanks.

 

[ECAP]

First thing that comes to mind is to buy anodized sheet stock for your cases.

Would the anodizing be the final state and color, or are you thinking paint over the anodizing? (I don't know if painting anodized aluminum is a thing or not.)

The issue with anodizing alone is that the color choices are very limited. I don't remember all the details, but there are different levels or types of anodizing, and think they have implications for color choices, where the better types offer fewer colors.

 

[eKretz]

For durability it's hard to beat powder coating in my experience. Automotive style paints are pretty good for wide color availability and if you want a super glossy finish though.

 

[dian]

since they switched to water based it a completely different game. much more complicated and diffcult, my painter acquaintance tells me.

 

[10 fingers]

We produce an automotive quality , gloss finish on our machine tool rebuilds. 90% of the work is in preparation. Media blasted, iron castings are ground smooth with a 60 grit disc. Entire casting is skim coated with premium, polyester filler. DA sand flush with 220 grit. Shoot with Sherwin Williams, Spray fill. Block with 400 and 600 grit such that only only sand scratches and pin holes are filled. Finally, shoot Polane B using a special, slow dry reducer. I use a DeVilbiss Tekna Copper gun. Critical to have gun tuned to allow droplets to "wet-out." Spray 3 coats at 90 degrees to each other.

We strive to attend SEMA each year. Seek out the most spectacular cars, speaking one on one to the actual painters, when available. Huge knowledge base. Last month was able to visit with Gene Winfield and Chip Foose.

Recently applied what I learned to a custom car build of my own. Paint is Imron Elite. Flow coated with Imron high solids clear. Wet sanded down to 8000 grit with 3M Trizact. Then polished with Sonax product using a Flex orbital polisher. Results are magnificent.

Beyond the finish quality of our rebuilds, lathe polish all exposed shafting with 500 grit cloth before black oxide. All handles, levers and knobs are vapor blasted and satin chromed. Machines visually are a work of art. But pale to the scaping content.

 

[Spud]

since they switched to water based it a completely different game. much more complicated and diffcult, my painter acquaintance tells me.

I did a lot of automotive painting in college; all of it solvent based paints, but at the end of the course we tried waterborne paints. After trying waterborne I wouldn't want to go back to solvent. The waterborne paint laid down much nicer and didn't take a lot of fussing about with the fan spray and pressure on the HVLP gun.

 

[rons]

I've used Imron industrial and auto paints. The industrial formula doesn't level as easy as the automotive. Both dry hard. You find that out when the
orange peel finish you shot 3 days ago has to be sanded smooth and then re-painted.

Something was mentioned about pot life being minutes. Not true. A few hours is more like it. And you can always thin it out with reducer.

What you need to do in minutes is clean a paint gun used with water base paint. Try it with some water base house primer. Wait too long
and passages have to rubbed with toothpicks to scrape off the paint. With solvent base cleaning the time issue is hours.

 

[WizardOfBoz]

Pictures, 10 fingers?

We produce an automotive quality , gloss finish on our machine tool rebuilds. 90% of the work is in preparation. Media blasted, iron castings are ground smooth with a 60 grit disc. Entire casting is skim coated with premium, polyester filler. DA sand flush with 220 grit. Shoot with Sherwin Williams, Spray fill. Block with 400 and 600 grit such that only only sand scratches and pin holes are filled. Finally, shoot Polane B using a special, slow dry reducer. I use a DeVilbiss Tekna Copper gun. Critical to have gun tuned to allow droplets to "wet-out." Spray 3 coats at 90 degrees to each other.

We strive to attend SEMA each year. Seek out the most spectacular cars, speaking one on one to the actual painters, when available. Huge knowledge base. Last month was able to visit with Gene Winfield and Chip Foose.

Recently applied what I learned to a custom car build of my own. Paint is Imron Elite. Flow coated with Imron high solids clear. Wet sanded down to 8000 grit with 3M Trizact. Then polished with Sonax product using a Flex orbital polisher. Results are magnificent.

Beyond the finish quality of our rebuilds, lathe polish all exposed shafting with 500 grit cloth before black oxide. All handles, levers and knobs are vapor blasted and satin chromed. Machines visually are a work of art. But pale to the scaping content.

 

[dian]

I did a lot of automotive painting in college; all of it solvent based paints, but at the end of the course we tried waterborne paints. After trying waterborne I wouldn't want to go back to solvent. The waterborne paint laid down much nicer and didn't take a lot of fussing about with the fan spray and pressure on the HVLP gun.

hm, thats interesting, because every time i tried spraying a water based paint there was no coverage. iv had pitting in the fresh paint on two occasions, obviously because of "wrong" surface prep. i dont touch it any more, but i dont have to.