Topic: Can I trust a cheap powder coating company?

[Juan1]

I ask this because I've received many quotes from powder coaters around town to do my frame, footpegs, swingarm and triple.  One of the shops quoted me $200, which is half of the next cheapest quote.  I found the shop from a favorable mention on a bicycle forum, and a google search of problems+shop name turned up nothing.

Another piece of information is that the shop changed its name recently to Able Sand Blasting from DBS Powder Coating (La Mesa, CA).  Yelp searches on either name turned up nothing, though someone on another forum was happy with the work they did on car brake calipers.

Normally I would never go with the lowest bidder, but if I degrease the bike ahead of time myself, tape up the areas I don't want coated, and I'm painting these low-visibility parts the easy-to-paint color of factory black, it seems like it would be difficult for a powder coater to mess anything up.  Plus few people have reported powder coating problems in general.  Thoughts?

[Elan]

When a powdercoater is much cheaper, they have to make their money back. They can do it in different ways:

They could skip the sandblasting- cause you wouldnt know untill weeks or months later when you notich your coating chips easily(ask me how I know)

They can use recycled powder. This is the powder that never made it onto a part, is swept up, and put back in the gun with other crap making bumps in your surface.

they can use subpar quality powder.

Not to dissuade you, but make sure you can confirm these things first.

[kghost]

There's some things that influence cost.

How much prep work they put in for example.

It takes a fair amount of time to properly mask and block off where powder should not go.

My experience with low quotes indicates the probability that they have not factored this in.

So you best be real specific about where you don't want powdercoat.

Like a lot of things, the devil is in the prep work.

[fendersrule]

My guy (who runs a business at his house) is 2x cheaper than anyone else in the valley. I've had time to verify his quality, and it cant be better. The first time I used him, I brought him some "mostly" blasted parts that a friend did for me. He looked them over and said that he would do some additional blasting before powder coating. That's how I know he cares about prep.

Many coaters won't do piece work, either. For my latest project, I blasted all the parts myself (16 hours of work) and I got them 100% perfect. Blasting is the real time sink and money adder. The act of powder coating is easy and cheap (there is an art involved though). If I didn't blast these parts, he probably would have charged me upwards of $300. Since I blasted them, he's charging me under $100.

So I use him because he has fantastic quality, accepts piece work, and is cheap (and fast).

I couldn't blast the frame myself, so I had to rely on him to do it. That was nearly $200, but it was absolutely perfect. He sprayed around the Vin tag (you can't even tell that it was masked), kept the powder out of the important spots. Check out my CB450 (Sunrise) thread to see his work.

Point being, if they are cheap, they could be cheap because (a) they work from home and they want to get started with business and are just as high quality as anyone else, or (b) they skimp on the blasting.

Powder-coating without proper prep is as good as no powder coating at all. The best thing you can do is prep them yourself so that you can be SURE that the prep was taken care of properly, and then take it to the lowest bidder. This is where connections are handy and knowing your blaster.

[kghost]

I usually find they don't skimp on blasting.

They skimp on taping and plugging holes.

So you wind up with crap. Crap with blocked holes

[fendersrule]

How do you know for sure?

Blasters don't use tape for holes to my knowledge. A good blaster as a set of blocks that they use which can withstand the baking oven. It doesn't take long to block up a few holes (there typically isn't THAT much beyond the steering column and the swing arm). So a few minutes vs 16 hours. It's the 15-16 hours (around what it takes to blast every metal piece besides body panels on an old motorcycle) that they can live without.

I would expect that if I received a frame back with powder in unwanted places (I usually always tell my blaster where I don't want powder but he's always been aware as if I were preaching to the choir), I would be almost absolutely sure that they didn't do a good job with blasting.

A good job with blasting is not only removing rust, but removing all instances of paint. On a frame, it takes considerable time.

[kghost]

Well I'm not going to correct you fenders.

You've demonstrated your superior knowledge previously.

The tape I refer to is fiberglass based and rather heat proof.

Silicon plugs are also used.

If the powdercoater is smart, he'll use stripper on the paint before ever blasting it.

A whole bunch of paint coming off just contaminates the blast media.

I often strip the frame before taking it in. Makes finding and repairing damage much easier prior to finish. Plus, I don't count on the powdercoater to find any corrosion or cracking in a frame or part. It's not what they are trained to do.

Blasting a frame with the proper equipment should take a couple hrs at worst.

[Pnhmechanical]

The tape used is the same stuff sold at your welding supply store, you can buy a kit from east wood and use your kitchen over (as long as its electric) and do some of it your self. I've been doing it for about 9 years now. It's pretty easy

[Don R]

My cheap guy did a great job except he promised to remove the frame neck tag but instead he sandblasted it into oblivion. a #10141xx diecast tag.  #$%&er.

[lucky]

My guy (who runs a business at his house) is 2x cheaper than anyone else in the valley. I've had time to verify his quality, and it cant be better. The first time I used him, I brought him some "mostly" blasted parts that a friend did for me. He looked them over and said that he would do some additional blasting before powder coating. That's how I know he cares about prep.

Many coaters won't do piece work, either. For my latest project, I blasted all the parts myself (16 hours of work) and I got them 100% perfect. Blasting is the real time sink and money adder. The act of powder coating is easy and cheap (there is an art involved though). If I didn't blast these parts, he probably would have charged me upwards of $300. Since I blasted them, he's charging me under $100.

So I use him because he has fantastic quality, accepts piece work, and is cheap (and fast).

I couldn't blast the frame myself, so I had to rely on him to do it. That was nearly $200, but it was absolutely perfect. He sprayed around the Vin tag (you can't even tell that it was masked), kept the powder out of the important spots. Check out my CB450 (Sunrise) thread to see his work.

Point being, if they are cheap, they could be cheap because (a) they work from home and they want to get started with business and are just as high quality as anyone else, or (b) they skimp on the blasting.

Powder-coating without proper prep is as good as no powder coating at all. The best thing you can do is prep them yourself so that you can be SURE that the prep was taken care of properly, and then take it to the lowest bidder. This is where connections are handy and knowing your blaster.

Anyone that does "piecework" is a fool. It encourages sloppy work.
The only fair way to get paid or to charge is per hourly rate. It is fair to both parties.

[martin99]

Seems you have the same issues over the pond as we do in ol' Blighty.

As has been said, cheap doesn't necessarily mean crap, but it can do. I made the mistake of going to an industrial powdercoater, seduced by the price, for shotblasting and black powdercoat. Looked great when it was done, but wasn't long before the problems began...... chunks flaking off as you tightened bolts, sometimes revealing old paint where it wasn't blasted properly.  Even found a two-inch split in the frame after a few weeks, which would have been obvious before it was coated.

Moral of the story... whatever the cost, make sure it's done by someone who knows about motorcycles, who will rectify potential areas of trouble before coating and treat your bike as if it were their own.