We’ve all seen it.  Whether on your patio furniture, a toolbox, or the fence around your pool, powder coating is one of the most widely used finishes today.  Unlike normal paint products, powder coated surfaces are highly scratch resistant.  This makes powder coating the perfect match for surfaces that will encounter a lot of abuse over time like gates, chassis parts, trailers, and even nuts and bolts. 

Most paint products need a primer first. Second, the paint is applied (wet) and it could take a long time to cure (dry).  After the curing process, high end finishes need to be sanded, repainted, and buffed to achieve a smooth glass finish, and as you can imagine, it can get quite costly.

With powder coating, the process is quite different.  After sand blasting and surface prep, parts are suspended from racks and given a negative ground.  The “paint” or “powder” as we call it, is a mixture of finely ground particles of pigment and resin. There is no need for a primer coat, most standard colors are a one shot process, making it simple and cost effective for the consumer. Using special spraying guns, the powder is given a positive charge and is sprayed onto the surface that is being coated. Because the powder and the part have opposing electrical charges, the dry powder sticks to the surface of the part.  Think of it like the static cling that you experience with a clothes drier. With this process, there is little waste, and it’s more cost effective than paint. Unlike paint, powder has no Volatile Organic Compounds, and is relatively harmless to environment. The excess powder is collected, baked into a solid cube, and then disposed of. With powder coating, there is NO hazardous waste to store or dispose of.

Once the parts are thoroughly coated with powder, the rack is placed into a giant oven where the parts bake for approx 10 to 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  Under the heat of the oven, the resin powder is melted and fused into a smooth coating with a uniform, durable and high-quality finish, with no runs, drips, or sags.

Parts are then removed and allowed to cool for 30 minutes.  Unlike a painted surface, powder coated items are cured and ready to go once they’ve cooled. This is particularly useful for people who can’t wait weeks for paint to dry before assembling the project. Sometimes it appears that the parts are so smooth and glossy that they appear wet, when actually they were never wet!

When powder coated items are installed without damage to the powder coating and they are maintained regularly, they should be relatively permanent. Correctly applied coatings physically bond to the metal and will not crack, chip or peel as with conventional paint finishes.

In the event that a powder coated surface is chipped, the coating will not tend to peal back or flack off around the damaged area like with paint.  This is due to the strong bond between the metal and the finish. If you damage an area of the powder and have bare metal showing, seal it up as soon as possible. If you don’t seal the bare area, you will get rust, which could eat away at the powder coat and cause it to start flaking off.

The choice of colors and textures are almost limitless.  Yes, we said textures.  Whether you are looking for a chrome, candy, or a flat black finish, chances are good that there is a perfect powder for you.  Glendale Powder Coating stocks a large assortment of colors to help improve turn around time and reduce the overall cost to the consumer.  There are literally thousands of colors we can get, so if we don’t stock the color you’re looking for, we can get it.   

During installations, the powder coating should be protected from damage due to abrasion or certain chemical contact. Once installed, maintaining the initial appearance of powder coating is simple. Since powder coated surfaces are non-porous, dirt and grime doesn’t tend to stick very well.  When they do get dirty, powder coatings should be washed down with soapy water -- use a neutral detergent such as one for automotive finishes -- and rinsed off with clean water.

With powder coating, it’s easy to talk about the many ways it is superior to traditional paint.  But the reality is, powder coating is not always the right finish for every job.  First off, powder coating is only really best suited for metal products.  Plastics, wood, glass, and rubber are not likely to withstand the temperature of the oven.

Powder also is not the best choice for an exact match to existing painted surfaces.  Powder comes in what seems to be an endless list of colors, but multiple colors of powder cannot be mixed to achieve a new color.  Doing so would result in a speckled finish; a process that can look cool, but not if you are trying to match a specific color. To have a custom powder made for an exact match, is usually so expensive that the customer chooses the closest match without going custom.