Media Blasting & Powder Coating Services
We offer Media Blasting and Powder Coating services for a wide variety of products and industries.
Powder Coating
Why Powder Coat?
- COROSION RESISTANCE - Powder Coat are much more resistant to harsh environments than paint. The finish lasts much longer.
- SCRATCH RESISTANCE - Powdered surfaces are very hard, and thus very scratch resistant. Scratches typically do not get down to the base metal.
- SPEED - Painting requires multiple coats. Powder is applied in one coat
- CONSISTANTCY - Unlike paint, which is difficult to coat consistently, powder goes on easily to produce a smooth surface.
How does it work?
Powder coating can be applied to most metals. Whether your part already has paint on it, is rusty, or newly fabricated, it can be powder coated following a couple of steps.
- Mechanical Preparation (if required) - The mill scale, existing paint, or rust must be cleaned off. Heavy mill scale, rust, grease & grime and existing paint or powder can be removed mechanically using media (sometimes called sand) blasting. Media blasting uses crushed glass or garnet to remove the paint, rust, or heavy scale. Some parts require "outgassing" and other times this is not necessary. Outgassing is a term for opening the pores to drive contaminants or air pockets to the surface to prevent them from affecting the surface finish. Parts with light oils on them do not require blasting. If these are blasted the oils get pushed into the pores of the material which can cause issues when heat is applied. Blasting DOES NOT provide any corrosion prevention.
- Pre-Treatment - Chemically pre-treating the parts provides corrosion resistance and promotes adhesion. Pre-treatment is the MOST IMPORTANT step in the process, which is why we spend Extra time on our cleaning process. We utilize a multi-step process which consists of a high pressure, high heat degrease/clean, followed by a high temp rinse, a conversion coating (zirconium or iron phosphate), a rinse and seal. Parts are placed onto a cart to dry off.
- Dry-off - Parts must be dry and clean prior to powder coating. We meticulously inspect our parts at this stage to verify our parts are as clean as they can possibly be.
- Powder Coating - Choosing the right powder and color are critical to achieving a consistent, durable, finish. We work with you to ensure the color you want is what you get, for your application. Are all powders created equal? The answer is NO. We only buy powder from quality manufactures whose powder is free from fillers. Once the part is dry, it is taken into the powder booth. The cart is connected to an earth ground. Powder is applied via a gun that uses electrostatic charge to adhere the powder to material.
- Curing - Once the powder has been applied, the part must go into a curing oven. The temperature and duration depends on the powder and the part's characteristics.
Professional Media Blasting Services
Surface Preparation
We media blast using a special technique protects the that cushions the surface of the part, thereby reducing the removal of sound material. This method is especially helpful when needing to remove many layers of paint or powder off of a part. Traditional blasting, heats the powder making it "gummy" thereby taking much longer to remove. We are also able to introduce Rust Inhibitor directly into our blast pot which keeps blasted parts from flash rusting. Once the part is blasted it is rinsed off with water containing concentrated Rust Inhibitor and blown off using compressed air.
How long will it take the parts to rust after blasting?
This depends on the environment. Obviously if the humidity is high, flash rust could happen in as little as 24-36 hours. Otherwise, 72 hours is generally when a part will begin to flash rust.
Options to Prevent Rust
- Industrial primer
- Let us Powder coat it for you!