Powder Coating Project

After the holiday long break I was starting to get nervous about Project 52 where we photograph and blog about a weekly powder coating project. The idea behind Project 52 is to not only get a chance to powder coat many unique and interesting items throughout the year but to market powder coating to consumers that don’t know how effective, longlasting and inexpensive it can be.

Time was running out and I was unprepared. Project 1 came to us as a late holiday gift. When I got the call from Mrs. McPherson looking to salvage a vintage metal cabinet I couldn’t be more relieved. The cabinet is a beautiful mid 1900’s classic. When it first arrived at our offices we were able to count at least 4 layers of paint and a dozen shades of white on it. Rust was present but structural damage was not compromised. Once the powder coating color was selected, a deep crimson red, Tiger Drylac -RAL 3004 the process was ready to start. ( You can see pictures of the process in our gallery page under Project #1 )

The cabinet was constructed with minimum welds and almost no screws. Rather it was put together using perfectly form fit panels; a beautifully engineered puzzle. Each door has a glass panel held in place with interlocking strut bars. I had to dig deep to find my inner Jenga master to figure it out. Once each piece of metal was separated and the glass was safely stored, the powder coating fun began.

We used three different types of blasting materials to clean the cabinet, plastic, glass and aluminum oxide. Material selection is important to minimize the amount of heat generated by friction. Too much isolated friction will cause warping and permanently damage the metal.

We quickly moved the parts to the powder coating department and began the application process. Ill try to spare you the boring details but the parts came out looking great. We finished powder coating the Vintage Metal Cabinet by piecing it back together and to my relief there were no extra parts!!

Thank you for your interest in our blog. Please help us get the word out. See you next week when we bring a 1950’s patio set back to life.