6 Benefits of Powder Coating Your Metal Equipment

Because of its varied applications, it’s hard to imagine a world that doesn’t rely on metal fabrication. This process refers to creating metal parts using different techniques, such as bending, cutting, machining, milling, forming and welding. A crucial aspect of the process is metal finishing. And one of the more popular options of metal finishing is powder coating. In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of hiring a coating services specific for equipment manufacturers. 

What Is Powder Coating

Over many years, powder coating services for metal manufacturers has become the go-to choice for metal finishing techniques. Powder coating involves applying fluidized or electrostatically charged dry powder on metal surfaces and baking the metal structure (at a temperature above 196°C) to cure the coat. 

Powder coating is often used as a protective final coat to prevent corrosion. According to recent data, about 15% of the world’s metal product finishes are powder coated. 

What Are Its Advantages

Metal finishing is critical in protecting and prolonging the life of metal assemblies. If you use electrostatic powder coating as your option, here are the advantages that you can reap: 

It enhances appearance. Powder coating services for equipment manufacturers not only helps protect the metal from corrosion, it adds a sleeker and more polished look to the finished piece of equipment. Depending on the end product, you also have many color matching options, each with a semi-gloss, or matte finish. You can also include additives like glitter or metal flake, whenever necessary. 

It provides durability. Thanks to its curing process, powder coating allows metal structures to harden and be coated with a highly durable protective coating. Severe weather conditions can do some damage to exposed metals. All equipment exposed to the elements should include at least a clear coat from a powder coating shop in PA. Most expert powder coaters in New Jersey will agree that any assembly that uses metal fabrication should have some type of surface finishing to harden and protect the metal part. Compared to metal structures that are simply painted on, powder-coated ones last for a longer time. 

Powder coating when applied correctly presents in a smooth, uniform finish. If you want your metal structures to have a consistent look, powder coating is the metal finishing you should consider. With this technique, you can avoid blemishes such as bubbles and dust bumps. You can also guarantee that the structures will come out with an even and smooth surface after the curing process. 

Why choose to hire a powder coating service for fabricators specifically?  Some powder coating companies in Pennsylvania focus just on the automotive industry or furniture industry. Metal fabricators often use different quality of metal alloys in their work and therefore different formulations of paint powder are used to adhere to different metals. 

Powder coating also boasts flexibility — it is available in different colors that are pre-mixed by the supplier. Because this pre-mixing is done using in advance and according to certain specifications. Therefore a heavy gauge steel – nickel alloy used for an automotive car part for example requires a different formulation of powder material than a NEMA enclosure may require. 

The powder coating services for equipment manufacturers is often associated with excellence in quality. So choose your powder coater wisely.

Powder Coating Big Items Requires Big Ovens

Powder coating metal parts has been the preferred application method of paints and pigments since 1945. Metal fabricators and equipment manufacturers often apply coatings to the parts they make before the equipment they are making is assembled into a final component. This is often the case because most powder coating services simply cannot handle larger pieces due to size limitations these service professionals have with the curing and baking processes. There are only a couple of powder coating services in Montgomery County for example that have curing ovens that can handle assembled parts larger than a patio table for 4 people.

What Goes Into The Powder Coating Process

To have a better grasp of how challenging it can be to powder coat big items, you have to understand first the basics of the powder coating process. 

Surface preparation. To secure the durable adhesion of the powder, the surface of any item that needs to be coated should be thoroughly prepared. It should be free of oils, residues and contaminants for the final finish to be long-lasting. During this stage, several techniques can be employed, including rinsing, blasting, and chemical washing. 

Coating application. There are two ways that the powder coating can be applied. The electrostatic spray deposition (ESD), method involves the use of an electrostatic spray gun, a powder feeder, a low voltage power unit, and a powder spray booth. The other method is the fluidized bed powder coating technique which involves dipping preheated items to be coated into a fluidized bed that contains the powder material. 

Heat curing. If something was powder coated through ESD, it needs to be cured inside specially designed ovens. For those coated in fluidized beds, the heat curing actually takes place as the powder material melts and coats the preheated item upon contact. In cases when the item is immersed, not preheated, the same heat curing technique used in ESD will be done. 

Powder Coating Big, Bulky, and Heavy Items

Intuitively speaking, you need a bigger oven to coat and cure bigger, heavier, and bulkier components or items. Additionally, a longer period of time is needed to complete the whole process. 

Despite these scale-related concerns, powder coating for large parts is still the better coating solution for larger items compared to traditional painting. One of the biggest reasons is because powder coatings tend to be more durable than liquid paints and coatings. When it comes to the powder coating process, whether you need a big or a small amount of powder, you can finish the coating application and curing in one application of the powder media. 

Powder coating also minimizes waste and the potential negative impact to the environment. Take note that unlike paints, powder coatings do not contain volatile organic compounds which can be dangerous to the technicians and to the environment. 

Most powder coaters in Philadelphia operate from heated facilities. The big ovens used in the curing process are manufactured with welded steel frames and have sealed doors. Spray booths typically are equipped with air curtains and other features that prevent cool air from seeping into the spray booth. It is rare to find a powder coating company with ovens larger than 6’ x 6’ x 6’ deep because the equipment costs so much. CoatingTech in Montgomeryville PA can handle powder coating for large parts because they have the larger spray booths and curing ovens.