Powdercoating Torque Tube, Control rods, Pedals
Had a bit of fun getting the control parts powdercoated over the past few days. I decided to try a certain method and see how it came out before doing any of the bigger parts. After a lot of research I had decided on the following strategy:
1) Sandblast parts. The local blaster uses some fine crystals (don’t recall what offhand), but he reckoned a 2-3 micron effect. I was not expecting the bright gray colour it would come out in – was expecting shiny silver, but it was dull gray and sightly rough to the touch.
2) 2 coat/layer powdercoat process using Orica’s PacficGold product range (New Zealand based):
a) Undercoat of PacificGold Zincshield
(see http://www.oricapowdercoatings.com/tds_files/990%20Zincshield.pdf for a technical specification). This is a pretty tough zinc based epoxy based thermosetting powder.
b) Topcoat of PacificGold Armourspray EP
(see http://www.oricapowdercoatings.com/tds_files/910%20Armorspray%20EP.pdf for a technical specification). This is tough as nails thermosetting powder used for anti-graffiti application on things like bus shelters, telephone boxes, foodcourt benches, etc. and is the only powder I could find that was completely MEK resistant – important for fabric covering.
Spent ages watching the process and the big ovens, and thoroughly had a good time annoying all the staff who probably hate people wondering around their floor, but anyway, these parts are like my babies.. It all came out pretty good in the end. And I was pretty chuffed with the gloss finish and the tough feel to them now. Amazing what a single colour does to cover a really ugly set of dirty greasy tubes.
I’m too scared to try scratch them, so next time I’ll take through a spare tube or two so I can bash them around afterwards and see how good they are, The guy literally beat a sample piece with a claw hammer 30-40 times to try an get the surface to crack, and he couldn’t, so I was well impressed. A friend made a good observation, that I would be unlikely to lean over and beat the side of my torque tube with a claw hammer 30-40 times, but hey, it’s nice to know the stuff is tough.
Also bought a inch-pound torque wrench (only had a foot-pound one) and a better tap 1/4″ NC 28 for threading bushings for the stabilizer support tubes.
Time expended: 2 hours. Total time: 452 hours.
