My First T-Bucket Build
- Thread starter cmcdanl
- Start date
choppedtop
Well-Known Member
I am real happy when all the little stuff is painted. Seems like they take more time to paint than does the body. Your parts are looking good.
cmcdanl
Member
I got a little more work done over the weekend. My build is moving a pretty slow because I am working on two projects at the same time. I'm also restoring a 1970 Chevy C10 so I am having to split my time between the two projects. Anyways, I got my backing plates powder coated. Here are some pics of the backing plates from rusty to powder coated.
cmcdanl
Member
It definitely is neat! And much more durable than paint. The main downfall for me is that you can only powder coat parts that can fit in your oven. And I just have a small conventional oven that is basically 17" x 17" x 17". Also the powder gets everywhere so I do it in my driveway with the garage door shut. Other than that it's awesome, and very easy.
choppedtop
Well-Known Member
Nice job. I have thought about trying to find a old pizza oven to do larger parts in.
cmcdanl
Member
That's what I'm using, a small conventional oven. I bought it on craigslist for $50. It was one of those "in the wall" mounted ovens. I just wired a 220 v plug on the end since the wires were cut. Thought about getting a double oven and cutting the middle out and making one door.
rubicon
Active Member
I had a jeep Wrangler that I used for hunting. I bought new front and rear bumpers side rock bar and a rack for the top. All of theses product were powder coated and from different manufacturers. The powder coating on every item started to peel off. I'm not fond of powder coating. I painted my frame which I already ding up in a couple of spots. I'll just touch up those spots with paint when I take the body off to paint it. What will you do if you ding up your frame that has been powder coated? I know my Jeep was being used a lot differently than a T bucket but, the parts on my Jeep that were painted held up a lot better than the parts powder coated. Each to their own. keep the pics coming. I enjoy watching other peoples builds.
cmcdanl
Member
Well just like with paint, the preparation of the part plays a big role in the durability. If you powder coat over a part that hasn't been properly cleaned and sandblasted, then you run the possibility of the powder coat failing. Maybe the parts that you had weren't properly prepared. In my experience, powder coat is much more durable than paint. It's much harder, it's more flexible, and it's much more scratch resistant. You can powder coat a sheet of aluminum foil, crumble it up and open it back up and it the powder coat finish will not crack. Try doing that with paint! Powder coat also has a very good reputation. It's not like it's a hot new thing that everyone is trying. Companies that create parts like bumpers might be trying to get those parts out as fast as they can to fill orders, skipping some of the crucial steps required prior to powder coating, compared to say... a powder coating company, whose job IS to powder coat. Anyways... to answer your question about touching up small dings, I would simply touch those areas up with brush on touch up paint most likely. But I don't anticipate needing to do that. I powder coated some spare pieces of steel I had laying around to test how durable it was. I tried scratching it with my keys, hitting it with a hammer, dropping it etc. The key mark barely shows up on a very high gloss black, and the dings from dropping it are not enough to reach metal and are very minimal. Much better results than with paint.
benT
Active Member
Chase is right- prep is key to powdercoating. A lot of the production powdercoaters do not media blast the metal prior to coating. Most use a phosphate wash system to etch and clean the bare metal. This is the cheapest and quickest way to prep and it's usually done on a production line. That works for small brackets and cheap parts, but not for bumpers and parts needing longevity and durability. Custom powdercoaters like us prep by media blasting to ensure a clean, rust and oxidation-free part with the proper etch for good adhesion. We also are more careful on what type of powder is used. Like paint, there are many types/formulas of powder, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Also like paint, there is varying qualities. The prep and extra time to do it right usually costs more, thus it's rarely done by manufacturers due to their overall price point.
![trans case fresh chrome (5) [640x480] [640x480].JPG](https://tbucketeer.com/data/attachments/8/8487-4c135135edee6bb1cc009c70f85f13ed.jpg "trans case fresh chrome (5) [640x480] [640x480].JPG")
old round fart
Well-Known Member
Is that powder coat? It looks like polished aluminum
cmcdanl
Member
Assembly has begun! I was finally able to get enough parts painted in order to start assembling the chassis. I want to get it rolling so I can move it in and out of the garage to make room to do some more painting. I only had a few hours to work on it this weekend so I was only able to get the rear axle assembled. I'm going to put new wheels on so I didn't bother painting the drums yet. Pic of the axle and bonus pics of the calipers and caliper brackets for the front. Calipers are painted and brackets are powdercoated.
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