I was quoted $500 to blast and powder coat my 78 f250 4x4 frame. The guy said they double powder coat everything to help prevent chips.

What's your experience with powder coat will this double coat help? I was under the impression the thicker the powder coat the more likely it is to chip?

 

You'll find varying opinions here regarding powdercoating. I am a fan. Did a restoration finished in 1997 with a powdercoated frame and it still looks great. That price is a bargain and I would get that if I had the opportunity. Most blasters will charge you almost that just to blast the frame. Make sure the cover any holes that have threads or interference fits, or you'll have to grind the powdercoat out.

 

btw....where is this guy located??

 

Mooresville, Indiana. Home. They have some pictures on their site of their work.

Thanks for the tip on the threaded holes. I am on the fence between powder coating and por 15. Either way I am going to have the frame blasted. I am just figuring the por 15 and prep will be about $200 plus how ever much it will be to get the frame blasted. I might as well just have it powder coated and be done.

 

Have it doubled. I only have 3 summers on mine but it looks just as good as it did 3 years ago.

winter driving...paint it
warm weather only...powdercoat

 

I go to a local shop and they quoted me $650 to blast and paint my 17 foot frame for my '62 F250 which I didn't think was too bad.

 

If I were in your area, I would grab that job. Here in CA, I expect it will cost at least double that.
Personally, never cared for the look of POR 15...

 

If you will be using the truck to do serious 4 wheeling I'd go paint. If it will be a trailer queen or weekend cruiser got with the powder coat

 

Hmmm that's not too far from me, I might look into their work for some smaller things

 

Performance Coatings Plus Joplin, MO did my frame, front and rear bumpers, roll bar and high temp coated my headers for $750. That has been about 8 years ago though. I think they are still there. His house was close to the path of that tornado several years ago.

 

I owned a powder-coating company for a number of years here in Kalifornia. Blast regulations eventually had me sell it as HAZ mat disposal became stupidly expensive

Your quote is fair...
Blast time- 60 minutes
Media cost- 25.00 recycled (sand/garnite)
Powder cost 15.00
Pressure wash frame 10.00
bake off impurities 45 minutes 10.00
Coat 20 minutes
bake 45-1 hr .. 10.00 (provided the oven is full with other work.. my oven could hold two cars and was expensive to run)
Inspect and wrap corners 10 minutes

Labor... a good master coater is making 20.00 an hour,, an apprentice.. 10.00

Powdercoating is hugely profitable. One small rack of aluminum window extrusions could be bid at several thousand dollars... at a cost to coat of about 150.00


Recoat... hmmm not sure they are doing that... generally you can shoot powder twice and then mil thickness requires blasting again. (and that means media or aviation stripper) Coating once is sufficient and to manufacturers spec... we would recoat if we were doing near chrome.. candies.. fades.. but on a frame one coat would suffice.. if they are really giving you two thats a good deal

For "working" trucks I do not recommend powdercoating
1) its only as good as the blast job.. any rust left will only creep inside the coating (polyester or urethane/epoxy..plus and minuses to both)
2) Doesnt repair well.. especially if you are making any changes down the road to the frame
3) Is more expensive than wet paint and is hard for a DIY'er to replicate.. obviously on a frame near impossible unless you have access to a large commercial oven and hanging rack

A powdercoating primer is available.. as well as hi-temp filler

Powder is thirty five times harder than paint....BUT its only as good as the prep.. any oils left.. even fingers can affect the powder,, which is why the initial bake off... to burn these off and out gas anything left

Using the appropriate additive and prep wet paint DOES go over powder well

I have wet painted and petro based coated all of my restos in progress.. many of which are on this site

Enjoy

 

I powdercoat for a living. We do frames often at around $700. Double coating is dancing with the devil in a way because your double baking it, you could make the powder more brittle. The media you use to blast is important in the process. We use a metal shot that is really aggressive so you get that bite for the powder to stick to. We always use a zinc rich primer for the base coat. Then semi-cure it at 400 degrees for 1 second. Pull it out of the oven let it cool then top coat it for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. I'm in Virginia so I guess the pricing could be fair where your at but I would find out if they semi-cure the first coat or fully bake it.

 

We powdercoat but in a different business so a different process (two lines) - how in the hell do you heat something the size of a frame for one second?

 

It's not exactly 1 second. We heat the oven to 400 degrees for 1 second which is enough to flash cure the primer and ready it for the top coat. Sorry for the confusion.