[TheForge] joining powder coated pieces

[Ray Miller]

OK Here's my two cents on both: (I DO NOT PREFER powder coating). These 
comments are non-biased feedback. When asked, I prefer indoor, 
unpainted iron. Then indoor patinated steel, then outdoor painted 
steel, then outdoor powder coated steel in order of jobs I prefer to 
accept.
Powder coating for exterior applications when done well, has the 
following advantages:
-It has a much thicker finish than paint. Paint is usually about .004" 
and powder coating ranges around .015" plus or minus.
-Powder coating is baked on. When baked the surface grain of the metal 
opens and provides more surface area for "sticking"
-The good powder coating vendors I am familiar with use a multi step 
automated prep process prior to applying the powder. The multiple steps 
include striping and degreasing dirt etc, and application and drying a 
rust inhibitive solution (iron phosphate-like I believe)
-Baked on polyester powder coating is extremely durable and difficult 
to chip.
-Once chipped rust does not propagate as rapidly as it does with paint
-Chips can be painted with fillers that I have been provided by my 
favorite shop

As far as connecting powder coated railings:
  When I accept a job with outdoor railings, powder coated I push for 
bolted assembly.
I have been successful in laying out railings with standardized panel 
lengths and then make up the differences on the ends. I have not 
settled on a single approach to bolted assembly, yet. I keep 
redesigning hoping to continue to improve the process . On my last 
bolted assembly project I was very happy with the result, and there are 
still improvements that could have been made. And NO the fasteners were 
not obvious.
Ray
Cincinnati


On Saturday, September 21, 2002, at 02:11 PM, schade@acegroup.cc wrote:

>
> no idea of the answer here but another question. is there any 
> advantage to powder coating? it seems like everyone thinks it's great 
> stuff but it seems to me to just be a different way to put on paint. 
> if you chip powder coated stuff, and it seems to chip pretty easy, it 
> rusts just like if the paint had been sprayed on or even brushed on.
>
> so is there a significant difference in the protection offered by 
> powder coating?
>
> bob s.
> ____________
>
>
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>> So what are the different techniques used when connecting railing
>> sections that have been powder coated? How does one protect the
>> integrity of the powder coating when the pieces have to be welded? Is
>> masking the weld points typical or do you just grind the areas clean
>> before welding?
>>
>> edge
>>
>
>
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