We got front gates made about 3 years ago and the finished gates powder coated in black. The finish was fairly matt rather than high gloss, and they have been fine up until now. When the brighter evenings came along, I began to notice they looked very dull and almost grey.
So tonight I went out, armed with a bucket with Flash in it and a sponge pot scourer thing. I gave them a good wash but as they dried I realised that it has made very little difference, apart from removing a bit of grey-green dust from around the bottom.
They almost look like an old car that needs T-Cut. Is this the case, and if so, would T-Cut for black cars be off any use?
If you want glossy black, then give them a coat of Hammerite Enamel Black. Lasts for years, but looks cheap and cheesy on wrought iron gates, in my personal opinion. Your gate were more than likely given a matt coat to make them look rich and antique. Were they?
I choose the matt black because the glossy black reminded me too much of the council's bins - and I agree is a bit cheesy too. But the problem is this white 'bloom' that gives an extremely dull look and makes them look grey rather than black. I don't want very shiny, but I would like them as black as possible. Maybe the glossy finish is more hard wearing?
Would Hammerite stick to powder coating?
And I am pissed off as the whole point of the powder coating was to avoid any painting. And it wasn't cheap as we had 7 individual bits to get done.
It doesn't last ten minutes on thin steel gates (Hammerite is too stiff, and doesn't like the bending). Over powder coat you won't even get five minutes.
Gates are handmade and aren't thin - the metal used is about twice standard gates - a friend's husband has a forge in his backyard for a hobby, so money went into the materials.
I was going to suggest that, but it doesn't last very long. It's mostly silicone oil which is good for a quick tarting up but would weather off quickly.
You'd have no chance of painting on top of it either, if you later wanted to try paint.
That's electrostatic spraying. You're applying what's basically standard paint, but the static charge improves coverage especially round the back, on corners and in shadowed areas. For flat sheet it's no better than a simple spraygun, but it's a good improvement for complex shapes (such as gates).
Powder coating is "coating with a powder", pretty much by definition. A slightly sticky _powder_ is sprayed with an electrostatic gun, then it's heated in a stove enamelling oven and only then does the powder fuse. If you limit this fusion time, there's enough fusion to make it stick, but not enough to make the surface glossy. You're thus a bit at risk of operator skill here - too little fusion gives a guaranteed matt without shiny patches, but it can also be porous (usually on the bottom edges of rails)
Dipping is similar to powder coating, but it's done by dipping in a fluidised bed of powder (a bucket, with air blown through the bottom). It's reasonable to describe either as "powder coating", unless specified in more detail.
The problem with powder coating is similar to that of Hammerite - the coating itself is far stronger than the adhesion to the substrate. If you annoy it, it loses the bond and you get the coating peeling off wholesale. Dipping gives a thicker coat, so it's more prone to this. However sprayed powder coatings can be thin on edges, so they may be more susceptible to wear and the first delamination starting.
Personally I'd much rather hot-dip galvanise a gate, then let it weather on its own.
I'm afraid you are only confusing yourself again. Powder coating is applied electrostatically exactly as I said
The powder is only a type of paint in a powder form. Its a mixture of resins and colouring compounds. (i.e.) Paint. It flows out when heated.
as I said originally
Its not rocket science any half trained operator can control the application. If your local shop can't do it then find one that can. Personally we use several different commercial sprayers to spray and stove enamel steel frames, and have used many different shops over the years. None had any problems in this area.
No. Your confused again. Dipping is mereley dunking in paint. Specially formatted paint/lacquer given, but essentially just liquid paint. It can give a very heavy coat, hence its popularity, but improper substrate preparation can lead to quick deterioration and delamination. Most paint brush handles are dipped.
I really don't know where you are going with this. There is very little valid comparison to be made between a powder coated stove enamelled finish and air dryed Hammerite. The adhesive properties of any paint are primarily down to the proper preparation and etch priming, if necessary, of the sub strate. The thickness of the coat has little relevance to the bond strength. Electrostatically applied coatings excel on edges due to the nature of the application
Its apples and pears. While I would agree that galvanising is a much better protector of steel than paint its unreal to talk about galvanising and any of the readily available paint processes in the same breath.
Back to the o.p. Personally I think a powder coated stove enamelled finish was the next best thing to galvanising. The dulling/greying of the paint may be down to the quality of paint used and the actual colour. Darker colours and reds will show these tendencies quicker than most.
Paint is generally taken to mean a liquid, with either a resin which cures on exposure to air, or a solvent which evaporates. If you want to term a non-flowing, non-curing, non-dissolved powder as "paint" then you can of course have words mean anything you like. But that's like Alice talking to Humpty Dumpty.
But you need a conscientious operator. Skimping on spray time around the corners, or fusing it for a bit too short a time to stop glossies, all improve throughput but they reduce quality.
I'm loath to say that "stove enamel" can't apply to powder coating, because it's certainly stoved, but the name is usually applied to a wet paint process that's stoved, not powder.
Of course it is. But we're talking about powder coating, not paint. You can obviously dip in paint (your paintbrushes), or in liquid rubbers (plier handles) or in powder. Shouting "You're wrong, I was talking about Nutella dip, yah boo" is just playground sophistry.
And for that matter, you can powder dip either hot or cold (electrostatically). Hot dip is the one for the thick coatings, electrostatic dip is the one that can have problems with sharp edges, if you're too careless withdrawing from the bath (too roughly, too early).
Yes, but the flow afterwards tends to reduce this. Over stove a powder coat and the edges thin out as surface tension pulls the coating inwards.
A further point to this: if you scratch a tiny area with your nail, it looks like there is a shiny surface underneath. the "scratch" mark stays there, but if you rub it with your thumb is goes and looks evenly dull again. Whatever this top layer is, is seems to smudge around in a circle easily.
This has two implications:
This layer may be removeable if it is identifiable, but what is it?
If it can't be removed, will it cause a problem for painting over?
I.M.E. powder coating is invariably termed as a type of paint. It is applied by electrostatic spray on to a surface, stove enamelled and the finished product pereforms the same function as and is identical to liquid paint. It is generally applied by spray painters in what are generally paint shops.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its a duck
Any operation needs a good operator. Even brush applied finishes require a good operator. Applying powder coating is no different, nor is it in any way dificult to attain good finishes which is one of the reasons it is often preferred. (i.e.) Its harder to make a crigs of the job with powder coating than it is with liquid paint. While no great hand at spray painting I easily obtained a good finish with powder coating the first time I tried it.
Its a stove enamel finish. Its baked in an oven after application. No- one I know in the paint industry would call it anything else. Why would they for heavens sake ? Its baked in an oven. What else would they call it. Its not worth a tinkers curse unless it is stove enamelled. Unlike wet paints which can be air drying it is always baked as part of the process. The term stove enamelled most certainly is not applied only to wet finishes.
There was no sophism in what I stated, just plain and simple facts. A 'dipping finish' is generally understood to be in a liquid medium. The problems you were attributing to what you termed as a dipping finish are those met with when wet dipping.
This is a problem with all paints and is not peculiar to powder coating
There you go again. The improper use of any finish will degrade it. The problem lies in the operation not in the product. The fact that we talking about powder coating here is fairly irrelevant in this context.
Among the various reasons powder coating is preferred by the spray shops are primarily its ease of application and its ease of obtaining a good even finish. All this talk about operator error, poor adhesion, pooor coverage on corners is just that. Talk. No-one I know complains about powder coating in these terms. Possibly books make reference to these things but they are not regarded as problems particular to powder coating by the trade i.m.e. The main complaint I ever hear about powder is the cost of the raw material.
In my pemultimate post I suggested you try 'T' cut to restore the=20 finish. Regrettably if it has proved prone to this type of dulling I can=20 think of no long term solution othen than to keep using 'T' cut or re- coat with an air dried finish. In the latter case the only consolation=20 you have is that at least you should be starting from a good base after=20 you have touched up any bare spots with something like Lowes (Sp.?)=20 primer.
If you are uncertain how to carry this out I'm sure someone else will be=20 along soon to quote re-gurgitated screeds of a.n.o.t.h.e.r.s literature.
A quick look at some of these may be useful. All found via a quick=20 google=20
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=91Combating=20 Rust: a short guide=92
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Mc Cann
'All that glitters is not gold, never lose a sense of humour'
replying to Suz, RB13013 wrote: I had powder coated gates installed in Oct 2015. I have tried various way to clean them but nothing seems to work. This Morning I gave the gates a scrub with soapy water and then hosed them off
- no good left the black coating dull with grey streaks. This afternoon I made a Mixture of used sunflower oil and white spirit. 50/50, poured into a hand spray, sprayed onto the gates and used a paint brush to coat the nooks n crannies. - Looks a treat. I last did this about a year ago but using only sunflower oil. Hope this helps you.
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