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Price of Shotblasting/Powdercoating
mangogrooveworkshop - 17/3/04 at 11:30 PM

What are the bench mark prices for the chassis shotblasting and powdercoating either seperate or all together.........

first robin b****s powdercoater said around 350!!!!!!!!!!!!! (could get an avon for that)

Thanks in advance


Mark Allanson - 17/3/04 at 11:38 PM

I have been doing this today!

I have been struggling to de rust my chassis ready for its final paint before the permanent reassembly.

I have been quoted for bead blasting only as I dont want powder coating. One place wants £150 and another wants £300. I used to work in an engineering company as a welder, if the welding went a bit quiet for a week, I was seconded to another department. I sometimes got in the blasting box, a 40' shipping container, I think I could blast out my chassis in about 1 1/2 hours, recycelable beads, overheads.. still seems a bit pricey to me.

What is the rest of the country like for blasting?


JoelP - 17/3/04 at 11:51 PM

i think it was shug who was into that, but he's at t'other end of the island.

didnt conrod have a bead blaster?


Dreckly - 18/3/04 at 02:14 AM

Mark,

I'm curious, which price was from Viaduct Services?
They were talking about £150 to blast and prime my chassis and another £50 on top to paint in 2pack or whatever paint I wanted!!
They did both the Striker & Mojo chassis, including powder coating, for us, but that was a couple of years ago and prices seem to have "shot up"!!

Cheers. Ken.


David Jenkins - 18/3/04 at 08:49 AM

I paid £100 for powder coating in Suffolk - I didn't get it shot-blasted, but cleaned it up myself the hard way.

David


Terrapin_racing - 18/3/04 at 09:45 AM

Talk to Steve at

http://www.northwestenamellers.co.uk/

mention the Terrapin (and he'll double the charge!) - joking- great guys and they do Chester sportscars chassis's (well they are almost next door)
They do a proper job - blast clean, etch prime and then choice of powder types depending on service and exposure.

For benchmark, Terrapin chassis and all suspension components £200 all in


PS: Best to phone if you want a prompt response

[Edited on 18/3/04 by Terrapin_racing]


James - 18/3/04 at 02:03 PM

What about:
The Tool and small wire brush (£5)
Rag and £5 of celly thinners (if you leave the lid off!!)
Screwfix' Red Oxide paint £5 for 2/3 coats.
Tin of Homebase exterior gloss paint- good for 4/5 coats- £12
1 paint brush- B&Q pack of 5 for £2.50
Total Cost: 27.50!

It took me three evenings to do- maybe 8 hours total work.

Clearly, the paint doesn't look as good as powder coating but at the end of the day how much of it are you going to see? Also, when you drop a tool on paint it doesn't annoy so much and you can just touch it up. Scratching plastic coating must be bloody annoying!

All in my humble opinion!

James


MikeR - 18/3/04 at 02:21 PM

but isn't the hope that if you drop a tool on plastic coated it won't chip / mark ???

personally i'm probably going to go por-15 / rust bullet when i get my bottom in gear. Can't figure out how to get the chassis to the powder coater otherwise i'd be tempted.


Terrapin_racing - 18/3/04 at 02:41 PM

1.Powder coating is damn near bullet proof. Any damage can be touched up with humbrol oil based enamel (apparently - never needed to!, even when I glanced the powerfile off it )
2. On the roof rack of the car!

Don't get me wrong, I have cars where I used the wire brush, thinners and then Finnigans brown vevlvet followed by hand brushed Universal paints 2 pack 709 enamel - great finish, but chips)

I suppose if you want perfection on your hard built chassis then powder coating is best, if not .... well the choice is endless

pain though removing the alloy sheets when you need to repaint !


James - 18/3/04 at 02:43 PM

Apparently not. Bob's told me on several occasions he wishes he hadn't bothered with the p'coat as it's chipped so much when dropping stuff. It's then had to be touched up.

On the other hand- the rust protection maybe better as the corners and niches of the chassis that would tend to trap moisture and then rust won't get tools dropped on them!

Anyway- the difference in price is good enough for me. For that money mine's had 3 coats of undercoat (more in areas prone to rust), then atleast 3 coats of top coat and again in areas prone to rust I've put on more- as much as 6 coats in the footwells.

It didn't take as long as it sounds. It was just a case of when I painted something else I would use up the excess paint I had already decanted into a jam jar by painting the footwells an extra coat.

James


Terrapin_racing - 18/3/04 at 02:54 PM

James, you made a good point there - I should have stressed that you really do need to find a powder coating firm that know what they are doing!
Also, there are dozens of different types of powders. When I was researching I contacted the USA powder coating federation and others for advice

http://www.powdercoating.org/home.htm

[Edited on 18/3/04 by Terrapin_racing] Rescued attachment chassis3.jpg
Rescued attachment chassis3.jpg


stephen_gusterson - 18/3/04 at 04:36 PM

I agree with James - how much chassis do you see anyway.

Further, most people seem to keep a locost 2-3 years as far as I can see - take Jon Ison and Chris Gibbons as examples. Most miles are likely to be in the dry, and most about 3,000 miles a year or so.

Is a 1.6mm box section gonna rust thro in that time?

Seems to me that people got to great lengths to rust proof the chassis with the ultimate finish for not a lot of reason.

atb

steve


James - 18/3/04 at 04:49 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Terrapin_racing
<snip>
I should have stressed that you really do need to find a powder coating firm that know what they are doing!
<snip>
[Edited on 18/3/04 by Terrapin_racing]


Good point- maybe some people have just dropped unlucky. Believe it or not I found some where near me that does powder coating of big stuff (surprised me as Guildford is not exactly a national centre of industry! ). It was next door to the specialist paintshop place I'd gone to looking for something special with which to paint the chassis!
Anyway, they wanted £250 to do it- at which I point I rapidly went back to the paintshop!

James


Mark Allanson - 18/3/04 at 08:07 PM

"What about:
The Tool and small wire brush (£5)"

the problem with the tool (as I found out) is that it polishes the surface of the metal so any paint except 2k acid etch (chromate - very dangerous) will not adhere. Blasting gives a coase texture which most paints will grip to.

Powder coating is great in the beginning, but corrosion creeps underneath it and in extreem cases you can pull off a mould of parts of your chassis, as a whole chunk of coating lets go!


James - 19/3/04 at 01:40 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
"What about:
The Tool and small wire brush (£5)"

the problem with the tool (as I found out) is that it polishes the surface of the metal so any paint except 2k acid etch (chromate - very dangerous) will not adhere. Blasting gives a coase texture which most paints will grip to.



You're right about the shot blasting- can give a great surface. I see the results of it at work often. If it was cheaper I'd have gone for it like a shot- as it were.

As regards polishing- have to admit I haven't found that to be a problem- yet! Let's hope I never do! I haven't noticed a major polishing effect- in fact most of the time I've been able to see the marks where the brush has been- hopefully these are abrasions that'll allow the paint to stick better! Doubtful though- knowing my luck!
When it's come to removing the paint for welding stuff (or more bloody modifications ) then I've so far found it quite hard to remove the paint and have has to resort to a flap disc.

James


Terrapin_racing - 19/3/04 at 08:49 AM

I've seen the polishing problem too.
A good solution I have found is a product called metal ready from Frost's (essentially a phosphoric etch solution)
A gallon goes a hell of a long way (ie whole mini bodyshell)

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8229


malcolmstoddart - 19/3/04 at 05:27 PM

(posted this before)
If anyone needs shotblasting done on wishbones,diff casings or similar and then the steel items will be phosphated..let me know, obviously I am in Aberdeen so Edinburgh north is a good idea for travelling..unless you post them...


mangogrooveworkshop - 21/3/04 at 08:37 AM

Thanks for the offer malcolmstoddart , very kind of you to offer. I personally have got a deal from a local guy to do the chassis for 200 sprayed with a two pack and etch primer. Hendersons metal cleaning in Edinburgh asked for 300 to do the same thing so we tried Trailer refurb up at m90 commerce park up at Knockhill.
Its a turnkey operation. I drop he paint we collect. Aberdeen is two and half hours towing so that is the killer. We brought it down from there!!!
Mad 4x4 will take you up Im sure.

Mango


Mark Allanson - 21/3/04 at 11:01 AM

I got my chassis back on Friday, it came up lovely, coated in 2k acid etch and cost £200+vat. I will post some shots on Monday night (its at work ready for painting)


Mark Allanson - 22/3/04 at 07:40 PM

..as promised Rescued attachment Blast&Etched.jpg
Rescued attachment Blast&Etched.jpg


JoelP - 22/3/04 at 07:55 PM

very nice mark!


Mark Allanson - 22/3/04 at 08:03 PM

The whole chassis has the texture of 180 grit paper, fully sealed with the etch primer, and any paint put on it will stick like hell.

All I have to do now is full seal with PU sealer (all the floor to tube joints, rear trailing arm flitch plates etc)

I am going to brush paint it in Golden Yellow synthetic, very easy to repair if (when) I scratch it!


mangogrooveworkshop - 30/3/04 at 06:22 PM

Got it done for 200 Blasted etched and painted with a 2 pac see photo archive


[Edited on 30-3-04 by mangogrooveworkshop]


darren(SA) - 19/5/04 at 11:36 AM

Thats when you gotta love living in South Africa, I got my chassis blasted, coated plus another layer of clear coating for around R700 yip thats RAND for you