Prepping a Bike Frame for Powder Coating with Logos

Step 6 Powder Coat

This is the easy part: take the frame to the powder coaters. I had great luck with West Coast Powder Coating in South San Francisco. AJ at West Coast was able to simply wipe the paint off of the surface of the logos before curing.

Comments

[hybridracers]

this is more kind of a diy of how to have everyone else do the project. I fortunately have access to most of the tools but the average person does not. Also the title has nothing to do with what happened.

[Handsy]

= most confusing comment evaaar

We powder coated a frame: CHECK
The frame had logos: CHECK

I think the essence of this instructable has been well documented via the title.

[hybridracers]

No.......the problem with this instructable is that the only thing most readers can do is paint strip the bike. For it to be a true one it would have shown a DIY setup for powdercoating, logo making (and Id let that one slide) and the such. The only thing this showed most people is how to have someone else do a lot of work for you to make a cool bike.

[toekneebullard]

I gotta agree with hybrid racers. This is how to PREP a bike for powdercoating, not how to powdercoat.

[corwin]

Would you all feel better if I changed the title to 'prepping a bike for powder coating with logos'? I would agree that the interesting bit here is adding aluminum logos so that they look like they are part of the frame's material.

[eddy3305]

knitpickers! I am an old far#$ and have been around and can and do build almost anything out of junk and make it look like it is bought new. My job is to fix what proffessionals cannot. I scanned this months ago and spent three days to finally track it down again so I could steal your idea to use. I say its brilliant and clever and I don't care what you call it.
eddy3305

[Calorie]

splitting hairs, legalese...who cares. He did a rocking job. It's a great idea, and one that I will use for my next beau. Everyone here uses the work of someone else. I have yet to see someone synthesis, distill and use their own chemicals (minus the catnip guy.) What about the fabric we use, or the LEDs we work with. He left the heavy lifting to someone else. Kudos

[toekneebullard]

Obviously we all use other people's work. But it's one thing to use an LED in your instructable, and another to title it "how to build an LED" when you just use one in your 'ible. Corwin, I don't mean to hound you or anything, but truth is I clicked on your instructable because I was interested to learn if I could feasibly do powder coating DIY. (I truly know nothing of the process) So to read through the whole thing and then see at the end you just passed it off to someone else (perfectly respectable if you're not saying 'here's how to do powder coating' ) was pretty disappointing. None the less, the logo attachment was certainly interesting, and I'm sure useful to many people. Thanks for contributing, and I hope you don't take anything I've said as anything more than a little constructive criticism on naming your instructables.

[Calorie]

Less talky and more searchy....

http://www.eastwood.com/hotcoat-powder-coating.html

And yes, you are hounding the poor guy/girl. It would of been cool to see the process from start to finish. The link I provided shows what it takes to actually powdercoat at home at a realistic cost. It is 'cost prohibitive' as we might say in economics.

You'd get an approximately durable finish if you took your time and carefully used high quality spray paint (yes, from a can). I've seen it done and it is amazing. Powder coating costs a lot for diminishing returns, unless you really want powder coating.

[hybridracers]

I know where to get supplies........Like I said, the title insinuated that he was doing this diy, you arent helping anything. He obviously has access to a machine shop to make contour presses and other goodies........which is cool......those are non common things. I have a powdercoat booth set up I made myself........I opened this page to see if anyone had something that worked better.

[Calorie]

you arent helping anything.

That's true. Sorry for the smart alecky remark. It just seems a bit picky and for whatever reason I perceived that s/he needed defending.

It is demoralizing for one to write an instructable and then to be bashed about. I think it is safe to say that we all want to encourage additional i'bles. A newbie might find it additionally intimidating after running across a situation like this.

I've wanted to write one, but I'm a bit intimidated by the level of detail. How much detail is good enough? I've repaired my plastic tanks on my radiator. I don't show "how" I removed the radiator (there are many car models, and the process varies greatly) but instead focus on out of car cleaning and prep. And I know that someone will inevitably say that I should describe how I removed the radiator. It's all a bit frustrating.

And I have found that passions run deep with bicycles. Whether it be WD-40 as a lubricant (some think using it will make your bike burst into flames) or if helmets actually work (they do, if they didn't the litigious nature of our society would either run the companies out of business or encourage refinement until they worked.) Cyclist are unusual by nature, and I count myself among their kind.

I'm off to powder coat my cat. Peace Out!

[nick222]

"Powder Coat a Bike Frame with Logos" as a title makes me think that this would be a 'how to' powder coat your bike frame instead of just taking it to a shop... I think the textured logos part is awesome though, very creative!

[marple200]

I like this. I can see how this approach can be applied to numerous projects. Cutting thin aluminum and working with jewelers tools is within anyone's capability.

[chrwei]

there was paint on the logo's? did you skip a step?

[jswilson64]

No paint on the logos, he had a dude at the powder-coater place wipe it off before they baked it.

[Tagarashi]

wow take the frame to a powder coater? I would have never thought of that!

[camp6ell]

(removed by author or community request)

[camb00]

PREPPING a frame for powder coat not misleading at all

[eatin ramen]

good step by step on how to avoid paying the pros to do the stuff you can do yourself. but if you want your frame to look that good, you have to let the pros do the finishing touches. good work

[gopackers]

I think it's beautiful! I wouldn't want to diy such a large, expensive part at home anyway. There are people on the cnczone that would be happy to cut logos for you at a reasonable price. I was wondering, while reading the instructable, how you finished the logos and when you said they wiped the powder off I thought how simple that was. Good job, I love it. If I ever see it I might steal it. (just kidding)

[skipwkk]

What did the actual powder coating cost ?

[trmatthe]

I did think from the title that we'd be taken through a DIY powdercoating process and although we weren't it was still interesting to read.

I think I speak for all of us though when I ask "'What did the girl say? Did you get anywhere with her?" It's a lot of work for somebody who doesn't seem to reciprocate your feelings. Good luck anyway dude :)

[Rogue Gourmet]

Seroiusly, What did the girl say?? (the logo looks sweet by the way)