Powdercoating

Boss Powdercoating are the specialists in powdercoating and dustless media blasting. The Boss Powdercoating batch oven is the largest in New Zealand – measuring 10.5 metres in length, 2.7 metres in width and is 2.6 metres tall.  We do the jobs that most other powdercoating companies cannot.

What is Powdercoating?

Powder Coating is the environmentally friendly coating material.
It is a paint in powder form which is electrically charged as it is sprayed onto a surface to be coated and then baked in an oven, where the powder particles melt and fuse into a smooth coating.

The basis of any good coating is preparation. The vast majority of powder coating failures can be traced to a lack of a suitable preparation.  The preparation treatment is different for different materials.   As part of your quotations, we’ll talk through how to best prepare your product for powdercoating.

Here at Boss Powdercoating, the powdered paint is electrostatically charged and sprayed onto the part.  The part is then placed in an oven and the powder particles melt and coalesce to form a continuous film.  We operate the largest oven in the Waikato and therefore can do the big jobs that others can’t.

The powder is applied with an electrostatic spray gun to a part that is at earth (or ground) potential.

Before the powder is sent to the gun it is fluidized:

•to separate the individual grains of powder and so improve the electrostatic charge that can be applied to the powder and

•so that the powder flows more easily to the gun.

Because the powder particles are electrostatically charged, the powder wraps around to the back of the part as it passes by towards the air offtake system. By collecting the powder, which passes by the job, and filtering it, the efficiency of the process can be increased to 95% material usage.

To obtain the final solid, tough, abrasion resistant coating the powder coated items are placed in an oven and heated to temperatures that range from 160 to 210 °C (depending on the powder).  During the curing process (in the oven) a chemical cross-linking reaction is triggered at the curing temperature and it is this chemical reaction which gives the powder coating many of its desirable properties.
A hard finish is created that results in a more durable finish than can be achieved with liquid paint.  As the parts are heated, the melted powder forms a coating that is both physically and chemically bonded to the surface. These custom powder coatings are virtually chip, fade and scratch-resistant. Eco-friendly powder coating is significantly more durable than conventional painting, and is more cost efficient.

Color is added to powder coatings during the manufacturing process, i.e., before the powder reaches the powder coater.  The choice of colours and finishes is almost limitless.  Powder coatings can be applied over a wide range of thickness. Color matching is quite acceptable batch to batch.

Why powdercoat?

Powder coating produces a high specification coating which is relatively hard, abrasion resistant (depending on the specification) and tough. Thin powder coatings can be bent but this is not recommended for exterior applications.

Powdercoating is Environmentally Friendly

The eco-friendly powder coatings emit zero or near zero solvents that are known to produce volatile organic compounds (VOC). These organic chemicals have a high vapor pressure at ordinary, room-temperature conditions, and many of them are dangerous to human health or cause harm to the environment.

• Environmentally friendly powder coating overspray can be recycled, and thus it is possible to achieve nearly 92% use of the coating.
• Environmentally friendly powder coating also produces less hazardous waste than conventional liquid coatings.
• Unlike some finishes, environmentally friendly powder coating contains no heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium. It likewise does not contain harmful carcinogens, which are substances or agents that can cause cells to become cancerous by altering their genetic structure so they multiply continuously and become malignant.
• Eco-friendly powder coating does not produce any hazardous wastes as by-products of the process.

Dustless Blasting

The Dustless Blaster is the future of surface preparation.  It works by mixing water and an antioxidant chemical inside the blast tank along with the following different medias;

• garnet
• glass
• polish
• sand

Dustless Blasting is the most effective surface preparation tool used for removing coatings such as paint, powder coating, body fillers and rust. It does not create heat or dust and is environmentally friendly.  Boss Powdercoating will choose the media based on the product to be blasted.

In addition, Dustless Blasting eliminates the problems typically associated with traditional stripping methods. Sandblasting creates heat which can cause warping of panels from the heat created by friction of the abrasive impacting the metal. Sodablasting can leave residue, a ph imbalance, which is not paint friendly. Acid dipping can also leave residue not to mention that every surface will be stripped. This includes the inside of many areas that are difficult, if not impossible to get to.

This method is the BEST way to remove paint, body filler and rust from your auto body, chassis or anything that has a coating you want to remove. Strong enough to remove multiple layers of paint, body fillers and rust yet gentle enough not to harm or warp body panels.