1992 Saracen Kili Racer

I should be taking the bike to be powder coated tomorrow morning, before work. Tonight, I'll be trying to prep the frame, which brings me to a couple of questions:

The place I'm gonna use apparently know how to protect threads, as they do a lot of bikes, but they're really cheap (£25), so I don't quite trust them to do it properly. I've got some old BB cups, lots of old bolts for the cage mounts, brake bolts, and even some old headset races (might leave those off, tho - don't want them trapping grease).

The question is: how difficult is it going to be to remove them afterwards? Won't removing them crack the powder coat?

The other question is: what's the best way to de-grease the frame? I suspect there's some gunk hiding in the main tubes, but the entry holes are tiny. Do I just fill them with soapy water, give it a good shake, and hope for the best?

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It should be chemical dipped and then media blasted, so any prep is a waste of your time.

They should mask canti bosses with tin foil. The rest like headtube and bb shell are generally protected with rolled up newspaper. A roll of paper is often shoved into the seat tube too.

It is worth using some old bottle cage bolts wound half way into bosses to keep the threads clean. Powder is tough so don't worry about winding the bolts out and tearing the finish.

Apart from that they ought to know about bike frames and will take the necessary precautions.

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I work with powder coated metal everyday, the best you can do is partially thread bolts into what you can and when you get it back, thread the bolts, out it'll bust the coating somewhere along the bolt you can use a razor knife or deburing tool or whatever to clean the opening of the threaded hole, I agree powder coating is real tough and easily cleans up with a grinder, knife etc. we also use a green tape that stands up to the heat in the oven when they bake it, plug the smaller holes with partially threaded bolts and mark threads you can't plug with a colored sharpie and ask them to tape it....

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Thanks for the advice. I guess the frame is ready to go, then!

Unfortunately, SHMBO has curtailed my plan to drop the frame off before work for this week, due to my son waking up at 6:30am and the child minder being on holiday. I have to play by her rules - she's about to take delivery of some wheels, which she's NOT gonna be happy about! :roll:

it also gives me time to ponder where to get the bike done. I've got two choices:

Chicago Coating Co.

• £25, not open weekends (add £15 for fares & parking).
  Mixed reviews, but has a contract with a bike shop in Manchester, so they do a lot of bikes.
  Not open weekends, and are in the middle of nowhere, which means getting up at 7am and spending lots of time in traffic jams. Will probably require parking and/or train fares.

Stockport Powder Coating.

• £60, open Saturdays.
  drystonepaul's used them, and so have I. My result was not good, but that was probably due to the frame being chrome plated - the powder coat just scrapes off.
  Only a 10 minute walk away from home.

I think I need to visit Stockport Powder Coating on Saturday, and see what they'll do for £60.

edit: Just been looking through RAL charts.. there is no lime green - just boring greens? :? I wonder if adding gold metallic to a green undercoat will do the job...

Hello again, well my thoughts are that I'd go to the closer guy, anytime you're powder coating metal it's ideal to have the part sandblasted to the metal and get that rough surface, when they bake the powder it grips the rough and bonds much much better. They say you can powder coat over paint if it's scuffed but I think that's kind of half assed although not many people have access to a cabinet... But you'd be much happier with the final result and longevity. As for chrome I heard the same as the paint scuffing thing, but it's just simply not as good as bare metal with a fresh blasted surface. As far as I know the coaters wash all parts with a degreaser and they need hollow tubes to have a weep hole so trapped water boils out when baking, which translates to careful taping on the inside bottom bracket hole, not super easy to tape threads leaving the tubing holes clear. I did all the prep myself and sand blasted everything I've done, and had great luck so far. I'm sure the bike contracted guy would know more but if you communicate with the closer guy it should be fine I would guess. But the best advice I can give is have your frame/parts sandblasted first and ask the coating guy for some tape and take your time and always blast chrome first. Older chrome was plated thicker and harder to remove but the rough surface is key. Good luck man oh and wear gloves when handling the frame when blasted your hand oil will rust steel frames in a couple days... And as far as doing the gold under coat and putting green over it, I don't think it would work, sometimes we get orders at work for custom colors and we send out our standard yellow part and they powder coat right over it. It's thick and a little ugly but you can't see the color under the second coat... Unless they have a translucent green... You have to ask I suppose.

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On Saturday morning I put the frame and forks in the back of the car, and drove down the road to Stockport Powder Coating, whose advertised opening times are 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. I got there just after 11am, aaaannd.. they were closed! :facepalm:

The only advantage they had was weekend opening, so sod em.
edit: They're not replying to emails, either, so might be on holiday. Doesn't anyone attach notes to premises anymore?

The wife's still not keen on me leaving the house at 7:30am to get to Chicago Coating before work, so I've been trying to find other places. May as well share what I've found so far:

SprayQuick Powder Coating, Stockport
(Forgot to ask when they were open) £75

HMS Welding, Failsworth
Not open weekends, 20 minute drive, £40 for in-stock colours

Ashton Powder Coating, Ashton Under Lyne
Not open weekends, 20 minute drive, £40

Atlantic Boulevard, Bury
Open weekends, 30 minute drive, respray: £150

Wilkinsons Powder Coating, Nr Crewe
Open weekends, 50 minute drive: £80

Triple S Powder Coating, Bingley
Open weekends, 70 minute drive: £55 +VAT

So.. tricky.

Atlantic Boulevard was out of curiosity. No way am I spending that much on a respray! The good coaters (Triple S and Wilkinsons) are open weekends, but it'd cost me £30 in petrol. SprayQuick's price is "we don't want that job" ludicrous, which leaves two that don't open weekends, and are in a similar vicinity to Chicago Coating. :?

On top of all that, I'm losing focus on what colour I want. After not being able to find the green from the mockup, I started thinking I wanted RAL6018 (Yellow Green), but it's a bit too intense, I think.

gah!

I dont think £75 is ridiculous to be honest. It's what I am expecting to pay for a good job on mine.

I'd rather pay another 20-30 and know it will come back decent, then pay the £50 I did last time at a cheaper place and then have such a bad job it was useless.

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It's kind've expensive for an industrial coater, tho.. they're charging double what similar companies are quoting, so with nothing to go on but price, the £40 companies win out.

I'm fine with Wilkinsons charging £80, as they're from a modding background, and it's almost guaranteed to be a great job. Unfortunately, they're usurped by Triple S, who're the same distance away, have lots of good bike work online, and are cheaper.

That's all kind've academic, tho, coz £80 is way over my budget. I was reluctant to pay £60, and was only considering it due to the wife (never had her trying to make me spend more before!)

I think I've scratched Chicago off the list, as they're too far from work, and are maybe a bit too cheap. The other two are both roughly 6 miles from work, downhill, so I can leave later and not have to worry about traffic or parking.

Just the colour to nail down.. again.. :roll:

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Are you going to the peaks ride in sept? pass it to me and i will let LSN do it, they do lurvly lime green. Maybe £40 ish, but i'd have to check beforehand.
If you want a sample i'll be at that ride with a bike with the forks done in the same colour.

Unfortunately not - everything seems to be timed for that weekend. Loads of exciting things are happening!

None of which I'll be able to attend, as my parents are coming up from Southampton on that weekend, in order to celebrate my 40th birthday. :shock:

I'm heading to Ashton Powder Coating either tomorrow or the next day, to see what colours they've got. Hopefully tomorrow, if I can prise the dependants out of bed early enough!