Powder Coat and Lab Metal

I have been interested in getting some parts powder coated. Our business uses a powder coater for production and I have been tempted to throw a few brackets, plates. etc. in the next shipment.

One of the problems is what do you do about pits and other defects in the parts?  Left unattended they will show up in the finished part.

Since the powder can be cured at up to 400 degree F, you can’t use normal fillers as they will blister or peal at that temp.

Enter Lab Metal. This is an air dry epoxy. Just stir it up and spread it onto a surface (it’s like tooth paste out of the can) and it hardens in about 1 hour.(24 hr for the High Temp). You have to use a solvent on top of the remainder of the can to provide a seal from the air when you close the can and you can thin it with the solvent and use it like paint.

It comes as Standard, good to 350 degrees F and in High Temp that is good to 1000 degrees. Standard just air hardens in about an hour and the High Temp needs to be air hardened and subjected to a baking cycle. They even reference using the HT to fill cylinder wall scores, pits and scratches. Hummm

It is aluminum based and sands and files pretty easy. I am working on a couple projects and will report back the results.