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Painting Canopy Frame Prior to SikaFlex

R

rapid_ascent

Well Known Member
I'm thinking I might want to paint over my powder coating on my canopy frame and roll bar. I think the white frame might not look as nice as black which would match the Sika color. My question is to others that went down this path. What type of paint did you use? I'd like a durable coating so I'm thinking about a Urethane paint. I also don't want a paint that the Sika would interact with. Not sure if it should be gloss, satin or flat. Gloss is usually harder to get a respectable paint job, but maybe for something like this that isn't much of a consideration.

I'd be interested in others experience in this area. Thanks
 
I took mine to the local powder coat place and and them blast off the old powder coat and redo it in black. Looks great.
 
2K polyurethane

I painted mine with 2-pack polyurethane satin finish. The original powder coat was faulty (corroded) so I removed it with paint stripper and cleaned back to bare metal and then primed with steel primer. Spraying the frame was not too difficult by suspending it from a hook.
 
Powder coat

mburch said:
I took mine to the local powder coat place and and them blast off the old powder coat and redo it in black. Looks great.
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I ordered all the canopy weldments bare. After they were fit, I took them to a local business and had them powder coatedblack (BK08). It's a popular color for industrial so he doesn't charge me set up.
 
rapid_ascent said:
Matt out of curiosity how much does something like that cost?
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Good question - I don't even remember, and I was having some other parts done at the same time so I wouldn't have it broken out anyway. Probably a hundred bucks or so, I don't remember it being extravagant in aviation terms.
 
Jetflex

I scuffed up the powder coat, primed with SW p60g2, painted with jetflex interior.

I just painted the down tube in the windscreen so I wasnt looking at a white streak all the time.
 
I scuffed and painted with 2 pack epoxy too - satin to cut down reflections.
The sikaflex contact area is unlikely to pull away in comparison to localised impact damage to the powder coating.
 
rapid_ascent said:
I'm thinking I might want to paint over my powder coating on my canopy frame and roll bar. I think the white frame might not look as nice as black which would match the Sika color. My question is to others that went down this path. What type of paint did you use? I'd like a durable coating so I'm thinking about a Urethane paint. I also don't want a paint that the Sika would interact with. Not sure if it should be gloss, satin or flat. Gloss is usually harder to get a respectable paint job, but maybe for something like this that isn't much of a consideration.

I'd be interested in others experience in this area. Thanks
Click to expand...

I would not paint where the adhesive will go. Powder coat has a strong bond, but paint does not. The sika will adhere well to the paint, but now the weak bond below the paint will create a weak overall bonding. Epoxy primer is an exception, as the bond is much stronger.

Larry
 
I removed all of the powder coat, it was surprisingly easy. Cleaned well with lacquer thinner and painted with 2 part epoxy black matte. The Sitka adhered very well. Cannot pick any of it off. Three years to date and no issues. The Sitka matches excellent. See my Kitlog link in my signature.
 
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