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Anodized or Powder Coat

Panel Coating Option

  • Total voters
    38
Brantel

Brantel

Well Known Member
The people I am having my panel cut and engraved by have several options for finishes on the panel. I know I want color and I just got samples of their Red and it pretty much matches what I have today in both powder and anodized.

I plan to have them engrave all the text and other stuff and infill most of it in White.

The main question is:

Would you go with Anodized or Powder Coat and why?
 
neither

Black matt painted finish for me. Just about everything else reflects off the canopy. YMMV.
 
Power coat for me.

Not only a choice of color, but a variety of textures also.

Anodizing is an electrical insulator, if case you didnt know that.
 
jbagley said:
Black matt painted finish for me. Just about everything else reflects off the canopy. YMMV.
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I get it, there are other options out there but that is not what I am asking about.

I have a colored panel now and it has never been an issue reflecting on the canopy. Our canopy's don't have much if any flat area on them and that helps to prevent that issue from being much of a problem.

The anodized is pretty flat and the powder is semi-gloss so that won't be much of an issue either.

This is more about picking the best coating for the job.

My current panel is painted with a spray can. It came out smooth and even but is easy to scratch with your fingernail so I want something more durable.

Powder and Anodized are the two choices of materials FPE offers and that works well with the engraving.
 
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For red, powder coat

For red, specifically, I would have it powder coated. I have never seen a red anodized part that after a year or two in the sun has not turned a splotchy pink color. Powder coat will not do that.

For black, I prefer anodize, which is what we did on our panel.
 
krwalsh said:
For red, specifically, I would have it powder coated. I have never seen a red anodized part that after a year or two in the sun has not turned a splotchy pink color. Powder coat will not do that.
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That is exactly the kind of information I want to know about!

Thanks!
 
Brantel said:
That is exactly the kind of information I want to know about!

Thanks!
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If you are intending to fill in the engraving with paint I wonder what the engraving would look like if powder coated, rather than anodized? Do they engrave after paint?

I intend to clear anodize my new panel and fill in the engraving with paint. I have also been thinking about using a glow in the dark paint for the letters. The idea will be tested first though.
 
Brantel said:
I get it, there are other options out there but that is not what I am asking about.
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Ahh. I misunderstood. I don't have a lot of experience with either anodized or powder coated finishes. My panel was painted with a pretty high quality PPG product that is extremely hard and resistant to scratching. Prepped with traditional etch/alodine.

It's the one part of the plane you'll spend the most time staring at so it definitely makes sense to do something you'll be happy with.

Cheers!
 
Zero4Zulu said:
If you are intending to fill in the engraving with paint I wonder what the engraving would look like if powder coated, rather than anodized? Do they engrave after paint?

I intend to clear anodize my new panel and fill in the engraving with paint. I have also been thinking about using a glow in the dark paint for the letters. The idea will be tested first though.
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Front Panel Express claims their engraving with paint infill looks awesome on a powder coated panel.

They will either cut the panel and then powder coat (coated edges and holes) or powder coat first (raw edges and very precise holes). In either of those cases, they do the engraving/infill after the powder coating.

By the way, they offer clear anodizing.
 
Sure about the powder coating order? They just told me they do it before cutting so the edges and holes are raw from the milling. I wound up not getting it finished by them.
 
I went with powder coating. The reason, anodizing scratches really easily. Powdercoating is really tough. I don't want a scratched looking panel a few years down the line when a bunch of stuff hits the panel unexpectedly....and things will definitely hit the panel.

For me, Powder coating all the way.

Buzz
 
conductive plastic?

Mike S said:
Anodizing is an electrical insulator, if case you didnt know that.
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Mike,

Powder coating is a plastic coating over aluminium, that tends to have a insulatory effect as well wouldn't you say
 
Assuming the tolerences are very tight if they don't compensate for the material build up, the instuments/screws may not fit if the powder coat is done after cutting.
 
CharlieWaffles said:
Sure about the powder coating order? They just told me they do it before cutting so the edges and holes are raw from the milling. I wound up not getting it finished by them.
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Absolutely sure, they offer both options, at least per their technical sales guy.....
 
Walt said:
Assuming the tolerences are very tight if they don't compensate for the material build up, the instuments/screws may not fit if the powder coat is done after cutting.
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Yes, you must allow for this in your design. They warn you about this as well. They also provide a spec on how much to allow.
 
Brian, one of the problems with anodising is that you need an approved grade of aluminium alloy to get a decent surface finish. For instance Alclad aluminium will produce a terrible streaky result that you will NOT like.

If you are contemplating anodising I would recommend that you determine the alloy of your panel and then ask your potential anodiser if that alloy will produce an "architectural finish". Not many aluminium alloys are suitable for anodising if you require a high quality cosmetic finish (which I presume you do).

Powdercoating could be preferable. If so it might be worthwhile considering having the panel powdercoated only on the front side and edges so that any fittings that require grounding through the panel (if any) are able to make contact at the rear.
 
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Powder coating

PC with wrinkle finish, black with satin finish. All labeling was engraved in white.
 
Captain Avgas said:
Brian, one of the problems with anodising is that you need an approved grade of aluminium alloy to get a decent surface finish. For instance Alclad aluminium will produce a terrible streaky result that you will NOT like.

If you are contemplating anodising I would recommend that you determine the alloy of your panel and then ask your potential anodiser if that alloy will produce an "architectural finish". Not many aluminium alloys are suitable for anodising.
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Thanks for the warning. While I am 99% sure I am going with powder coat, Front Panel Express's anodized panels look great and are very consistent. The samples they sent me are awesome looking. They use AA 5005 aluminum alloy.
 
Brantel said:
Thanks for the warning. While I am 99% sure I am going with powder coat, Front Panel Express's anodized panels look great and are very consistent. The samples they sent me are awesome looking. They use AA 5005 aluminum alloy.
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Yep, 5005 is a recommended anodising grade.
 
GusBiz said:
Mike,

Powder coating is a plastic coating over aluminium, that tends to have a insulatory effect as well wouldn't you say
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I suspect that almost everybody knows ---or at least would expect---that power coat is an insulator, but I doubt that the majority of folks know that anodizing is also.

I have run into issues in the past were folks have tried to attach a ground to anodized alum, and wondered why it did not work.
 
Brian,

I went with powder coated overlays on my panel redo a few years ago, but did not have the anodized option at the time, so can't compare. However, I'm very happy with the PC's durability so far. You may have already done this, but one test you might try on each sample is pretend you just slipped off a screw head with a screwdriver or allen (sp?...hex) wrench, across the material, and see which one holds up better. Touch each with a greasy hand or finger (not that you'd ever do that while working on the plane! ;)) and see how each cleans up.

The local outfit I used also powder coated the heads of the countersunk screws I use to attach the panel overlays, and that makes the screws blend in a bit, if that is a look you'd like (some like contrast, which can also be nice). Anodizers may be able to do that too, so it may or may not be a discriminator.

FWIW, my overlays were powder coated after cutting and drilling, and I've had no issues with panel fit or screw fit.

A trophy engraver laser-engraved the lettering after powder coating (through tape), and we filled them with rattle can black...low tech, but happy with the way it turned out.

Hope all this adds value to the project! Have fun...its a fun and gratifying project, as you know! :)

Cheers,
Bob
 
powder coated

I just took my c frame to get powder coated. There was a guy leaving with a black wrinkle finish on a Mi-17 (russian helicopter) panel. I have flown behind similar panels and like the flat black finish, seems very durable too.
 
Durable panel finish option

Just FYI, there is powder coat type finish available used on guns that contains ceramic filler. It is obviously scratch resistant and anti reflective. I used it on my panel and floor plates behind the spar for foot traffic resistance. Google cermicoat or something like that.
 
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