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Powder Coating Steel Parts

C

Chris Santschi

Active Member
Inventorying the fuselage kit for the RV3B,and was wondering if I should take all the bare metal parts and have them powder coated...

Chris Santschi RV8 627CS "Second Chance"
RV3B sr # 11489 under construction.
 
Not building a -3, but that's been my approach with the -6A and various parts on the -10. I like to have all the steel parts powder coated - on the -10 that's the way everything came from the factory. I have also done the aluminum parts for: the battery box, the rudder pedals, the brake reservoir, and my oxygen bottle mount. I'm kinda wishing I had done the thick aluminum flap hinges but they are going to be painted anyway, so no biggie. I will probably also powder-coat the wheel pant brackets; that's a grimy, messy environment and it's easier to maintain than paint.

By the way, there's no rush to do this; if you are going to get them coated, the parts will be beaded so any light rust and oil will be removed. Give them a light wipe of gun oil and be sure you let the coater know so he cleans the parts properly before he does the coating.
 
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I did prime and paint on most of the steel parts for our RV-3. Simple, easy, and I didn't have to find a powder coater that would do a small batch. A good friend and I traded fabrication of some custom steel parts (like the roll bar), and he had connections, so that has a beautiful powder-coat finish. The rest of the parts are doing fine with primer and paint.
 
I'd say don't do it. There are too many parts that are going to need holes drilled or some trimming and you won't know where those are just yet.

I just cleaned, deburred and primed mine. I figure when I decide on a color maybe I'll paint them.

Also, I'm not totally happy with the powder-coating on my Cessna 180. On certain parts, the paint has chipped or cracked. And some of those had been powder-coat primed, too. It's enough to cause me to steer away from it in the future.

Dave
 
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From what I've seen of most powder coated steel parts over the past 25 years that I've been in aviation, I wouldn't put PC on anything except lawn furniture, and even then I wouldn't do it by choice. YMMV.

In my experience, it hides far too many problems and lets rust progress until something fails or giant flakes of PC start coming off.

Right now I'm sitting 15' from a 20 year old, always hangared Avid Flyer that has huge problems with its engine mount due to PC coming loose over the years and allowing moisture to do its work. UGH! 20year old paint would probably still be perfect under the conditions that this plane has seen.

I guess that PC would be OK on non-structural parts, if you can determine what that means. However, I'd not have PC on my engine mount. No way, no how!

Again.... YMMV!
 
Especially not on an engine mount, which can, in places get hot. On my Cessna 180 the engine mount powder-coat paint has discolored there. I'd choose a good high-temperature paint instead.

That said, I was able to easily get a custom color, and in the non-discolored areas it looks fine.

I'm not going to powder-coat anything on my RV-3B. However, some parts came that way from the factory.

Dave
 
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