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Matt Dralle
Site Admin
Joined: 08 Nov 2005
Posts: 25781
Location: Livermore CA USA
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 Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:12 pm Post subject: Interior Painting - Powercoating? When? |
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Fellow RV-er's,
There is a powercoating shop here in my town that has an oven large enough to put my whole RV-8 fuselage into it. I've been considering just having the whole inside powercoated for the durability, and sweet look. Lots of guys powercoat the instrument panel and obviously most of the steel parts come from Van's powercoated. But what are the upsides and downsides of powercoating all of the interior parts. I've used Variprime on most of the backsides of the interior parts, but I've left the occupant facing parts bare in prep for the powercoating. Will the powercoat chip off easily on the bend-y pieces?
And when's the right time to take it down to the powercoaters? I would like to have most things riveted that need riveting before the coating like the forward deck over the instrument panel and the aft turtledeck, but these get riveted on pretty late in the building process. I would like to have all of the wiring and controls installed or at least fabbed and trial fitted before coating to avoid scratches. But again, once things are wired, is coating going to make a mess? Its not like the harnesses can really be removed once their installed...
The other concern is the heat necessary to bake on the powercoating. I think its upwards of 450 degrees F. What impact will that temperature have on the various parts that go into the fuselage such as the aeronuts, plastic bushings, clamps, etc?
I'm in quite a dilemma over this. I really want to wait as long as possible to avoid scratches and chips in the powercoating, but I don't want to wait too long and not be able to disassemble things to the point of making a good looking job. For example, the rear floor boards should probably be riveted down, but any screwed in panels should be removed. But riveting the floorboards is something I'd probably prefer to do the day before test flying...
Thanks for any insight...
Matt Dralle
RV-8 # 82880
Trutrak Auto Pilot Servo and Aileron Electric Trim Install
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winkels(at)charter.net
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject: Interior Painting - Powercoating? When? |
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Matt, I have had several steel and aluminum parts powder coated on my RV-7,
and I asked my powder coater about the limitations of powder coating. He
said he would be very hesitant to powder coat anything thinner than about
.063" aluminum because the heat can cause deformation, especially in larger
parts. I am no expert, but I don't think it would be advisable to place your
assembled fuselage into a 400 degree oven!!! I certainly wouldn't do it.
Also, powder coating can add considerably more weight than priming/painting.
By the way, I had my assembled brake pedals powder coated with excellent
results. My instrument panel will also get powder coated (before the
instruments are installed, of course  . Other than the slider canopy latch
hook, that's about the extent of aluminum parts I'll powder coat. Of the
steel parts powder coated, I've done the tailwheel spring and fork assembly,
slider canopy frame and roll bar, and canopy latch handle, but that's about
it.
Hope this helps,
Paul
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