When I'm ridin' round the world
And I'm doin' this and I'm signin' that
-- Mick Jagger
They say that beauty is only skin deep (whoever “they” is). And when it comes to framebuilding, the skin is truly what strikes the customer first. No matter how good the workmanship, how tight the miters are, how smooth the joints, if the skin (the finish) is ugly, it doesn’t resonate with the customer.
I have
chosen to have my standard offered frame finish for Mjolnir Cycles to be a
one-color powder coat, which is included in the base price for my work. It’s
durable, not too costly (more on this later), and complements a fillet brazed
joint well. While a wet paint application can offer a lot of options for
multiple colors, it’s expensive.
Over the
last five years I’ve had one local powder coat company do all my customer work*,
outside of the few customers who wanted a specific multi-color scheme (and paid
the difference for the more expensive finish). The first job I had them do was
the frame I made for my wife. It came out nice, but it took three times as long
as they originally said, and the end cost was more than the verbal quote they
gave me before I handed over the frame to be coated. But the price was right
for this job.
Since
that first job with them, their price has nearly tripled, with the continued
trend of final cost being higher than the verbal quote. Yeah, yeah, get it in
writing before hand. But should I really have to?
This led
me, on my most recent build, to seek out another powder coating operation.
Their
over-the-phone quote was half of the first coater, and they came recommended by
loads of reviews, so I decided to give them a try.
As with
most powder coaters that operate on any large scale, they were located in an
industrial warehouse mall-type complex. When talking with them, I shared why I
had sought them out, and they agreed that my previous vendor was known for some
shady dealings. I selected the color from the wall of samples, left the frame
and a copy of my reseller permit (so that I don’t pay them the sales tax – I collect
that at the time of my sale), with the agreement that they would have the frame
ready within 10 business days.
I got a
call four days later saying it was ready. Okay, nice. That was on a Friday, and
I couldn’t pick up the frame until the following Monday.
So I
picked the frame up, gave it a cursory look – it’s powder coat, after all, it
should be uniform and smooth. Paid the man, put it in my car and drove home.
Bringing
the frame into my shop, I took a closer look at it in the full light of day. I
noticed a wavy area on one joint, apparent with the brighter light and high
gloss of the finish. Then I saw a gap in another area. Then some pits. Then
some thin spots. Then some more waves…
So
instead of being a week ahead, I’ll need to do some sanding and touch-ups,
which will likely be another week behind. The saving grace on this is that I
was going to be adding a fade color to the powder coat base anyway, and these
areas fell at least close to the addition, so I can include them and not really
affect the end product. But still…
With
these frustrations, and the issues I’ve had with rattle cans on my own frames,
I had started to explore adding frame finishing to my quiver of skills. I
looked at air brushes and the requirements surrounding building a finish booth
for wet paint application at home. The guns themselves were quite reasonable –
just a low few hundred dollars. But the paints, ventilation systems, fume reclamation,
air filters, clean-room needs, curing oven… It all added up to several THOUSAND
dollars before I even shot my first job. And I would have essentially had to
build another shed on my property, which would have meant a building permit – a
long process by itself, and I have a visceral aversion to government oversight
of what I can and can’t do on my own property like that.
So I turned my eye towards what it
would take to do my own powder coating. The cost of the paint (powder)
applicators is actually lower than for the wet paint guns, with fewer headaches
and clean up. The cost of the powder is lower than wet paint. There are no
environmental impacts – no harmful fumes or chemicals, and clean up entails
sweeping up any errant material off the floor. That clean up can be minimized
by a low-draft filter system utilizing things like a PVC and cardboard, duct
tape, a regular furnace filter, and a shop vac. But the big cost of the powder
coating operation is the oven.
No getting around it, in order to
do powder coating, you need an over than can reach and maintain 400F. That’s
what activates the powder to become a uniform plastic coating (not really
plastic, but you get the idea). And your regular old kitchen oven is a little
on the small side for fitting a bike frame.
Purchasing an oven of the appropriate
size would run several (and several more) thousand dollars. But… I can make my
own, to exactly the size I need, using a scuttled double convection oven with
the controls, and metal sheet and studs with rock wool insulation. A G and a
half, at the outside. Hey, I saw it on Youtube, so how hard can it be?
Please don’t think I’m really
taking a cavalier an attitude towards this project as the last sentence
implies. It’s a big undertaking. But it will pay for itself in short time. And
might even grow into its own revenue stream outside frame building.
Maybe I can get some
satisfaction.
*For my personal frames I’ve done regular old Rustoleum
rattle can paint jobs. With some care and a lot of work and a lot of coats,
they’ve come out looking decent, but not very durable. But I’ve grown very
frustrated with the can tips clogging and losing pressure over time.
