powdercoating sheetmetal & body filler question

[bones]

I know bondo can't be used with powdercoating because of the temps involved but I read in the Eastwood catalog that metal to metal can be used with powdercoating. Does anyone have any experience with using metal to metal with powdercoating? Thanks

[Hophead]

what is " metal to metal" some type of filler? If you powdercoat first you can use seam sealers and the like afterwards. What are you needing to fill? what are you going to powdercoat?

[Kubel Nick]

Powdercoat first, then use body filler or use a spcially made body filler made for use with powdercoat to sustain high heat. You can get these high heat fillers in any powder coating suppliers do o cost a bit more then usual.

[bones]

I'd like to have my engine tin powdercoated. It's not in perfect shape and I've had to do some welding on it. Although the welds are ground smooth there are small imperfections in the tin that I'm not sure the powdercoating would cover. Metal to metal is a bondo material that is made of metal. Since I posted this on the weekend I called a few powdercoating shops locally and they informed me that metal to metal won't work that it will fail under the heat.

The shops here weren't aware of any fillers. Kubel, what fillers do you know of. Are you saying to powdercoat then use the filler and powdercoat again?

[jus'buggin]

We use a product at work that is called Plasti-Steel. It will sustain temps of 500 C or something like that. It is rather expensive but it will take paint so I dont see why it wouldn't accept the powdercoat.

I mean we use it inside of Cat deisel engines to attach instrumentation and to attach sensors to turbo housings. ANyplace on an engine that we need to test and cant attach instrumentation properly

I could get the info if you want. I actually want to try a little repair on the body with it...below the airvent on the quarter window of the super.

anyway if you want the info I will get it.

brant

[bones]

Thanks, I would like more info on that product. Certainly could save me a lot of time.

[sideshow]

A powder coater I worked with would use JB-Weld regular (not the qwick stiff) and had good results with that.

[Kubel Nick]

http://www.columbiacoatings.com/metalfillers.htm
main site
http://www.columbiacoatings.com/

More info here:
http://www.columbiacoatings.com/labmetalhowtopage.htm

"On top of being able to be Powder Coat it you can Machine it, Drill it, Buff it, Tape it, Saw it and then Sand it for your final results"

Also (same product):
http://www.columbiacoatings.com/images/ ... tapped.jpg

[bones]

Thats an impressive product! I checked their site but all the products are temporarily out of stock. Is there any other place to buy this stuff?

[Kubel Nick]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=lab+metal

[bones]

Thanks Kubel Nick - I found a supplier near me and the first one said they would order it from a secondary store in Sacramento. Then I got a call from the local store and was told the stuff can only be shipped by the case because it's so volatile. That's BS. I called another local supplier and got a 24 oz can coming on Monday.

I'll let you know how it turns out. Again thanks for your help. This forum as always is great!

[rick71ghia]

http://www.eastwood.com/jump.jsp?itemID ... SubCat=474

[Kubel Nick]

Eastwood is as evil as WalMart. I try to stay away from them as much as I can.

[John Crichton]

You could always fix sheetmetal imperfections the old fashion way ---- use lead solder. This is what was used to fill all body imperfections back in the days before Bondo. You heat the sheetmetal with a propane torch. You used to be able to find lead paste body filler. I assume it can still be found, though not at your local Autozone. Once you get the hang of is (i.e. knowing just the right about of heat to apply so that you can work it without it becoming completely liquid) it is not too hard. Easy to sand and finish (though not as easy as Bondo) and is more permanate. Guys doing restros on high dollar classic cars pretty much only use lead body filler. Should have no trouble holding up to the temperatures used in powercoating (around 450ºF versus a melting temperature of 650ºF or so). It would be easy to learn on a piece like a shroud that you can take off the card and position it so as you can work on a horizontial surface.

[sideshow]

...use lead solder...Should have no trouble holding up to the temperatures used in powercoating (around 450ºF versus a melting temperature of 650ºF or so)...

I'm not sure about that. I had one really old small engine gas tank (~16oz) coated and we didn't realize that the filler was soldered on. It came off in the oven.

I used electricial solder & a torch to replace the filler. Ugly but also bad-ass, it is used on my engine pre run stand.