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Powder coating - safe?

MartinY said:
It does look good. What colour are they? And did you do the rails and lockdown bar too?

Btw: twd arrived today - it's up but not played yet. Thanks!!
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I showed them the Pinball Refinery paint jobs and asked it to be copied within reason. They did a Cadbury purple, and it looks great! Except now the game sits 2” lower than the rest thanks to the shorter legs! Doh.

Still may sort that soon, by sending off the next set that’s coming off MET for Iron Man, then those come off and can go back for the purple... that way no game is legless, just put stop leg swaps. It might be a slightly different colour by doing it that way, but I’m not that fussed really - still looks miles better.
Did rails (had some unused old skool lollipop rails with button protectors knocking about, prefer those), hinges, lockdown, legs. Coin door and plunger are too much hassle. Fitting them all now!

60E10412-76DF-4418-81B3-131BE8F03446.jpegDACE2EDA-AF79-4FA8-BC1E-7EA54C79DC9C.jpeg

Good news about TWD arriving. A great game that I could never really enjoy - LE and Pro. I’m looking at a Maiden Premium instead now, once I sell my children.
 
Looks great. Powder coat or paint? I couldn't find anywhere that did purple powder coat as Cadbury purple was just what I was after. Had to have paint instead (less hard wearing).
 
robotgreg said:
Looks great. Powder coat or paint? I couldn't find anywhere that did purple powder coat as Cadbury purple was just what I was after. Had to have paint instead (less hard wearing).
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Almost anything seems to be possible with powder now. I was quite surprised when I did some research into it, I always assumed it was matt, flat colours.

By contrast the guy I was speaking to about painting said that it would add quite a bit of thickness to the parts, which could introduce fitment issues.
 
That looks really nice. Very good choice of colour. Just noticed you bought rails with those button guard things on.. I thought they were standard on Sterns.
 
Out of interest.. why? Is it decal wear you're concerned about? Would it not be minimal in a home environment?

(I can't talk as my 3 pins have Cliffys)
 
Monkeyboypaul said:
They are not on unless you go for LE's nowadays, sadly. I much prefer them, and have it on 4 of my 5 post-2000 Sterns. Covers a little bit of artwork, but who cares.

Tthe colour choice was influenced by this site:
https://mipinballrefinery.com/pictures-of-my-customized-machines

Have you seen this site ?
http://www.highendpins.com/

If not the photo gallery should keep you busy for a while!
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Yes, I follow the guy's thread on Pinside about his restoration work. :)
 
So it's coming down to three options for my TAF powdercoating in terms of the base coat... matt black, satin black and gloss black.

High res image of Matt & Satin

Gloss black not pictured, hopefully getting a sample tomorrow. Powder coating guys says the gloss black will be even more subtle than the satin, which to my eyes is already very subtle (the photo magnifies the effect I think)

Thoughts?
 
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Thanks for feedback :) The Matt is a lot more turquoisey (?) than black, and in terms of shinyness both are pretty much the same on these samples. The Matt and Satin is the basecoat rather than the powder coat, if that makes sense.
 
Well, this has turned into a bit of a disaster.

Out of all of the parts I took in to get powder coated pretty much only the legs and backbox hinges have survived. The rest is badly warped in several places. The powder coater guy was very apologetic and said that he wouldn't charge me for the work, and to let him know how much it would cost for replacement parts. On the plus side the legs & hinges look great.

As a minimum I'm going to need:
  • Side rails
  • Lockdown bar
  • Rear metal glass channel
Possibly even an apron and the bit that goes over the shooter lane too, but I'm hoping I can sort that.

The powder coater seems to think that the guy blasting it was too aggressive, and has suggested chemically treating the parts before powder coating instead. I don't know how accurate that is though? He seemed very perplexed that it warped, and said that he has done much thinner stuff without issue. The lockdown bar I'm particularly surprised about, it is seriously twisted.
:(
 
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I thought it possible that the rails would warp because they are thin but I figured as they would be stuck down that it would probably be alright, but they are worse than I thought - they are both bent and twisted. I was genuinely shocked about the lockdown bar as its a pretty thick bit of metal. The guy reassured me that it wouldn't warp because they did much thinner bits without issue, so I'm not entirely sure what happened.

The stainless rear glass channel has warped so much that it would probably hold a piece of paper in place.

At least those 4 parts are trashed beyond repair I think, I don't think they would ever be true again. Pondering just buying chrome rails, lockdown and glass channel (if I can find it) and go with a two-tone effect.
 
No idea about other methods. From what I could gather they hang the parts after they have been coated. Assuming they are heated to reasonably high temperatures if they are just left to hang and cool quickly (particularly in this season) then I could see how they would warp under their own weight. That said I have no idea of the ins and outs of powder coating and whether this is typical or not. Clearly others have managed to get side rails powder coated without issue.
 
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