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American powder coaters: it’s time for us to get acquainted with our crosslinkers. The crosslinker is responsible for causing polymer chains to link during the curing process. In other words, it’s the chemical agent that transforms the grainy powder we spray into the...

A textbook might describe the metal manufacturing process this way: a customer has an idea for a metal part they want made. They find a fabricator, who comes up with some drawings. Once the design is approved, the part is made. If the fabricator provides in-house...

I got a call the other day from a Kaser client with a question worth blogging about. The client is a retirement community, for whom we had powder coated quite a bit of railing five years prior, all in white. If that raises red flags, it should: I’ve blogged before...

Pretreatment is neither the most visible nor the most glamorous part of the coating process. It doesn’t involve color, it doesn’t photograph well, and it makes for less-than-ideal social media content. It’s no wonder, then, that most customers don’t prioritize...

True or false: the back of a truck (pickup truck, air-ride-equipped semi, or any model in between) rides as smoothly as the cab of said truck? False with a capital F and an exclamation point. While suspension has improved over the years, the back of any truck will...

Today, we’re tackling another one of Kaser’s all-time FAQs: “how much will it cost to blast and powder coat my car’s wheels?” The short answer is, “it depends.” While I’m more than happy to give a quote over the phone or email, there are 3 questions I will need...

I’m taking a break from blogging about niche, coating-related issues in favor of a much more universal topic: the humble workplace email. Email users, assemble. It’s time we have a frank conversation about the Cc function. Let’s begin with a definition: Cc stands for...

Imagine for a moment that ABC Powder Supplier and XYZ Powder Supplier are two companies that offer the exact same powder, of the exact same quality, at the exact same price point. Let’s take it one step further and imagine that neither company charges for shipping. In...

I’m a pretty positive, results-oriented person who is fortunate to work in an industry full of positive, results-oriented people. But, my fellow powder coaters, general managers, and small business owners, can we take a moment to bond over what I am sure is a shared...

Is there anything more frustrating for a customer than calling a powder coating shop and being told that the lead time is 4-5 weeks? No. I get it, and I’m here to help. First, I want to reframe how we look at lead times. While a long lead time is an understandable...

Myth: blasting parts is the same as cleaning them. Fact: blasting and washing are two very different processes, with very different results, and you cannot substitute one for the other. I think social media may be (at least partly) to blame for the confusion. We’re...

I ask every single interview candidate the same question: “What is your ideal job?” This question yields a variety of answers, but there’s a common one that really bothers me. It goes something like this: “I eventually want to own my own business, but right now, I...

If the words “procedure” and “process” conjure mixed emotions of rage and comfort, you’re not alone. I feel the same way. Whether as employees or consumers, we’ve all experienced corporate red tape – long chains of command, endless phone call transfers, time-consuming...

My biggest challenge on any given day comes in the form of human communication. The most consistent, frustrating, and oddly humorous example of this happens during shipping and receiving. Some of our larger industrial customers ship parts to us via freight truck. I...

Humans are attracted to shiny things. We get it – metallic powder coating is mesmerizing. But before you decide that every metal part you own should glitter, allow us to provide you with a reality check: applying metallic powder coatings is an expensive exercise in...

“Danger” is perhaps too strong a word, but anytime you’re dealing with heavy metal parts, there’s always a risk of bodily injury. This risk is heightened a little bit every time you move the part – for instance, transporting it from the parking lot to the blasting...

Moving, coating, and curing large, heavy parts presents a fairly obvious set of predictable challenges for any coating shop. But what challenges do we face on the smaller end of the spectrum? More specifically, what makes coating nuts, bolts, screw heads, and other...

Small business owners, General Managers, and entrepreneurs: can I get an amen when I say that hiring is hard? If you’re like me, you:       Don’t have an HR department,       Do have a hand in every aspect of daily operation, and       Spend your days in a blur of...

My two-word summary of the custom color matching process for powder coating: IT’S DIFFICULT. I blogged about this a while ago, but recent events at Kaser have reminded me that custom color matching is a loaded issue, fraught with opportunities for frustration, and...

Anyone who has spilled spaghetti sauce on a white button down, cleaned fingerprints off of a white wall, or tried to keep a white car dust-free knows: the color white tends to be higher-maintenance than most. This is true in the liquid and powder coating world as...

Myth: powder coating, once cured, is indestructible. Fact: while powder coating can be designed to effectively resist weather damage, sunlight, fading, industrial solvents, and moisture, it is not bulletproof. It is not even scratch-proof. If you throw a smooth,...

Here’s the scenario. It’s 2 PM on a Tuesday at Kaser Blasting & Coatings, and the phone rings. I pick up. The conversation goes like this: Customer: “Hi, yes, I have a rusty patio chair that I want powder coated. Could I get a quote?” Me, thinking to myself: OK,...

Kaser Blasting & Coatings serves both the general public and larger industrial customers, which means we frequently hear similar questions from opposite ends of the spectrum: “Can you handle projects [this large/small?]” “Are you able to blast [ten thousand...

Can I rant for a minute? Anyone who owns a small business will tell you it’s not easy. There are a lot of serious, real-life reasons for that: small businesses are buffeted by the economy, the margins are often narrow, and it can be tough to attract and retain talent....

We’re here to solve customers’ problems. As a blasting and coating shop, this means we’re typically solving rust and corrosion problems, and applying coatings preventively against future damage. That’s our area of expertise. But occasionally we’re asked to solve a...

Rework. The purpose of our quality control is to catch the surface quality issues before parts leave our facility. Say a part didn’t get pretreated properly and oil bubbles through the coating surface, or there was a pinhole in the weld that causes some outgassing, or...

Kaser sees quite a variety of parts come through the shop - lawn furniture, cars, steel beams and everything in between. Despite the broad diversity of the parts we handle, the majority tends to fall into one of only three substrate categories: steel, aluminum, and...

We talk about powder coating in monolithic terms, but the truth is that “powder” can mean a lot of different things on the chemical level.  And different powders serve different purposes. Even though powder chemistry has a significant effect on the coating’s...

It may seem obvious, but it bears repeating: the powder coating oven runs hot. More precisely, the powder coating oven typically reaches around 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This is important, because it directly affects the types of parts we can powder coat. For instance,...

We talk a lot about the protective element of powder coating. It’s ideal for outdoor parts, for instance, because powder coating creates a barrier against the elements, protecting the part from damage. But there’s protection, and then there’s PROTECTION. Parts for...

“Can you blast sensitive parts?” Typically, when I get this question, the customer is asking about a smaller part they want cleaned – a firearm, a knife, an oily piston, or something tarnished. They don’t want the current coating (if any) removed, they just want the...

Take it from a Mechanical Engineer: the right equipment makes all the difference in the quality of blasting and coating. This is a topic that genuinely excites me, and I wanted to share some insights I’ve developed over years of trial and error, in case they can be...

It’s one of Kaser’s golden rules: outdoor parts need to be blasted before being powder coated. It’s non-negotiable for anyone who is at all concerned about the durability of their powder coating against the elements. But what about indoor parts? If they aren’t exposed...

Which is more expensive: powder coating one large part, or powder coating the same part that’s been broken down into several smaller pieces? I get this question all the time. Often, it’s about something like a ladder rack for a truck: ladder racks can either be welded...

Lest anyone think that masking is all about tape, I wanted to follow up my previous masking blog with a note about the non-tape masking resources we use regularly. Tape is ideal for large, flat surfaces. However, if we’re blasting a part that has threads, pins,...

Allow me to brag for a second: Kaser Blasting & Coatings has gotten really good at masking. That’s because we’ve been asked to do it a lot recently, and through trial, error, and practice, we’ve figured out what works and, more importantly, what doesn’t. Since...

We’re a quarter of the way through 2019, and I’ve identified my personal theme for the year: I’m a manager of entropy. I’ll explain. Occasionally, a customer will learn that I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This...

To powder coat, or to liquid coat? That is the question. Given the choice, we typically choose powder. It’s not necessarily because powder coating is more durable than liquid – you can certainly achieve durable, high-quality finish from liquid paint. Finish is not the...

I hear it a lot: “I’m restoring a car. Can you help?” The short answer is (usually) yes. Of course, “restoring a car” can mean a lot of different things, so I like to ask some questions, and make a judgment call on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if a customer...

The Kaser Blasting & Coatings compound expanded recently – we announced the new addition on Facebook a while ago, and have been using that extra square footage as some very handy storage space for equipment and parts. The storage capacity has been nice, but we’re...

I published an article a while back on the custom color matching process for powder coating. The blog was a bit long and technical, because the custom color matching process is long and technical. In case you missed it, here’s the short version: matching powder...

2019 has been keeping us busy. We’re very happy about that – in years past, we would occasionally experience a lull in the winter months. This hasn’t been true for quite a while. Business is booming, and we’re thrilled. Being busy comes with its own set of...

Happy New Year from the Kaser family! Change is inevitable, and I’m ready to embrace the growth and challenges that 2019 will bring. At the same time, I find myself hoping that certain things will stay exactly the same. In 2018, the Kaser team spent some time...

Shortly before their wedding day in 1987, Jay and Shari Kaser put up Shari’s grey Honda Prelude as collateral, took out a small business loan, and ventured into the business of residential painting. Just like that, Kaser Painting, Inc. was formed. Kaser Painting grew...