Managers: it’s our job to keep our pretreatment operators safe in the wash bay. The good news is that doing so is not hard. We simply have to provide the operators with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), and then make sure they wear it. Pretreatment may...
Pretreating parts may be easier than spraying powder, but good pretreatment technique is still very important. Without it, parts won’t get clean – or, worse yet, a careless operator could cause premature rust or permanent damage. Pretreatment operators, remember the...
Pretreatment can be very sophisticated or super simple, and quite frankly, you can get a good quality part either way. So what are your pretreatment options, and how do you pick the best one for your budget? You can pretreat parts with a bucket and a rag. Contrary to...
There’s nothing worse than realizing you’ve made a mistake in the wash bay after the part is coated. You may not realize that you didn’t thoroughly rinse your degreaser, for instance, until the powder coating is flaking off in sheets. Luckily, you can monitor your...
The devil is in the details. Did a powder coater coin this idiom? Unlikely – but they may as well have. Most customers don’t realize that when a metal part arrives at Kaser Blasting & Coatings, it undergoes an intense, multi-step pretreatment process before ever...
Finishing industry jargon can be confusing to customers. Here are four surface preparation terms you should know. DA Sanding Short for dual action sanding, this process involves an electric, hand-held palm sander, the likes of which you might find in any well-equipped...
I’ve spilled a lot of ink touting the importance of pretreatment before powder coating, which is why the following statement may come as a surprise to some readers: Kaser does not pretreat parts before liquid coating them. Wash bays take up space. They require walls,...
My life would be a lot simpler if the quality of the powder I purchased correlated directly with the quality of the coatings I produced. But alas. To be clear, investing in high-quality powder is helpful. However, the best powder on the market can easily look...
I’ve blogged extensively about Kaser’s pretreatment processes and the chemicals we use on steel and aluminum. Now, it’s time to address the ground rules of the wash bay. Wear PPE. While the chemicals we use are at relatively low concentrations (meaning they won’t...
Methyl ethyl ketone – also known as MEK – is easily the most dangerous chemical we encounter in the powder coating shop. And we encounter it a lot. MEK does a great job of removing tough grease, adhesive residue, Sharpie ink - it cuts through almost anything, quickly...
If you see a piece of raw steel that isn’t actively rusting, that can only mean one of two things: it’s either covered in oil, or there’s a conversion coating on it. Folks who don’t work with metal may not realize just how oily raw steel can be. Greases and oils can...
A lot of people approach shopping for industrial coatings as though they were buying their metal parts a makeover. While there’s nothing wrong with prioritizing aesthetics, there’s so much more to be gained from the coating process if you know how to ask for it. I’m...
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...
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...
There’s nothing worse than realizing you’ve made a mistake in the wash bay after the part is coated. You may not realize that you didn’t thoroughly rinse your degreaser, for instance, until the powder coating is flaking off in sheets. Luckily, you can monitor your...
The devil is in the details. Did a powder coater coin this idiom? Unlikely – but they may as well have. Most customers don’t realize that when a metal part arrives at Kaser Blasting & Coatings, it undergoes an intense, multi-step pretreatment process before ever...
Finishing industry jargon can be confusing to customers. Here are four surface preparation terms you should know. DA Sanding Short for dual action sanding, this process involves an electric, hand-held palm sander, the likes of which you might find in any well-equipped...
I’ve spilled a lot of ink touting the importance of pretreatment before powder coating, which is why the following statement may come as a surprise to some readers: Kaser does not pretreat parts before liquid coating them. Wash bays take up space. They require walls,...
My life would be a lot simpler if the quality of the powder I purchased correlated directly with the quality of the coatings I produced. But alas. To be clear, investing in high-quality powder is helpful. However, the best powder on the market can easily look...
I’ve blogged extensively about Kaser’s pretreatment processes and the chemicals we use on steel and aluminum. Now, it’s time to address the ground rules of the wash bay. Wear PPE. While the chemicals we use are at relatively low concentrations (meaning they won’t...
Methyl ethyl ketone – also known as MEK – is easily the most dangerous chemical we encounter in the powder coating shop. And we encounter it a lot. MEK does a great job of removing tough grease, adhesive residue, Sharpie ink - it cuts through almost anything, quickly...
If you see a piece of raw steel that isn’t actively rusting, that can only mean one of two things: it’s either covered in oil, or there’s a conversion coating on it. Folks who don’t work with metal may not realize just how oily raw steel can be. Greases and oils can...
A lot of people approach shopping for industrial coatings as though they were buying their metal parts a makeover. While there’s nothing wrong with prioritizing aesthetics, there’s so much more to be gained from the coating process if you know how to ask for it. I’m...
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...
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...
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Two Warnings for Anyone Considering Custom Powder Coating
When Should You Choose Liquid Coating over Powder Coating?
Staying Safe in the Wash Bay: A Pretreatment Operator’s Guide to PPE