Monday or Tuesday I am sending the frame, rear end and front end parts to the blaster and powder-coater (I know, I was supposed to do this two weeks ago). What is the correct gloss percentage for the "stuff"? I am going to tell them to mask off the bushing areas. Should they also mask off the gasket area at the rear end? Any other things I should mask off? Any specific screw holes? This is my last chance; I do not want to create more work for myself later down the line. One more question; on the rear end axle tubes there was a bracket on each side, I believe for leaf springs, that nothing was connected to. Do they get painted (coated) black, or are they natural? Thanks for all your help. Assembly should begin shortly, can't wait to start putting stuff back on. :beer Len
Len, I've heard the figure of 30% mentioned a few times.... It's a fuzzy subject. Wish we had a solid way to determine this..... I've tried to determine this myself.....it's kinda hard without having some good gloss-level 'standards' to compare to. I do have some powder-coating chip samples I got from HB Fuller (www.powderstore.com). They have the following: Matte black epoxy 2-5% Ink epoxy 15-30% Engine black epoxy 35-55% Jet epoxy 50-70% Next, I sprayed a sample of the epoxy paint JW recommended....I'd consider this to be the 'correct' finish for a Buick resto.... the result is comparible to the 15-30% powdercoat sample I have..... So I'd say the correct paint is somewhere between 10-35% gloss. But I could realisticly be off by 20 %........ o No: Doesn't narrow it down much.... To put gloss levels into perspective: If I put my finger perpendicular to the finished 15-30% surface, the reflection of my fingernail is good at the very tip, but very fuzzy at the cuticle. On a 35-55% sample, the cuticle is slightly fuzzy.... I plan to do more comparisons with readily-available paints...... I just did the test spray Friday....guess you just got your frame back from the powdercoater....how's it look???
The color was semi-gloss (pretty generic), it was the medium gloss. They had flat black, semi-gloss and gloss. What I could see of the inside of the rails looks like the coverage was pretty good. I didn't check it all the way around. It looks fine to me. I will post some pictures after I make them smaller. Len
