Inside the Booth: Our 7-Step Powder Coating Process

Every frame is photographed on arrival and checked for damage, leftover hardware, and structural issues that might not survive blasting (cracked welds, severely bent dropouts). We email you the photos and any concerns before we start.

Threads, bearing surfaces, serial plates, and any logos you want preserved are plugged with silicone and wrapped in high-temp polyimide tape. Mask quality is the single biggest indicator of a quality coater — it's also the most tedious step.

Aluminum frames get glass bead or aluminum oxide; steel gets a heavier grit. We blast to a uniform matte profile — not just to remove old finish, but to give the powder a mechanical key to bite into.

Aluminum: zirconium conversion. Steel: iron phosphate wash. This is the corrosion-resistance step that separates a 10-year finish from a 2-year one.

Frame gets hung on a grounded rack. We charge the powder negatively and spray; charged particles wrap themselves onto the grounded frame, even on the back side. Multi-coat finishes (chrome, candy, color-shift) get a base, a mid, and a clear — each cured between coats.

Into the gas-fired oven at ~400°F for 15–25 minutes depending on powder. The film flows, crosslinks chemically, and turns into a continuous fused skin. This is what makes powder powder — not the spray, the bake.

Visual inspection under a color-corrected light, mil thickness gauge to confirm 2–4 mils, masking removed, threads chased, photos sent to you, and into the crate it goes.