Rollcage: How best to remove a powder coating?

[El-Dracho]

My roll cage is powder coated. At the external part the coating is partially flaking off. The cage is made of steel tube of high strength CrMo 4 with a diameter of 45 millimeters (so a bit less than 2 inches) and a wall thickness of 2.5 millimeters.

Since I have made many good experiences with powder coatings (e.g. my rocksliders are mounted for over 200k miles to the rig and the coating is still in top shape) and then there are again other parts where it flakes after a short time, I will prepare the cage this time itself properly, primer and paint. If the result is good, I can be proud of the result and if it is bad, then I am to blame, but I tried it.

I would therefore like to gather experience in this thread on how best to remove a powder coating. Who has some experience with this and would like to share it?

Thank you,
Bjoern

 

[Viking1204]

Probably will need to be sand blasted off. I don't recommend priming and painting, when I did that it peeled pretty quick even using an oil based paint.

 

[MMc]

Last time I had mine bead blasted and recoated with a line-x product, I prefer it over power coating, much more durable.

 

[MazeVX]

There are special tube sanders available try look at that it's like a special belt sander.
Ideal would be blasting to get a good surface.
Had a interesting talk with a powdercoater a while ago, interesting insights and I probably know the reason why it's flaking of there and sticks to the sliders.

 

[Red_Leaf_Overland]

could try some paint stripping discs on an angle grinder but they may wear through pretty quickly and they aren't cheap. but depending on the amount you want to strip vs paying for sand blasting it may be an option.

 

[PCO6]

I've powder coated items that I haven't been happy with. I'm learning. I was able to re-bake them, wipe most of the coating off and redo them. These have been small items though ... NOTHING close to the size of roll bars, bumpers, etc.

I'd ask a powder coating shop how to go about it. My guess is that they will suggest media blasting which is how they would start their work in the first place.

 

[socal66]

Sandblasting off powder coat will take a long time especially on large items. Physical sanding will take much longer than that. Taking it to a sandblasting shop would probably be more cost than you want and doing it yourself a pain because you likely don't have a containment cabinet let alone one large enough to fit a roll bar.

Powder coat is usually commercially removed either by cooking it off in a high heat oven (around 1000F) or dipping it in a solvent bath of some sort. If you want to DIY this those won't be options for you but there are some gel like strippers that you can brush on let sit and then scrape off the loosened powder coating. It will take a few applications and scrapes to get most of everything but you will probably need to do some spot abrasive work on stubborn areas . Over here auto restoration suppliers such as Eastwood will carry a line of these and perhaps you can find some products on Amazon. I don't know what you can get in the EU as you may have different environmental regs and such.

Your powder coat issues aren't with that process but more likely with poor workmanship (probably prep) from whoever did your cages initially. You might still want to look into a good powder coat shop as some of those have the heaters or solvent pools on site because that is part off their powder coating prep process. You may find that doing both at one place is cheap enough for you compared to the hassle and assorted costs of doing it yourself.

 

[PCO6]

Sandblasting off powder coat will take a long time especially on large items. Physical sanding will take much longer than that. Taking it to a sandblasting shop would probably be more cost than you want and doing it yourself a pain because you likely don't have a containment cabinet let alone one large enough to fit a roll bar.

Powder coat is usually commercially removed either by cooking it off in a high heat oven (around 1000F) or dipping it in a solvent bath of some sort. If you want to DIY this those won't be options for you but there are some gel like strippers that you can brush on let sit and then scrape off the loosened powder coating. It will take a few applications and scrapes to get most of everything but you will probably need to do some spot abrasive work on stubborn areas . Over here auto restoration suppliers such as Eastwood will carry a line of these and perhaps you can find some products on Amazon. I don't know what you can get in the EU as you may have different environmental regs and such.

Your powder coat issues aren't with that process but more likely with poor workmanship (probably prep) from whoever did your cages initially. You might still want to look into a good powder coat shop as some of those have the heaters or solvent pools on site because that is part off their powder coating prep process. You may find that doing both at one place is cheap enough for you compared to the hassle and assorted costs of doing it yourself.

I sandblast a fair number of things either in my cabinet in the garage or in my outdoor “containment cabinet” which is a spray shelter. It works but is far from ideal. Iv'e blasted items that were powder coated and it definitely takes more time and effort.

I agree that poorly done powder coating is usually the problem. I think that’s sometimes the case with after market companies that want to get things out the door at competitive prices. Some of the black steel wheels for example, although many of those are probably just painted. Good powder coating shops can usually do a much better job.

I used to send heavy steel items like frames, axles (stripped), suspension components wheels, etc. to a company for shot blasting. Their containment cabinet was about the size of 2 auto paint booths end to end. It had a conveyor belt running through it and the doors at each end were like the vertical plastic strips you see at some car washes. It was unmanned and there were blast nozzles aimed at the belt at various angles. Everything was loaded on the belt and sent through. It came out the other end, was flipped over and sent back to where it started. It took about 20 minutes and everything was totally stripped of paint and rust. This was back in the 70s and 80s. A load was about $150-$200 which was well worth it.

I also used to send a lot of things to Redi-Strip. Watching car bodies go in the chemical dip tanks and then come out was pretty interesting. They’re still around but with fewer outlets. I believe there is only one in Canada (Vancouver). I think their process now involves more blasting and less dipping, no doubt for environmental reasons.

 

[El-Dracho]

Thanks for all the advice and shared experiences. It really helps. A great community this is. I'll see what I do and let you guys know. And of course I will show pictures as soon as it is finished.

Thanks again, Happy Holidays and all the best for 2023 everyone,
Bjoern

 

[John Bishop]

This was before the days of powder coat, when I was in the Coast Guard and we had to repaint the handrails on the ship, we would strip off the old paint by wrapping the handrail with a length of chain, then pulling it back and forth. Worked pretty well on paint. Don't know how effective it would be on in-tact powder coat.

 

[El-Dracho]

Oha, it's been quite a while. But here it also finally continued.

Ok, currently I do not want to bolt off the rollcage, because I'm too much on the road with the rig - hehe. But now I wanted to fight the rust spots. So, I took advantage of the good weather yesterday and freed all affected areas from the coating, treated with the wire brush and then applied epoxy rust converter.

The result is quite good. At one or the other spot I have to rework again I saw today in bright sunlight, but it will be good. Am satisfied with the result so far. Followed by paint finishing, then it should be good for a while.