I'm thinking about having my uni frame powdercoated, but can that be done right over the existing paint, providing it's new, or will it still need to be primed, or sanded or both? If so, does it need to be sanded to the bare metal before the PD is applied? I also thought of anodizing, which I understand is much more scratch-proof than PD, and goes on much thinner, although PD offers much better color selection.
if you want your powdercoat to look good and withstand the test of time, you should have your frame sandblasted first. unless the powdercoat is applied to bare metal it won't adhere very well... it won't be nearly as scratch-resistant and it may end up flaking off.
do it right, or do it twice, my old man used to say...
But why? It takes 5 minutes to sandblast a unicycle frame to paint-able condition. If you live near SF, PM me and I can sandblast it free for you if you don't have the equip. I work across the street from a painting/sandblasting shop, and live 5 blocks from a guy who has a sandblasting booth.
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There's several P. coating shops in my area, and ALL have a "minimum charge". They vary from about $55-$85. I asked them if I could save some money by having them use materials/colors left over from previous jobs, and only one place said he might be able to do it for about $40, which would include sandblasting or etching (if chrome). I explained that the job would be for a unicycle frame, which I explained was only the forks and neck, plus the main caps, to give them some idea of the small size of the job. Does $40 sound reasonable? I figure maybe I could bring the guy TWO uni forks and get lucky and have him do both for $40...that doesn't seem too bad.
They're charging you for the cost of starting up the powdercoating oven, not the size of the job on something the size of a bike/unicycle frame.
$40 isn't bad, but if you plan on doing it with multiple frames, it'd be better to just buy a cheap PC system and find an old electric oven in the trash to bake the frames.
