Hydro Dipping Over Powdercoat

tonycov

Can someone help? I am new to Hydro dipping, I powder coated my motorcycle fender a flat black, waited a few days then dipped it, I believe I may have waited to long before dipping it "40" seconds. Sections of the fender came out nice but other sections came out blurry looks wrinkly. I rinsed with cold water then let it dry then I clear coated with a matte clear then baked in the oven at 380 deg. when it came out it seemed as if there was film still on the fender with pin holes? I don't know what that is. I dipped at 91 degrees then rinsed for about 2-3 minutes in cold water. Should I have scuffed the base Powdercoat before dipping? The film I don't know what happened...... Any help would be appreciated .

https://flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157652821568943/with/19184301416/

MidOhioHydrographics

I'm actually surprised it came out that good! I've never dipped to powder coat, except by painting over it first. If the paint isn't still "open" to the dip, the activator can't make the chemical Bond between the paint and film ink. I have heard it can be done, but dipping to powder coat is tricky. Is this something you've done before? And I can't really see the pinholes in the pictures.

tonycov

No I have never dipped before, this was my first time....I do lots of powder coating and wanted to learn how to do hydrographics. The image on the left side of the fender "In the Horizontal picture" is blury and the ink seemed to swirl. I don't know if I waited to long after spraying the activator "40 sec" or didn't spray it right "maybe on an angle" and it just seems wrinkly & not smooth..... The film def. bonded because I'm in the process of blasting it down to bare metal again to start over...

MidOhioHydrographics

After spraying activator, dip right away. No need to wait as long as the film is activated properly. The blurred part could be incorrect amount of activator. Probably too much, but it's hard to tell from those pics. And it could also just be your technique. But, if the film didn't come off during the rinse, if must have hooked. Maybe some others will chime in about their technique dipping to powder coat. Do some forum searching and reading and check out some pictures of the problems others have. You should find some pics that look similar to your problem.

jtcustoms

I have  had  good  luck  dipping to powdercoating By not baking  the  base fully then dipping  as soon as  the  part Is  cooled to room temperature. 
LOTS  of information  here on this subject  take some time  and  read up. I did all my testing on 2" 20awg steel  tubing  as this allows you to  practice  your roll techniques for dipping  as well
The  2 things  I found  to be the  most  important in this  process are technique and timing

tonycov

jtcustoms said:

I have  had  good  luck  dipping to powdercoating By not baking  the  base fully then dipping  as soon as  the  part Is  cooled to room temperature. 
LOTS  of information  here on this subject  take some time  and  read up. I did all my testing on 2" 20awg steel  tubing  as this allows you to  practice  your roll techniques for dipping  as well
The  2 things  I found  to be the  most  important in this  process are technique and timing

If you don't mind me asking what temp are you baking your clear? Lower temp longer duration when dipping? Or the usual 375 385

tonycov

OK so I tried this again over powder coat, I stripped the fender down to bare metal, Powder coated it "this time in black gloss" pulled from oven, cooled down then dipped, rinsed for 3-5 min in cool water, hung dried for 30 min, then clear coated in powder coat gloss 375 for 15 min. Im getting these little bumps and I don't know why or what Im I doing wrong...... The powder coating on the bottom side does NOT have any bumps nor does the sides where I taped off. Can any one figure this out???

blazingcoatings

With powder coating it's so hard to add another factor like dipping. It is a lot of trial and error. I would suggest tring another Clear coat and definitely bake the clear at like 350 degrees (just increase the time). I also did read you blasted the part; What kind of media did you use? Coal slag and some other media's break off in metal and sometimes throws little bumps up when its in the oven for awhile. For example, It's like popcorn. It works its way to the top. Last thing to think about, it could possibly be a contamination issue. Perhaps an oil in the line or you may want to switch your media out if its recycled and reclaimed. 

thehydrodipguy

In my opinion, you should leave the powder cure for a few days. It looks to me like you are having a chemical reaction. Was it like that before the clear?

recon44095

Scuff the powder coat the then apply inter coat clear (HOK SG100) then dip

rustymotor

It looks like something between the powder coat and the transfer that's tried to boil out and got trapped..

Donita

I would wait a couple of days and apply intercoat clear base over the powdercoat. Then dip wait  until the next day to clear. That film like activator. Good luck let us know. 

Hurricane67

your leaving it in to long try 8 min with the clear at 375 mine turned out awsome

BossGameLive

I dip a lot on powder coated yeti cups and I haven't had any issues but it sounds like after the dip your powder coating clear. Which I've found out that the ink doesn't like heat..you would have to finish the item with paint clear.

CMHydrographics

BossGameLive said:

I dip a lot on powder coated yeti cups and I haven't had any issues but it sounds like after the dip your powder coating clear. Which I've found out that the ink doesn't like heat..you would have to finish the item with paint clear.

@BossGameLive What steps do you take to prep your Yetis...Scuffing, intercoat, etc.? ...or do you just dip them as is. I'm debating on whether it would be better to buy the colored powder coated ramblers or just get the stainless ones and paint them.

MidOhioHydrographics

CMHydrographics said:

BossGameLive said:

I dip a lot on powder coated yeti cups and I haven't had any issues but it sounds like after the dip your powder coating clear. Which I've found out that the ink doesn't like heat..you would have to finish the item with paint clear.

@BossGameLive What steps do you take to prep your Yetis...Scuffing, intercoat, etc.? ...or do you just dip them as is. I'm debating on whether it would be better to buy the colored powder coated ramblers or just get the stainless ones and paint them.

@CMHydrographics You can't dip straight to the colored cups. You would need an intercoat and if you do that you may as well paint them. Keep reading and researching the process.

TCC2017

Do a full cure on your base coat. IF glossy then slightly scuff with 400g. Dip... let sit for 10-15 min then rinse. Powder clear at 305F for 15min PMT. The ink will not haze and you can get a full cure of the clear. This pic is powder Coated base,dip and powder clear.