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Powder Coating Pen blanks?

D

Dennis McGill

Joined
Sep 2, 2008
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Can wooden pen blanks be powder coated? If so, will the heat needed to cure the paint melt the glue holding the tubes in? If so, does the glue reset when cool?
Thanks,
Dennis McGill
 
I seem to be having problems with this site this morning. Powder coating has to be heated to 390 degrees f. That's too hot for most common glues although I have never subjected Gorilla glue to heat to see how it works. I'm not a fan of that type of glue so I don't buy it anymore.
You can buy high heat epoxies at the Automotive stores. The last stuff I bought would handle up to 600 degrees.
 
Not sure why you would want to do this, but here's a couple of thoughts:

Not only do you have high curing temps, but I suspect you would have to heat the pen barrel to a pretty high temp to get the powder to stick to it and then cure at an even higher temp. With a lot of wood types, this will result in cracks.

Even if the wood doesn't crack, if there is any moisture at all in the wood (highly likely) you will get a nice bubbly (or holey) paint finish from the steam escaping.

Maybe try using MDF instead of natural wood.

Good luck.

Ed
 
I think the "stick" in commercial powder coating mostly comes from opposite charges on powder and piece. Mere submersion in the powder might not work as well.

Would you rub up an amber pen to paint it? 🙂
 
+1 on Ed. I dont know why you would want to do this. I agree with the heat vs moisture, crack, crack, crack. There will be moisture, even when considered dry. If you buy a peice of lumber from the hardware store, kiln dried, it more than likely has around 10% moisture in it, thats just natural law. If it is a color your are looking for from this, just have them dyed. Even a stabilized peice of wood has moisture in it.
 
I have a small powder coating set up. Further to what MichaelMouse said, the coating adheres by electrical attraction. It would not adhere to wood. (Well, maybe iron wood. 🙂 )
 
I guess I'll just have to try it.

I have an idea, if it works I'll post it here, otherwise I'll have to come up with a different answer to my problem.

Thanks for all the ideas.
 
Grant Wilkinson said:
I have a small powder coating set up. Further to what MichaelMouse said, the coating adheres by electrical attraction. It would not adhere to wood. (Well, maybe iron wood. 🙂 )
Click to expand...

Not true.

It is very plausible to powdercoat wood. There are other forms of powdercoating than electrical adhesion as we think of. I lost the link but if you google powdercoating wood you will get alot of hits. If I locate it I will post.

I do not know why you would need to powdercoat wood though. Would not a traditional finish be tough enough??? Maybe if you give us some insight as to what you are doing. How about CA as the finish such as used in finishing pens. That is as tough.
 
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