Come to the Dark Side with your chrome...

[LSU_TJ]

Black Chrome look with powder coat

Ok, here is the writeup everyone was asking for from the OP.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/oh-yea-baby-once-you-go-black-742659-post6915961/?posted=1#post6915961

Writeup was a little long so I started a new thread for the process instead of adding it to the OP.


Items Needed:

To do this process I used the Powder coat gun from Harbor Freight. I did a lot of research when I was wanting to get into powder coating and the consensus was this gun for home use.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94244

I am usually not a fan of electric tools from the Freight but everyone seemed to rave about this one over the other choices out there till you get into commercial guns. So for home use this was it. I have done a lot of pieces and this gun is doing a great job.

This gun needs to operate at 10-30psi so you will need a regulator of some sort and of course a compressor.

The other main item you need to powder coat is an oven. Most home users go with a toaster oven since the pieces you do are generally small. I bought the biggest toaster oven Wal-Mart sells for just this purpose as it ruins the oven for food use. You also do not want to do this in your house. Do it in your shop/garage with good ventilation. Powder coating is a very environment friendly paint process. You have no real over spray to deal with, just the powder that scatters around. You just sweep or vacuum this up as it is a dry powder.

The only other thing you need is the powder. I use Rosey's Powder Coating as my powder supplier and have had great success with them and their products.

http://roseyspowdercoating.biz/osCommerce/catalog/

The actual powder I used for this job was their Black Transparent powder.

http://roseyspowdercoating.biz/osCommerce/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=29

This is a transparent powder so you are actually looking through this coating to the surface underneath. The shinier the substrate the more reflective the finished piece will look. So chrome as the base works best but you can use any high gloss silver shade, polished aluminum should also work well. You just want the underlying reflective layer to be as free of scratches or imperfections as possible as you see through this transparent powder coat to this layer and will see anything that is there. It does not hide what is on the silver coating. The bake times are different for different powders and they label them on the bag. For this one I used 400 deg for 10 min in the oven then took out and set on top to cool gradually.



The Process:

I started with new KC Chrome 6" Daylighter lights so I had no scratches, dirt or fingerprints all over them to deal with.



I did make sure the chrome was as clean and shiny as possible when I began as you will see anything on this surface when you are done. As with most paint processes prep is the key to good success. The surface must be degreased, clean and lint free. I completely disassembled the lights so I was left with only the metal pieces I was coating with the powder.



You do not want to bake any rubber or wiring so do each piece separately after taking it all apart. Powder Coating electro-statically charges the powder and you ground the metal surface to be coated with the machine that is attached to the gun via a ground wire and a foot operated pedal.



As you can see in the pictures I have attached the ground wire to an inconspicuous area because you will not get 100% coverage at the exact spot the ground clips to.






You do not want to touch the surface you are coating as you will mess up the powder but more importantly when you press the pedal and pull the trigger on the gun you have electrically charged the surface and if you touch it, it will light you up like a Christmas tree!

I know, I've seen me do it... When you press the pedal it charges the metal and pull the trigger on the gun it emits a fine dust of the powder out the gun and will stick to the metal surface as you wave it back and forth over the item. When you have a good dull coating of the dust all over the item you can stop spraying and release the foot pedal charge. You can see the dull layer of powder dust that covers the item in the above and below pictures.



You now have to transfer the item to the oven and be careful not to touch the powder or shake the item too hard as you can knock the powder off. Some parts I hang inside and some I lay down on a tray depending on the size. I laid these down due to their size. Just remember that any surface touching something will not have 100% coverage and will stick lightly to the paint so only let parts that are not visible on the assembled piece touch the tray during the bake process. Pre-heat the oven to the required temperature for the powder you are using. In my case I used 400 degrees and the required set (bake) time is 10 min at this temperature. You can watch the powder liquefy and turn as it bakes if you have a glass window on the oven.



Do not open it during this bake time as you will drop the temperature inside the oven and can screw up the finish. You will then need to remove the item and will want to let it cool somewhat gradually to maintain a glossy finish. I just set it on top as I did not hang these items in the oven.



After a few minutes of cool down time I moved it to a cooler area to come to room temperature. Once cool it is cured and can be handled. Re-assemble and admire your work. Be warned though this stuff is addictive, you'll be covering everything you can think of with this magic dust......


















I have never been able to leave anything alone and constantly have to change, redo, fix, improve everything. It's what I love and keeps me busy and I don't see this TJ addiction ending so I guess it is time to start a build thread to document all I have done and will be doing.


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[redfox86]

That is one of the coolest paint applications I have ever seen, it looks absolutely sick. My YJ just got a bunch of new parts under the hood and some of them are chrome, air cleaner, fuel pres. regulator etc. and I am not a fan of chrome on my Jeep, I need to do this...

[LSU_TJ]

Originally Posted by redfox86

That is one of the coolest paint applications I have ever seen, it looks absolutely sick. My YJ just got a bunch of new parts under the hood and some of them are chrome, air cleaner, fuel pres. regulator etc. and I am not a fan of chrome on my Jeep, I need to do this...

Absolutely! That would look great on engine parts. Can even get these results with polished aluminum but remember the better the polished surface underneath the better the depth to the final product.


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[LUCHIAN78]

That is awesome man. ANd a lot more affordable than I thought it would be. Time for me to go get a few choice items before telling the wife what Im doing.

[BomberJeep]

That looked great man. Good Job

[01TJMudder]

i used gloss black spray paint with a clear coat spray paint and mine looks exactly the same. :-\ good job though!

[LSU_TJ]

Originally Posted by LUCHIAN78

That is awesome man. ANd a lot more affordable than I thought it would be. Time for me to go get a few choice items before telling the wife what Im doing.

Yea, not bad at all especially if you already have a compressor and can tell the wife her toaster oven is on the fritz.....


$14 for 1lb of powder and these lights used maybe a fourth of that lb. Cheaper than rattle cans once you are setup, and far more durable.


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[rickshupe]

Do you think this would work on the hinges for the back window on my hard top? The black paint is coming off of mine and the thing that would worry me is the aluminum is deteriorating so I don’t know if I could clean it enough for it to look good and stay on the hinge.

[SYN ACK]

I've been wanting to repaint my door handles but didn't want to rattle can them. You gave me an idea. (not transparent black, of course). Nice work.

[LUCHIAN78]

Originally Posted by LSU_TJ

Yea, not bad at all especially if you already have a compressor and can tell the wife her toaster oven is on the fritz.....


$14 for 1lb of powder and these lights used maybe a fourth of that lb. Cheaper than rattle cans once you are setup, and far more durable.


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My problem is I would have to go out and buy a second hand toaster oven. We just got a brand new one in October for our wedding.

[LSU_TJ]

Originally Posted by 01TJMudder

i used gloss black spray paint with a clear coat spray paint and mine looks exactly the same. :-\ good job though!

While I am sure yours look great and am in no way trying to discredit yours. "Exactly the same", nope. There is NO way any amount of gloss black will ever give the depth chrome does under a transparent colored coating. This finish is night and day different from any solids color. I love them in black but wanted something that would be different and have more pop to it. If you have ever seen Black Chrome in person you would understand. See the picture below. You can see this truck parked next to a building almost 300 yards away in the reflection. No solid would reflect with this depth. Looks even better in person.









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[Unlimited04]

looks awesome, let us know how the finish holds up.

[01TJMudder]

ill take some pics later

[01TJMudder]

i also did every hinge on my jeep with the black spray paint and clear coat

[skittle1120]

Sweet... I've got a set of rims that need refinished, they'd look sweet like this... might have to give it a try...
Speaking of rims, can someone tell me the bolt pattern size on a JK?