I first heard about powder coating when I was in college. I was a school librarian in training and we visited a central district media center in Indianapolis. The media specialiast was a mover and shaker who provided all sorts of great services in addition to classroom materials. She ran a centralized copy center and could turn around teacher orders in a day. I was very impressed. She talked about budget and how to cut corners–one idea was to send all the old metal wastepaper baskets and other office accessories out to be powder coated. She said it was not as expensive as we might think and provided a nice bright blue complement to the work spaces and gave the operation a first class appearance.
So all these years later–really over 40 years–I remembered the idea of powder coating to create a professional looking finish. Originally I was going to sand and spray paint the metal bathroom stand that I bought with the sink and faucet for $50. After the operation though I decided to pick out things that I could have done instead of doing myself. I researched local powder coating businesses and contacted a couple but this local business seemed most interested in my project. Wise Powder Coating Industries in Arvada has a Facebook page to advertise the business. I spoke to Clay who took the sink stand to a separate sand blasting business in Golden and sanded the rough cut opening before powder coating the surface in a bronze color which I had chosen from the color chip catalog.
Bronze powder coated sink stand
A bit more about powder coating. It is a dry paint powdered polymer that is electrostaticly sprayed on a grounded surface. The powder also is collected and reused so there is very little waste. Metal is most often powder coated but plastic and MDF can be coated too. This diagram of an electrostatic gun and more information is at finishing.com
Powdercoat-sprayer
The powder coated item is then baked in an oven at about 320 to 410 degree temperature to melt, gel, and solidify the coating. The coating is scratch and chip resistant and adheres better than liquid paint.
When the dynamic media specialist had her office furniture powder coated, it was a relatively new process introduced in 1967, but since then it has become the finish for most industrial machines and is considered quite durable. Funny how a passing influence can stay with you for decades.