North County Powder Coating

On February 24, 2009, The Little Guys had one of our best garage meetings at North County Powder Coating.  Host Tom Wright and his son Brad and daughter Lori were most gracious as they gave us a tour of their facilities.  North County Powder Coating has a huge sandblasting booth and ovens large enough to hold anything you can imagine you would like powder coated.  Lori invited Norm and Terry to bring some parts from their project cars to use in the demonstration.

 

Here is the grill from Terry's '41 Olds and air cleaner from Diane Stansell's '66 Mustang fresh from the sandblaster and ready for powder coating.

Here is the machine used to apply the powder to the electrically charged pieces.

Lori explains the process to the members and guests. 

Ricardo begins spraying the powder onto Diane's air cleaner lid.

Powder coats the pieces and adheres to the surface because of the electrical charge.  Note the fine mist of the dry powder as it comes from the gun.

Into the massive oven to bake at 400 degrees. 

Owner Tom inspects the finished grill.  Absolutely perfect coating that is scratch resistant and extremely durable, plus it looks great.  (Thanks Tom!)

 

Here are a few more photos, click on the thumbnail to see an larger photo.

Tom's hobby is building street legal bumper cars.

This is one of many in his collection.

Powered by a 750 cc motorcycle engine.

Strapped to a dyno, this baby did 160 mph.

Photo of a photo on display in Tom's office of some of his collection.

The club members are starting to arrive. Picnic tables were set up for our pizza.

Norm filling in for Jerry collecting for dinner.

Some of the members admiring Tom's bumper car.

The little car was definately the center of attraction.

Tom and Ricardo discuss the powder application to the samples.

Terry's grill and Diane's air cleaner fresh from the sandblaster and ready for powder.

Tom's beautiful daughter, Lori, explains the process.

Here is the powder gun.

The crowd waits for the application of the powder.

Ricardo sets the air pressure on the powder gun.

Ricardo begins spraying the fine powder onto the electrically charged pieces.

The powder is a dull shade when applied. Baking will cause it to glossen up.

Semi-gloss black was chosen.

Ricardo applies a neat even coat of the powder.

Things are really looking good.

Everyone watches with interest as Tom answers questions from the members.

Lots of questions for Tom.

Ricardo sprays powder into some of the openings.

Just about finished and it only took about a minute.

Lori and Brad.

More questions for Tom.

With the powder completely covering the parts, Ricardo rolls the rack into the oven.

Into the 300,000 BTU furnace at 400 degrees.

Usually the racks are full before going in. This was for demonstration purposes.

Rene inspects some parts off a '56 Ford pickup that were sandblasted in their giant sandblasting booth.

This is the building where the sandblasting is done. With their giant booth they can do a complete car, trailer or???

Here is their small blasting cabinet.

Tom talks about their sandblasting process.

Tom inspects the finished product after a few minutes in the oven.

Looks pretty good from here.

Diane's air cleaner is now almost bullet proof and it looks great.

More questions from a very interested and appreciative audience.

Inside the office, the members talk about the great presentation.

Jerry Heiss is presented an award from Tim Held. Jerry came to Frank Lewark's rescue on the drive to the CARe Show.

I think Jerry was speechless, I guess there is a first for everything.

Mark and Steve talk with Tom.

One of our best garage meetings is winding down as Steve heads for the door. Extra special thanks to Tom, Lori, Brad and Ricardo.

 

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