
The first important stage is basic cleaning of the substrate. The point of pre-treatment is to ensure you prep the surface, so that, down the line, the powder coating you apply stays durable and resilient for longer, and that you avoid any initial defects. Cleaning and pre-treatment are key steps in ensuring the best possible finish. You must thoroughly clean the substrate before applying the powder coating to it. It is also vital to keep powder coating equipment clean and well-maintained to minimise the potential for contaminants to affect application. Preparing your surface for powder coating is a critical part of the process, and proper preparation can help to ensure you do not get fish eyes in your coated finish.
#FISHEYE PAINT HOW TO#
How to Prevent Fish Eyes in Powder Coating Unlike craters, which may not reach the surface of the coated substrate, and present a dimpled effect, fish eyes are gross defects, creating deep, circular holes in the powder coating finish.įortunately, there are ways of repairing fish eyes and, even better, of preventing them happening in the first place.

High-flow resins are also more susceptible to developing craters and fish eyes. Some powders will cope much better with contaminants than others. This can depend largely on the quality of the powder you choose. However, sometimes these contaminants can occur in the powder itself.

This contamination may have occurred before any pre-treatment of the surface, prior to applying the powder coating. Typical contaminants on a surface that can cause fish eyes are silicone and oil. This is why surface tension can be a major factor in several coating defects, including fish eyes. At the interface of a liquid with a surface, there is an uneven force distribution of molecules. Surface tension is the elasticity of liquids, which makes them acquire the least surface area possible.

Typically, craters will occur when there are issues with either the surface of the substrate you are spraying, or with the electrostatic charge during application.įish eyes come from issues arising from the surface tension differences between the powder film, in molten form, and a contaminant. These defects differ from other dimpled craters in powder coating because they occur for different reasons, and they can appear more severe. This defect’s resemblance to a fish-eye is how it has got its name. What Do Fish Eyes in Powder Coating Look Like?Ĭratering can occur in powder coating finishes, and fish eyes are a more severe form of craters in the powder-coated surface.Įssentially, a fish-eye is a small depression in the surface with a mound or dome in its centre. These are usually down to problems with the surface, or the preparation of it. Reranch is typically 2-3 weeks whereas Stew-Mac should be here by the end of the week.Fish eyes in powder coating are defects in the finishing, when there are contaminants present during application.Īlthough powder coating is a robust and adaptable alternative to liquid paint finishes for a range of applications, there can be issues with finishes. I'll just suck it up and figure out how to spray in the midst of a sea of pine pollen. I don't have time to wait for reranch, unless you all think it would be a bad color match.
#FISHEYE PAINT MAC#
I threw the reranch brown away and, for the sake of schedule (I need to finish before the pine trees start pollinating here) I'm thinking about getting tobacco brown tinted lacquer from Stew Mac and trying the brown burst a third time on the back. Can this happen?īTW, I sanded back again and hit it with the amber and everything was fine with the amber. Everything is pointing to my brown somehow going bad. Misted on so shooting too close isn't an issue. It was cleaned with naphtha prior to each step the second time so cleanliness wasn't an issue.

So I sanded back to the sealer and hit it with amber again (everything was fine), hit a mist coat of clear, turned out fine, but as soon as I hit it with the brown, it fisheyed again (worse this time).
