Powder Coating

yep! although they actually come out a bit brighter and more cheerful: i got mine in moss green, helen's is in heather violet but mine is actually a nice kind of racing green and her's a bright pink - object would be jealous, methinks! ;-)

I only ride black frames. The colour comes in the component choices :]
Pink is cool though, tell Helen Well done.

For Armourtex you need to strip it right down to just bear metal.

They'll powder coat whatever you give 'em so if you don't want a nice matching colour (non-moving) headset & BB you'll want to pop out all your bits.

The finish is beaut though (with gloss laquer) and for an extra fiver I had them do my stem too which not looks total sex :)

The only downside for me has been discovering my eBay forks have turned out to be French threaded :(

I take it you mean strip all the components off the bike rather than striping the paint off back to the bare metal, as Armortex shot blast/ chemical bath the frame/ forks whatever is being done before powdercoating.

They did my frame, forks, stem and 2 sets of bars for 50 quid

I need two frames doing and live round the corner from Armourtex but don't work hours that mean I can stop by. Do you have to mask off the bottom bracket to preserve the threads? Does the inside of the frame get a bit of a coating too? This magnetic shit has bamboozled me somewhat...

No need to mask anything. They use a high pressure air " pistol thingy" to clean out the frame after it has been shot blasted. Yuo get minimal overspray on the inside of the head set/bb but not a problem for nyone who has used them as far as i am aware.

Got an old holdsworth pro done at Armourtex. Shotblasted to remove all rust then powder coated and lacquer for £60.
Very impressed with the work.
Any one know what size bottom bracket a holdsworth pro takes with a 46 tooth campagnola chain ring?

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I take it you mean strip all the components off the bike rather than striping the paint off back to the bare metal, as Armortex shot blast/ chemical bath the frame/ forks whatever is being done before powdercoating.

They did my frame, forks, stem and 2 sets of bars for 50 quid

Yes, sorry, I meant just strip it of all parts, not remove the paint yourself. And as mentioned further down they will leave all threads clean and paint free so you don't have to worry about that either.

It really is a top quality service I must admit. Now back to waiting 1 month for my freakin French headset :(

Getting my new frame powder coated and can't be arsed with sending it off to london or anywhere a good distance away from me (Liverpool). C+G finishers in Liverpool are the best bike place but they just do primer, paint and lacquer (all baked) and the price is a bit lofty (about £90 for frame/forks). I have just spoke to a fella in a dodgy coaters place that said he would blast my frame and powder coat it black for £40. Has anyone had any experience with these types of places and if so should I trust them to mask off the headset and BB?

Getting my new frame powder coated and can't be arsed with sending it off to london or anywhere a good distance away from me (Liverpool). C+G finishers in Liverpool are the best bike place but they just do primer, paint and lacquer (all baked) and the price is a bit lofty (about £90 for frame/forks). I have just spoke to a fella in a dodgy coaters place that said he would blast my frame and powder coat it black for £40. Has anyone had any experience with these types of places and if so should I trust them to mask off the headset and BB?

£40 is a lot out of london, I would call around and find something for £25ish.

Mine is cheap and does a good job, if they have stuff like motorcycle frames in the shop its a good sign. Althought mine does a good job and wont take money till your staisfied they always fuck up on the masking, they have to work quick and can be bothered to do it carefully. BB threads are extremely shallow, just a little overspary will stop your BB screwing in. So expect a good job for under £30 for frame & forks. But also expect to buy a little nitromors to clean out the threads (£3-5)

£40 is a lot out of london, I would call around and find something for £25ish.

Hmm, I've just spent that on paint from halfords... out with the yellow pages

£40 is a lot out of london, I would call around and find something for £25ish.

Mine is cheap and does a good job, if they have stuff like motorcycle frames in the shop its a good sign. Althought mine does a good job and wont take money till your staisfied they always fuck up on the masking, they have to work quick and can be bothered to do it carefully. BB threads are extremely shallow, just a little overspary will stop your BB screwing in. So expect a good job for under £30 for frame & forks. But also expect to buy a little nitromors to clean out the threads (£3-5)

I have called about but £40 is the cheapest I have found. That is only the frame but also includes stripping the aluminium frame to the bare metal before...and it is really local which saves on messing about travelling. I am gonna try to explain to them that they need to mask off the bb and headset but failing that my LBS said they would charge an extra fiver to clean the BB and re-thread through the powder coating.

Just had a bit of a worrying call from the people who are powder coating my new frame. When I dropped it off they said it would be no problem stripping it and then I would pop round to make sure the masking was as I wanted. Just got a call now saying they had a nightmare taking the original paint off (cos it was powder coated in a weirdly resiliant way) and when they have they have found a small crack on the rear stay (it's a new frame so this shouldn't be there but they specialise in welding alu so shouldn't be an issue) and parts of the frame (aero bits probably) had some sort of filler on it. Has anyone ever seen this used on a frame before. I would imagine it is used to smooth over welds and stuff. Had a quick google and found this:
http://www.lab-metal.co.uk/?page=products
It comes as a soft putty which can be applied with a putty knife. It hardens within 24 hours to form metal and can withstand temperatures up to 220 degrees (so it can be powder coated over!). There is a high-temp version which can withstand up to 1000 degrees but the british importer isn't bringing it in anymore. Thought it could be useful for a lot of applications on a bike (smoothing areas, making areas aero, filling holes etc). Seeing the powder coaters tomorrow so will have to see what they think.

if you can get your stuff to Birmingham, I can get frames done for £25 any colour. Including prep. by chemical bath and shot blasting.

DFP, can you tell me the name of the operation you mention in Birmingham?

Is this the cheapest place you know? I'll be pulling the BBs out of anything I get sprayed so accuracy matters less than it might, just want the cheapest job done.

Cheers.

Matt

Can anyone tell me how good at covering surface imperfections the powder coating done at armourtex is? I've removed a couple of braze ons from an old raleigh frame and its left some imperfections in the steel, do i need to sand these completely smooth or can they be left alone.

Cheers

niklaus

not great.... would be much better if you smoothed them out first.

If you can still see the brazing, it needs to be sanded back further.