Masking with powdercoating

[edelbikes]

Hi !
I'm working on a project where part of the frame would be painted, and part of the rear CS and SS would be left in raw stainless steel (a liittle bit like IF is doing on their SSR frames). I have good relations with my painter (powder coating only) who is doing some really nice work, but I don't think he has ever done that kind of job.
Is there some advice I could give him to get a clean transition ? For example, is it possible to remove the masking tape before cooking the paint in the oven ? He's doing a 3 layer process (anti-corrosion / color / clear-coating) so it probably does not simplifies things...
And in case the result is not perfect, which kind of polishing material should I look for to remove excess paint and clean-up/polish the edge of the paint ?

Thanks for your help !
Francois

[Eric Estlund]

Take my advice with a grain of salt, but in my experience, letting the bike start to gel and then pulling the tape works pretty well. It keeps the edge tight, but without a hard tape edge. This would also be a good time to clean up errant powder with a bit of MEK or similar before going back in the oven for the full cure.

[bellman]

My powdercoater (Morris bros., Yamhill Oregon) did a grey downtube with the rest of the bike black for me a while back.
our plan if it came out less than stellar was for me to use a band of vinyl to cover the transistion.
It came out perfect and we left it alone, It went pretty much like Eric said above.

[2wheelrider]

I've tried pulling tape before curing the powder and it can be done but depends on the orientation and as a whole find it to be more trouble than its worth because if you bump the frame you may have to blow all the powder off and start over. Like Eric stated putting the frame in the oven until the powder goes "plastic" and then removing the tape before a full cure works pretty good. Most high heat tapes used in powder coating can be difficult to use and are very rigid so they don't like to form to curves very well. While I hesitate mentioning it because I am far from a professional I have had pretty good results using 3m fine line tape used for wet paint as long as it is removed after the powder goes plastic. So far it doesn't seem to leave an adhesive residue. Again I'm far from a pro so I'm only stating what has worked for me not neccesarrily a recommendation.

[edelbikes]

Thanks for the advices !
I know that the masking tape my painter uses is quite stiff and really hard to remove once cooked (he's using some to mask fork steerers). I'll check if I can find some nicer/thinner stuff.

[Eric Estlund]

It all (that I have used) goes pretty stiff if it sits in the oven for a full cure. Getting the tape off sooner allws for a better blend between powder layers, and doesn't bake the adhesive in the tape itself.