Can you spray clear coat over an enclosure that has been powder coated? I plan to buy a powder coated enclosure and then decal and clear coat it. Do you need to scuff sand it first? Favorite brand of clear coat?
Its about the only way I make my pedals. I'm to lazy to do my own base colours ;)
I use a 500mL can of clear varnish I bought at a local car maintenance shop.
It's called Motip Clear Varnish and is acryl based.
I used a different brand from the local paint store but the decals would get damaged if you just looked at them.
With the Motip I haven't had this problem yet.
Hmmm...European? Guessing it's acrylic enamel.
Do you scuff sand the powder coat if that's even possible?
only thing I do to it is clean it with ammonia, then after its dried up I put on the water slide decal.
I put warm water with hand soap into a bowl and drop in the decal then drop some of the water onto the enclosure to make the decal easier to apply.
Once the decal is on I let it dry for a day and then put around 6-8 clear coats on it with a 10min. break between them.
Then I let it sit in the garage for a week before I finish the build off.
+1 to everything JRB said. I clean with naphtha first, use just a smidge of dish soap in warm water and let the waterslide dry overnight at minimum. I apply three coats of clear 5 minutes apart, bake in a toaster over for 40 minutes, and repeat. If you don't need the deep gloss look, I find that satin lays down a lot better and can make some colors (white, pastels) looks really cool.
No need to scuff sand. I'm pretty sure that will just make the powder coat look horrible.
Got it. Thanks for the help guys.
There's also clear powder coat, just FYI
I realize you're specifically asking about paint, but just in case you get the urge to powdercoat.