What to Specify When Components Need Powder Coating
Powder coating is a separate operation behind the fabrication. Colour, gloss, coverage and the surfaces that must stay clear decide whether the parts come back right.
Coating is the last operation and the easiest one to under specify, but by then the part is cut, formed and welded. A finish that arrives wrong is not a repaint on a bracket; it is a whole part.
Colour, and where it comes from
Give a colour reference the finisher can match: a Cardinal colour from the standard range, a RAL number, or a physical sample. KorFab coordinates powder coating through Cardinal Finishes in standard neutrals and bold colours, so a colour that exists in that range is straightforward to specify and one that does not is a conversation before the parts are made.
Say also whether the colour has to match an existing installation. A match to a weathered panel is not the same request as a match to a new one, and it is worth stating which.
Gloss and texture
Gloss level and texture change how a part reads, especially on a visible surface. A formed cover in a matte finish and the same cover in a full gloss look like different parts under the same light. If a project has a finish schedule, send it.
Coverage
- Which surfaces are coated, and whether that includes the back.
- Which surfaces must stay bare: mating faces, threads, weld areas for site connections, grounding points.
- Whether holes need masking, and the size below which a hole is expected to be coated through.
- Whether edges and cut faces are expected to be fully covered.
This list is where most coating problems start, because a part fully coated including a mating face will not assemble, and a part masked in the wrong place shows bare metal on a visible face.
Substrate and preparation
Coating follows the substrate, and the substrate is decided at fabrication. State the material, and whether the part will be welded, because the coating goes on after welding rather than before. Corten is a separate case, often left to weather or given a clear coat, and specifying powder over a weathering steel defeats the point.
Why it belongs on the drawing
A finish note on the drawing travels with the part. A finish mentioned in an email does not. Note the colour, the gloss, the coverage and the masking on the drawing or in a finish schedule referenced by it.
What happens to the schedule
Finishing is coordinated rather than performed in the KorFab building, which means it is a step in the schedule. Ask about it at quote rather than after fabrication, which is the subject of why finish requirements belong in the first quote request.