Paint or Powder over plastic?

Marty;

 

Powder coating is cured at about 400 degrees F. That probably rules out plastic.

 

Art

Andy at Crutchfield thinks all metal grill.  Eastwood has a few browns (total Cafe Macchiatto) They have only have one cream color.  I need more powder options in the old school colors.  

Paint

Yes, I may have to paint (even if metal) as there are many more classic colors in paint than powder.  

All of the DIY stores now carry paint specially formulated for plastic.  Comes in a nice selection of colors and is all rattle-can style....perfect for a small job like that.  

 

Follow the directions on the can, but usually just spraying the part clean with compressed air or cleaning with something like Windex is enough for proper adhesion of the paint.

 

 

Happy painting, there, Picasso!

Most of the paint specialty stores could mix a custom color for you.  They also have DIY products that would allow you to put that custom color in a spray can for easy application. Take whatever it is you want to match it to to the store and they could custom match it. It will cost a little more than a simple rattle can but the color would be exactly what you want. I was in Dunn Edwards Paints recently and they had a DIY kit for a reasonable price. I would call your local professional paint Store.

Regardless: you can't powder-coat plastic, so your only option is paint.

Weeeelll.......we used to powder-coat computer front panels once we went to several different color palettes on the equipment (anybody want "Garnet Rose"??).  

 

The panel material was very slightly carbon impregnated ($$) RIM molded plastic (very slightly electrically conductive so it could be charged), and the power coat was a relatively low-temp stuff (I think it flowed at something just less than 200F).  This was back in the very early 1990's so the process has had to improve since then.  I know that the Car makers do some powder coating of decorative surfaces ("chrome" coating over plastic) so Maybe Tom B. has heard of it.

 

Here's an outfit in Texas doing it on the cheap:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC7c-EXP6Do

 

Regardless, it was an expensive set-up back then, and for what Marty's doing it would be far more cost-effective to just paint them.

Paint 'em. What Gordon described was using Carbon infused plastic which will take low heat if powder coated. Those speaker grills will melt.

 

Friend of mine wanted to match his interior with his speaker grills in his '56 BelAir, despite being told the plastic wouldn't hold up under 200* heat he had them done...metal grill inserts came out fine...plastic surrond warped out of shape. He finally had to buy new speaker grills, he had some rattle can paint color matched to his interior at a local automotive paint supplier for about $20, then painted the new grills to match the interior...looks great and the grills blend in. 

I'm not sure if any of you have ever powdercoated in your garage, but I've done a lot of pieces with an Eastwood gun. I've used a propane infrared heater to cure larger pieces, but generally use Jeanie's kitchen range. It's an amazing process, but there's a lot of ways to screw it up.

 

Unless you've got some space-age plastic that will conduct electricity and stand up to 375*F heat-- you (or the powder-coat shop down the road) just aren't going to do it. I'm not disputing that manufacturers do it in factories, but I'll stand by my statement,

 

"you can't powder-coat plastic"

Whatever you do, Marty, looks like at the least 3 pairs of shoes for Sandy.

 

Paint 'em Marty. Personally I am a fan of both Polk(regular speakers) and JL Audio(subs). RF is OK, but sometimes harsh in my experience.

Your right Rich. Don't Rat me out!