Powder coating leaf springs

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Odyknuck
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Powder coating leaf springs

Post by Odyknuck »

I'm considering powder coating the leaf springs on my Mikado Logger. They will need to be baked at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. So ,my question is the heat going to anneal the springs and make them weaker?
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Bill Shields
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by Bill Shields »

Why?

When the leaves flex, the coating will crack and fail.

You are also faced with the variability of thickness

I have never painted or coated any springs.
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
Andypullen
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by Andypullen »

What Bill said.

It’s a waste of time and effort.
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by Dick_Morris »

If you don't like the color chemical gun blue is an option.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by Bill Shields »

Spring material I get seems to be always blue anyway..😀
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Harold_V
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by Harold_V »

The temperature involved is lower than the draw temperature required when heat treating the spring material, so that's not a problem, but the idea of coating the springs is less than ideal for reasons already discussed. It makes little sense in the way of functionality and would yield a rather unsightly mess when the coating started to peel, which it most likely will.

H
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daves1459
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by daves1459 »

Depending on how your spring leaves were made the edges could be bright, even if they are blue temper. I would think the best edge condition would be rolled round, which is what I use and what McMaster-Carr usually provides. For those springs I have had them black oxide treated with excellent results.

I would think any coating that adds thickness being paint or powder coating or plating or whatever is definitely going to be a problem. Black oxide does not add thickness. It merely chemically colors the surface. A side benefit is the black oxide, if done using a mil spec. hot process, suppresses rusting.

Dave
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NP317
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by NP317 »

The individual spring steel (from McMaster-Carr) leaf springs on my Ten Wheeler and Mikado were not treated in any way, and show no corrosion after years of use.
A squirt of oil when new soaked in between the leaves and helped prevent rust, and actually help them flex.
Also: What Bill S. and others have offered here.

Spend your efforts on other aspects of your build.
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Odyknuck
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by Odyknuck »

Thanks for all the suggestions. Mine are rusted from sitting 20 years and wanted to glass bead and coat with something.
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NP317
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by NP317 »

I suggest simply oiling them with a light machine oil.
The rust you see is most likely surface only, and not rusted between the leaves.
I painted everything on my loco for long-term protection except the springs.
So far so good.
RussN
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Powder coating leaf springs

Post by Greg_Lewis »

I would be hesitant to use any blast media on them as it could affect the springiness. (Although walnut shells would probably be OK.) If the rust is just on the surfaces that show in the photos, I'd probably just wipe them off vigorously with a rag and apply oil and let them be. No harm will come from that minimal surface rust and it will be almost invisible down under the boiler.
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Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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