Powdercoating 81 shelves

[MoonDawg]

    Have been dissatisfied with long term results of zink plating shelves. Old customers have
come back with terrible rust and oxidation on shelves I had plated.
    Powdercoating is not as shiny but I can testify it is much more durable against temperature and scratches.
    So I included 5 sets of original shelves with my latest powdercoating order.The kid
running the shop (the owners son) returned my shelves to me sandblasted but un-coated.
He said I would have to remove the wheels because they would melt in his oven

    These wheels look to be phenolic to me....zink plating has never fazed them.
I thought powder coating was baked at 300 degrees, or am I wrong....is it higher?

    I am going to try baking one in my home oven this weekend, but..........
my question is......has anyone else had V-81 shelves powdercoated without
damaging the wheels? I don't want to remove them.
 

[Marvin]

A friend of mine had some powder coated without removing the rollers.  They held up just fine, but I did not care for how they looked.  It may depend on what temp oven your guy uses also. 

I removed the rollers when I had mine done though.  I just drilled the rviet out and ordered some "sex bolts" (they may also be called binding posts) to replace them with.  The bolt and nut screws into each other kind of like a post.  I put a drop of red loctite on each one to make sure it did not unscrew.
 

Marvin

[mznb1u]

MoonDawg,

I worked in a powder-coating factory for two summers during my college years.  Nasty business and the hardest job I ever had.  We were mainly working with automotive parts.  That was a few (alright quite a few) years ago but my recollection is that we baked the parts at 600 degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes.  Not a fun place to work in the summer; however, when you came out of the factory on 98 degree humid Michigan summer days it felt like a pretty nice day because the temps on the line were 120 plus a lot of the time.

One day they actually took the fans off of the workers and put them on the conveyor line circuit panels so they wouldn't pop the breakers from overheating.  Talk about shades of "1984"!

Tim

[sodaworks]

I believe my powdercoater cooks off @ 450 degrees F for 30 minutes.

[MoonDawg]

       Thanks all, he tested 1 shelf and I found it, confirmed  the wheel got warped. Ok I am
going to remove all the wheels prior to re-submitting to powdercoating and use Marvin's suggestion.
       But since my last post I discovered a huge error! 
       I also sent in 5 V-81 faceplates to be powdercoated white.
       Everything else was to be silver,3 inner liners, 5 sets of bottle stack plates, 5 sets of 81 shelves (which were returned until the wheels were removed) 5 sets of bottle stack
slides and a few latches and handles.  Well.....................................everything came back WHITE, only the liners were silver.
      I installed the innerliner and compressor into the Pepsi 81 I am restoring. Then I assembled the bottle stack using the white faceplate and white bottlestack plates.
Guess what, I am happy so far. 
      Now my question here is for a group opinion:  do I have them re-sandblast all the white shelfslides, then powdercoat them, and the all the shelves silver as original and as requested.........or continue with this all white theme? I know it's not original, but do y'all think white shelves would look funky? I am neutral right now 

[SIGNGUY]

HMMM... It doesn't look all that bad with the shelves white, but I dont' think the bottle slides would look good white if the bottle shelves will be done in Silver?

I personally would ask to get them redone like ordered for no additional charge?

[MoonDawg]

   No the bottle stack plates are white, and so are the slides. Just wondering if the shelves should now be white or silver ? If silver I will need to change the slides back from white to to silver.

[Eric]

Silver.... Go original... that's what you ask for... he should honor that.
anyway.... that's my vote 

[collecture]

I know you already assembled the stack, but I would have made them redo everything as originally ordered. I'm partial to things looking original!
Then again - ask the customer what they prefer! They may not care one way or the other.

[SIGNGUY]

Regarding the "Sex Bolts" , what size did you use that worked, and where did you get them. I might try that route as well.

Thanks
John

A friend of mine had some powder coated without removing the rollers.  They held up just fine, but I did not care for how they looked.  It may depend on what temp oven your guy uses also. 

I removed the rollers when I had mine done though.  I just drilled the rviet out and ordered some "sex bolts" (they may also be called binding posts) to replace them with.  The bolt and nut screws into each other kind of like a post.  I put a drop of red loctite on each one to make sure it did not unscrew.
 

Marvin

[GreginNM]

I agree with Tom, I'm partial to original...but ask the customer (if the machines are spoken for).  There are plenty of folks out there that couldn't care less if it's white, silver, or any other color on the inner parts that can only be seen when the machine is open.  They will be showing off their machine closed and working, most likely.

If the guy will fix it at no cost and limited extra time, then I suppose it's a wash either way.

[Marvin]

I got the bolts from McMaster Carr.  The order is not in their system anymore.  I will look at the package when I get home and get the specs for you.

Marvin

[Marvin]

This is the part number for half of the bolt. McMaster Carr.  www.mcmaster.com

93121A325  8-32 threads 1/4" length.  I did have to slightly enlarge the hole in the shelf and barrell to make it work.  I will try to post a picture when I get home.

[MoonDawg]

      Thanks anyways Marvin, but there has been a change in plans.

      Ok shelves and slides will be silver. Thanks to everyone for the
input.

      All the bottle stack faceplates were originally red but I changed
them to white so I hope it's not too big a sin to change the plates behind
them from silver to white at the same time.
       
       As far as re-mounting the wheel I experimented with the sex-nut
but they fit too tight and would spin with the wheel. Also they were a
little too long and had to be ground down to fit. In addition, the cost
exceeded $10.00 per set and I have 6 sets of shelves to plate.

       After brainstorming for 3 days, I came up with a solution that any
third grade kid could have suggested.A box of 10-32 truss head screws
and some c-clips (or loc-tite) are all that are needed. I will remove all the
wheels and tap the holes to 10-32, then set these screws in place to be
coated to match and prevent rusting.

        Sometimes the most difficult problems can have the simplest
solutions  

[SIGNGUY]

AHHH another great idea... I'll have to look into that as well , or go the sexbolt way...we'll see.

[MoonDawg]

          Profile was the biggest obstacle in this challenge. Clearance above and
below the shelf was critical to allow the largest possible diameter bottle to
roll through, without getting stuck by the wheel fastener.

[Marvin]

I had thought of just using a bolt myself, but the height bothered me also.  I went with the binding post because it looked more original and was lower.

I could not get a pic last night.  I will try to get one tonight for you all to see.

[collecture]

Glen,
What have you been doing in the past with shelves?
We all know this isn't your first restoration!

[MoonDawg]

    Have been dissatisfied with long term results of zink plating shelves. Old customers have
come back with terrible rust and oxidation on shelves I had plated.
   
 

[Marvin]

Here are some pics. 

[collecture]

That looks like a nice replacement!
Sorry Glen - I think Marvin won on looks!

[SIGNGUY]

Thanks for the photos, those do look more original and seem to be a good low profile... I'll check into both as I to have zinc plated shelves, but am considering powder coating on the next run... still working on pricing...

[coke_and_stuff]

I used the binding post as well with great sucess, I bought mine at Lowes.

Joey

[MoonDawg]

       I agree........they look great!     Thanks Marvin