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POWDER COATING, March 2018 39 Powder coating nickel plate? Q Can you powder coat nickel plate? What powder and pre- treatment would you use? K.W., Suwanee, Ga. A I see that you're a man of few words. In this case, too few words to provide an accurate answer to your question. Powder coating over nickel plating is doable, if the surface is clean and slightly scuffed. Use virgin de-ionized (DI) water as your last pretreatment step to remove any plating salts. Additional pretreatment is unnecessary if the part is absolutely clean. —N.L. Powder coating motorcycle parts with brass and copper bushings Q I want to do some powder c o a t i n g o n m o t o r c y c l e parts. These parts are cast aluminum alloy. The problem is they have brass and copper bushings on the inside. They won't be coated, but my concern is this: Will the heat used in curing affect them? They're a hassle to remove and replace. Thanks. A.G., Rye, N.Y. A As I've said before, I'm no metallurgist, but powder cure temperatures shouldn't affect the bushings as long as there isn't any lubricant present. The lubricant will cook out and cause a problem with the coating. If you don't catch on to what's happened, you'll have dry bushings. Be sure they're well-masked so that you don't have migrating powder getting into the bushings. —G.T. PC Editor's note For further reading on the problems discussed in this column, visit Powder Coating magazine's website at www.pcoating.com and search the Arti- cle Index by subject category. All articles listed in the archive are available for free download to registered users. George R. Trigg is president of GRT Engi- neering, Prospect, Ohio. He has been involved in the powder coating industry for more than 40 years. He holds a BSBA degree from Musk- ingum College, New Concord, Ohio. Nick Liberto is president of Powder Coating Con- sultants (PCC), a divi- sion of Ninan, Inc., 1529 Laurel Ave., Bridgeport, CT 06604. Established in 1988, PCC is an inde- pendent engineering firm specializing in the use of powder coat- ing technology. Nick has more than 3 decades of experience in the powder coat- ing industry and is a member of many industry associations, including the Appli- cation Equipment Technical Committee of the Powder Coating Institute. A registered professional engineer in Connecticut, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in physics. He can be contacted at 203/366- 7244; email pcc@powdercoat.com; website www.powdercc.com.