hot metal zinc spraying

nip102

Hi
I have a car shell which I taking back to bare metal for a respray.
I saw an add on donedeal, "hot metal zinc spray" would anyone recommend this over primer and respray. Is the process effective or are there any issues to be aware of?
Thanks
Niall

metallisation

Hi Niall,

I can't give you any independent advice because being open and honest, our company supply the hot zinc spray equipment.

However, if you have a look at http://www.metallisation.com/videos/library/body-panel-repair.html, you can see a video of it being done on a car panel. There are links on this page to the company in the UK that are doing this and to a press release that describes the process. There have also been articles in Practical Classics magazine. The company that do it have also done complete VW shell sprays.

From here on in, it's your choice.

Kind regards,

Stuart Milton
Metallisation Ltd

Fishtits

Hi Stuart,

I confess that I haven't looked at the link you provided, but I was of the opinion that zinc protection relied on exposure to the elements... how does this square with a surface that is painted as a top coat, thus sealing in the zinc layer?

Please don't refer me back to the link and make a total tit of me for being lazy...

kev1.3s

Fishtits wrote: »

Hi Stuart,

I confess that I haven't looked at the link you provided, but I was of the opinion that zinc protection relied on exposure to the elements... how does this square with a surface that is painted as a top coat, thus sealing in the zinc layer?

Please don't refer me back to the link and make a total tit of me for being lazy...

You should probably look at the link :-D seems impressive.

metallisation

Hi Fishtits (nice name),

You're basically correct that there does need to be some exposure of the surface for the zinc to protect the steel. But painting doesn't always give that level of protection, otherwise why would car manufacuturers use galvanised panels in new cars?

What the zinc is doing when you spray the entire surface is protecting against porosity in the paint and/or breaks/scratches in the paint coating. Steel needs exposure to go rusty, so if you can 100% guarantee that the paint coating will cover and give 100% protection, then you don't need a zinc coating. But generally, you can't guarantee that, hence the need for zinc coatings, either sprayed, dipped or plated.

Just for info as I saw a comment on another board suggesting that this spray process would distort the panels due to heat. This is not the case and in fact is the reverse compared to hot dip galvanasing. There is very little heat input and I would not expect a panel to get hotter than around 70C maximum. In fact, you are more like to get panel distortion from the stress releiving affect of the blasting if this is not done correctly and carefully.

I believe that there may be people in Ireland doing this type of work. If you contact Cambpell Machine in Bray, they may be able to point you in the right direction.

And please do have a look at the link - it's interesting (if you like that sort of thing) if nothing else.:)

shagman

I saw in the buy and sell "bodyshells zinc sprayed from €400" doesn't mention hot or not. Ph David on 086 2156474

mk1esc

i would like to see the process being done beofre id part with money and also see the twin cam that they have done on donedeal.....

if it works it would be a very cheap process compared to going to SPL in the uk who dip the car in a 3 stage process......

kev1.3s

But it would never be as good as getting the car completly submerged, there are places that the spray gun wont reach I did see a sample of steel with what ever applyed to it with the other half left bare and it seemed to be a good job.