RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:23 am

I bought a cage, galvanized wire from Martins Cages, and now I think it would have been better to get a powder coated cage. Does anyone know of a way you can do this yourself? I have been looking on the net, but can only find car sites and why its better to have powder coated cages.

Thanks for any and all help and comments

-Antea

Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:43 am

Here i found a site that might help you out
http://www.powderequip.com/allaboutpc.html

Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:51 am

Great thank you. I wonder if I can do this at home in my own oven.

Thanks bunches!! :royalty:

Fri Jun 20, 2003 5:30 pm

I don't think you can do it youself, but you can find someone locally to do it for you. Look up metal finishers in the yellow pages and call and ask if they do powder coating. I was quoted about $50 to have a cage done about the size of the martins 695, and they had every color under the rainbow.

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paisley

Spike, Diamond, Elphaba, Rose, Octavia, A Cappella, & Nocturne

the cats: Trip & Phlox

the rabbit: Ripley

Fri Jun 20, 2003 5:42 pm

Unless you're going to powedercoat everything under the sun, I don't think it would be worth the investment in the equipment.

I'd take it to a metal finisher where they can do the job correctly. There's more to powder coating than they explain in that little article: the item to be coated must be grounded (or in some other applications, a net-negative charge applied to it, so that the positively-charged powder will get to *every* nook and cranny).

And before that, the item must be absolutely clean. If you leave so much as a fingerprint on the metal (that is, the oils on your hand), the powder won't adhere to that spot well. Lots of places do the cleaning with an acid bath; I don't think scrubbing it in the shower will get it clean enough.

Finally, it's a real fine powder--if you don't have a properly fitted respirator, you'll be breathing in powder-coating dust.

I think next time I buy a cage, I might look up metal finishers first--an extra $50 to get a really cool blue cage would be worth it to me!

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Victor, Bandit, and Sparrow's Sweeties: Neiko & Roo. Sparrow's Boys: Oliver, Arthur, and Rabskuttle. The fRAT Boys: Jim, Jack, and George.
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Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:28 pm

What they said. There's a shop here in town that does fancy motorbike wheels and such for around $45, so if a large metal finishing shop doesn't want to take on a small job, also look to the smaller automotive-oriented shops.

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Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous