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Rating a powdercoat finish

What standard or method should I use to determine what a type 1 or class A finish is? Are there guidelines to use to determine this?

Chris Rye
Powder Coating - Gallatin, Tennessee, USA
2004

There are a few different approaches to this issue-

1) You define it. You tell the customer what kind of quality you can produce, then he decides whether or not it's acceptable to him.

2) The customer defines it- The customer tells you what kind of quality he's looking for, then you work towards providing it.

3) Adapt and advertise an already established standard, like telecom, commercial, mil-spec. etc, that way when the customer is deciding on a supplier, he is already aware of your capabilities.

I was a custom coater for 7 years, and a class A finish is typically the surface that is immediately visible to inspection and should be blemish free. I've been an industrial coater for the last 9 years, and we use a customer provided spec. that defines 1st, 2nd 3rd class surfaces, and whether or not the part is acceptable dependent on what the blemish is and where it appears.

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
2004