The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
-----

Powder Coating vs Electro-Discharge

I have an overseas vendor who is asking if he can change the coating on an industrial mobile cart constructed of 1" sq. tubing from powder coating to electro-discharge? First isn't powder coating an electrostatic process? How does electro-discharge coating compare in areas such as durability and finish to powder coating. I am sure one reason he wants to do it is that it is a cheaper process. It may save us some money but I don't want to sacrifice quality.

Dan McWilliams
- Platteville, Wisconsin
2006

---

2006

You might want to ask him what he means by electro-discharge (E/D), if I took a wild guess, I'd say he will tell you that his materials cost will decrease because the system he wants to use is more efficient. But if it's the one that I'm thinking it is, his turn around times are going to become much longer because of the nature of the way the E/D works. The quality should remain the same. All powder coating is not electro-static, fluidized beds, flame-spray, and some thermoplastics are applied differently.

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina