Painting backplate and hardware

[MDWreckdiver]

I had the idea of painting all of the hardware on my backplate and harness with marine grade primer. I want to limit the amount of "shiny" objects I have on my rig. Any thoughts?

[mike_s]

I had the idea of painting all of the hardware on my backplate and harness with marine grade primer. I want to limit the amount of "shiny" objects I have on my rig. Any thoughts?

give it a light sanding to scuff up the surface some to help the paint stick better.


A coat of spray primer might help also. or if you want a dull finish, just use gray spray primer without a paint coat. ....

[Jim Lapenta]

Send em out to be black anodized. Out of curiosity why do you want to do this?

[Tom Winters]

I have one of the old Abyss steel backplates that were powdercoated. No one wanted yellow so I think I got it for around $30. There are shops all over the Internet that could do that for you for not too much. I think doing it in the garage is not going to last too long, but it'll shore look purty while it lasts.
If you have a bunch of stuff, you can get powdercoating stuff from Harbor Freight and probably get ok results. The colors aren't all that great, but they do have yellow.
If I had access to 60,000psi cutting gear like Mr. JimLap, I'd have some cool stuff cut outta my plates.

[MDWreckdiver]

Hey Jim,

I do quite a bit of spear fishing and I am just trying to cut down on any shimy or reflective surfaces that I may have on my setup. Other than that; honestly, I just thought it would look different than everyone else's gear.

I may be wrong; however, I though anodizing was only for aluminum. My backplate and hardware are all stainless. I do like the idea of having it powdercoated. I'll have to look into that.

Thanks fellas.

Send em out to be black anodized. Out of curiosity why do you want to do this?

[richkeller]

There is a product called Ever-Dip for coating the handles of tools that should work well. There are other brand names, that is just the one I remember. This can be found at any home goods store.

[Jim Lapenta]

I have some of the ever dip. It puts a rubberized coating on them. As for powder coating the home kits are junk and you need to be willing to ruin your oven. Powder coating stainless can be done but it requires some prep by the coater to get a good bond. The neat thing about it is the strides that have been made in just the last ten years with colors and finishes. We have both automatic and manual pwder coating lines at our other plant. I used to work them. All of the covers for my baseboard radiators are powder coated. The thing is with stuff like d rings you have to be able to ground them. That means hanging them from some type of hook. There will be a mark from that. A good coater will make it minimal but there will still be one. We always touched up the mark with a very small brush and enamel.

[knowone]

Sandblasting

[DIWdiver]

I though anodizing was only for aluminum.

If your only choices are aluminum and stainless, then that's accurate. The similar process on stainless is called electropolishing, and from the name you can guess that it's the exact opposite of what you want. It also does not allow you to dye the part afterward.

However, titanium can be anodized, and it's very easy. The color can be determined within a fairly narrow range by changing the voltage, rather than by dying. Also, many manufacturing processes result in a dull grey appearance anyway. Anyone up for a titanium backplate, D-rings, buckles...

[DIWdiver]

There is a product called Ever-Dip for coating the handles of tools that should work well. There are other brand names, that is just the one I remember. This can be found at any home goods store.

There is also a spray-on version of these products. Both (by the time you spray enough coats to provide a good coating) are fairly thick and would interfere with the proper operation of much of our gear.

The other problem with these coatings is that they don't adhere well to metal. On a round-ish tool handle this may not be important, as the coating forms a tube that's so close-fitting that it wants to stay put. But on large flat surfaces it will peel at the first suggestion. Want to ask how I know?

Painting, Powder coating, and sand-blasting all sound like better bets, though sand-blasting will still leave the surface pretty bright, just not shiny.