Powder coating

Powder coating is a durable coloured finish for CNC machined metal parts. A dry powder is sprayed onto the part with an electrostatic charge that makes it cling to the surface, then the part is baked in an oven. The powder melts and cures into a hard, continuous outer layer.

The result is thicker and tougher than paint, and it resists chipping, scratching, chemicals, UV, and weather better than most other finishes. It is a common choice for enclosures, outdoor equipment, brackets, and anything that needs to look good and take abuse.

Powder coat vs anodising

Both add colour to metal parts, but they behave differently:

• Powder coat is a layer on top of the metal. It is opaque, so it hides the surface underneath completely, including tool marks. Colours are exact and UV-stable.
• Anodizing is a conversion of the aluminium surface itself. It is thin, slightly metallic looking, and does not hide tool marks. It adds less size to the part.

Choose powder coat when you want a precise, opaque colour and maximum durability. Choose anodising when you want a metallic look, tighter dimensions, or a thinner layer on aluminium.

Picking a colour

When you select powder coating in the quote editor, you pick the colour from a searchable Pantone picker. Colours are stored in a canonical form, for example 180 C.

A few practical notes:

• Use the picker rather than typing a colour name in free text. Names like “red” are ambiguous; codes are not.
• If you import a BOM file, the same canonical colour form is expected. The import normalises common variations to the canonical form, so Pantone 180C and 180 C resolve to the same finish. See Multi-part uploads and BOM import.

Thickness and tolerances

Powder coating adds a noticeable layer of material, typically much thicker than anodising. That has consequences:

• Mating surfaces, press fits, and tight bores can go out of fit once coated.
• Threads can fill in and bind.

If your part has precision features, plan for masking (below) or reconsider whether powder coat suits those surfaces. For how coating interacts with tolerance choices, see Tolerances explained.

Masking

Masking means covering specific areas of the part before coating so they stay bare metal. You will want masking for:

• Threaded holes and studs
• Grounding or electrical contact points (the cured coating is an insulator)
• Precision bores, shafts, and mating faces
• Surfaces that must stay conductive

If your part needs masked areas, note them when you configure the part, or flag them when requesting a custom quote for complex cases. Unspecified, the whole part gets coated.

Durability in use

Powder coat holds up well outdoors and in industrial settings: it resists UV fading, moisture, most chemicals, and impact better than wet paint. It can still be scratched through by sharp edges or abraded at high-friction contact points. For surfaces that see constant sliding wear, a thin hard coating like PVD is the better tool.

Cost and lead time

Powder coating adds a per-part cost and extra days, since parts go through blasting or prep, spraying, and oven curing after machining. The unit price in the quote table updates as soon as you select the finish and colour, and the batch lead time follows the longest part. See Lead times for how batch timing works.

When to choose powder coating

• The part needs a specific, opaque colour that must match a brand or spec
• The part lives outdoors or in a harsh environment
• Impact and chip resistance matter more than tight dimensions
• The surface underneath is not pretty and you want it hidden