Sounds like a stupid question I'm sure. I did a dumb thing today.... Wiped down a set of freshly blasted headers prior to cerakoting them. Let them dry and blew them off. Started to paint them and I have little lint nibs... With cerakote you cannot have any grease or oil I was hesitant to even attempt a tack rag. Is there any rags out there that won't leave lint on a sand blasted surface?
Nope, the coating is so hard you can't scuff it, and it won't stick to itself...it is good for 1800F though. Ill live with this one... it's not that bad and it is just headers....but for the next time I have to figure out my prep better...
Degrease it before blasting. Then coat it after blasting. If it’s clean before you blast it, and the air and sand is clean, I wouldn’t wipe it down.
In the aerospace world, there was a clean wipe used called 'polygene'. The spelling may not be correct but it was lint free. They worked great for building motors too. Do they still make the special tac rags used to wipe down surfaces before painting?
Anything blasted getting painted of any sort, Should be danced other with 80 /150 for best results.. Think of a valley, If lint is sticking it's two "sharp". Anything painted non sanded will rust, Before a sanded while prepared area! Powder coat is a different game..
I usually just hit the blasted part with some air and paint them. Never had any issue. Every time I tried to clean a freshly blasted part with a chemical like Lacquer thinner, it never turned out good.. I had very good results with that exhaust manifold finish sold by Eastwood..
Yes. But the OP stated this particular paint stated applying over a sandblasted finish. I always 80 DA before I epoxy bare metal.
I own a powder coat shop. Cerakoted for about about 6-7 years. When I was doing it, Cerakote Techs recommended 80-100 grit aluminum oxide or garnet blast media and do not use any kind of solvent to clean them afterward. Only blow them off and cook them out in the oven at 450-500 degrees to burn off any oils or contaminants before shooting them. You can sand Cerakote and recoat, did it all the time. Sometimes when you get a set of headers with tight angles you tend to get some runs in it. I would let them air cure out sand those spots and recoat. Run them in the oven when they were done even though it may have been air cure (some Cerakote is oven cure) Never had any issues with the 2nd coat separating. Its been a while since I've shot Cerakote they may have changed their process? I stopped shooting Cerakote about 6 years ago. Did a buddy of mines lake headers on his roadster years ago that had to be sanded and reshot and still holding up today!
You are correct... I can't trust my blast guy not to handle them, plus they have an hour ride home and get handled and moved around a few times. I spray them down with brake cleaner, wipe them and let them dry overnight. Not the best, but it's how you have to do it when you live in the middle of nowhere...
Hello, We have used all sorts of towels and old t shirts for almost everything needed to wipe off something. Every towel we have used starts off with tons of lint, as most towels do when new. But the cheap old towels that come in a bunch for little cost are the worst offenders. Numerous washings and they still give off lint. So, they are primarily used for clean ups and wheel wipe off with a throw-away afterwards scenario. The lint comes blowing off those wheels once you start driving. As mentioned earlier, the microfiber towels are a discovery for this purpose. Once washed, the towels are so absorbent that you wonder where the water went or when wiping off lint from anything, somehow it pulls the lint off and you have a clean surface. On our sailboat, we used the old chamois skin water wipe off after a hard day’s sail and fresh water rinse. But, as history works, not everything from our old hot rod/custom car past is good for the present usages. The chamois was good for a while until we discovered the microfiber towels. Jnaki The microfiber towel industry has its cheap models and work ok, but those are throw away oil rags or garage floor clean up towels. They are not the good quality of microfiber towels from companies like Meguiar's and Chemical Guys. They have all ranges of towels for all purposes. We used the large ones for drying the rinsed and washed surfaces of our sailboat and cars. Despite doing the wash and dry in the hot sun after a hard/enjoyable sail, the towels just soaked up everything and we had no water spots on the sailboat. The moisture inside of the microfibers somehow took anything off the surface and made it clean/dry. We tried to get all of the water off before it left an imprint and we had to break out the surface wax/cleaner. My wife and I were usually fast and had no water spots or surface lint. But, beware, there are some microfiber towels that are poorly made and are virtually useless. So check out the reviews and companies that make/import/manufacture the towels. Water is gone with a wipe. Lint is also attracted to the texture and is also a disappearing entity. YRMV
Why wouldn't you hit it with a tack cloth after you've finished wiping them down? That's what tack cloths are made for.
Not sure how they would work on a blasted surface, but in my SemiConductor days all the Fabs had lint free wipes. Almost look like they were impregnated with something. These were one time use as I recall.
The product you seek is material from a woman's bra. If you don't feel comfortable asking neighbor ladies or strangers to show you their bras and let you touch them (obviously so you can determine whether or not the material their bra is made from is indeed lint free), you can wait until dark and borrow some off a neighbors laundry line. Just don't get caught (.)(.) Good luck and you are welcome
I don't seem to have that particular problem with mine. I use good old traditional VHT white header paint. Of course it has the traditional look with pitting, rust, stains, etc. But it's authentic...and I can sand it before applying a new coat, and don't get any lint nibs when I wipe it down (there's always more than one way to skin a cat)
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