letter  53268

Rusting of outdoor cabinets

October 5, 2009

We are a manufacture of cabinets used both indoor and outdoors.
The paint line has a two stage wash, zinc phosphate and H2O rinse with a TGIC polyester powder over cold rolled steel. Most of the rusting seems to be coming from seams in the cabinet construction or where the paint has been scratched.

Would adding a seal coat to the rinse stage be an option or would changing to galvanized instead of crs be better? Do you have any other recommendations? Thank You.

David Casagrande
paint shop supervisor - Tinton Falls NJ USA

Hi, David. Galvanizing would be far more effective than adding a seal after phosphatizing. But another option would be electrocoating before powder coating because this would reach all the crannies that the powder is not getting into.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey