Sources for powder coated enclosures?

If I lived in the US I would use Stomp Box Parts and Love My Switches a LOT! But in Australia Tayda is fantastic. I've never had a problem with coatings in threads. I used to get coated enclosures from Hammond at Mouser, but Tayda is so much cheaper and I really like the texture finishes.

We have a few suppliers in Australia that I use from time to time for some parts which I can't actually find anywhere else. But Tayda makes it very hard to compete. LMS has some knobs which I wish I could get elsewhere and right now they're just too expensive to import.
 
falco_femoralis said:
Can you go into detail on the cleaning process of the enclosures during the prep process? It's something I'd like to refine with my workflow.

Also, I've purchased some of your powdercoated enclosures during the winter when it's difficult for me to paint. I've wanted to apply labels and a clear coat over top to ensure durability. The powdercoat leaves a surface that is somewhat like wax on a car - it causes the water based paint pens I use to condense on the surface. One enclosure I tried sanding with 400, but it left the surface a bit too matte. Would you recommend anything in particular to remove some of the waxy quality of the coating?
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I'm not sure what they're doing now. In the past they'd run everything through a dishwasher haha I always enjoyed seeing a load of enclosures come out of the dishwasher.

As far as getting your paint pens to stick. There is no extra wax or finish applied after powder coating. I'm guessing this is primarily an issue with really glossy finishes? I don't have experience with paint pens so I'm not going to be a big help here. You might need to find something not water-based. I think you are onto something by sanding, roughing up will help things stick but also understand that kind of ruins the nice shiny gloss finish. Or you could maybe try spraying a clear coat spray paint (maybe even 1 or 2 very light mist coats) just so the paint has something better to stick to than a hard, glossy powder coat.
 
falco_femoralis said:
it causes the water based paint pens I use to condense on the surface.
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I've had that experience with paint pens on some enclosures (I get mine mostly from Tayda).

I've always assumed it was some slight oil contamination from handling. I give everything some kind of solvent wipe down, then I make sure to only handle them with gloves on through the paint pen and clear coat process to avoid adding my own fingerprint oils.

The worst is when only part of the enclosure rejects the paint, and I find that area when the lettering is 80% finished.
 
Erik S said:
I've had that experience with paint pens on some enclosures (I get mine mostly from Tayda).

I've always assumed it was some slight oil contamination from handling. I give everything some kind of solvent wipe down, then I make sure to only handle them with gloves on through the paint pen and clear coat process to avoid adding my own fingerprint oils.

The worst is when only part of the enclosure rejects the paint, and I find that area when the lettering is 80% finished.
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When I paint I use a water based polyurethane clear coat, which is rough enough that the paint pen has something to sink into, but it's not nearly as absorbent as writing on paper. I never even thought that the surface of the powdercoat could have oil contamination.

I'm hesitant to sand the painted surface as it goes thru the corners so quickly. Maybe spot sanding with 800 or so in small areas on the top and then following thru with another clear coat would be the way to go.
 
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