Powder Coat a Trombone Cooler?

[kentf14]

I'm going to be restoring a '73 trombone cooler and was wondering if there was any reason not to powder coat it? Given their inherent lack of cooling efficiency I was thinking that the powder coating material might not allow heat to escape as well as paint?
Any truth to this?

Thanks in advance.

Kent

[Magnus174]

There are two types of different powder coating materials, thermoplastic(nylon,polyester) and thermoset(epoxy). Thermoplastics will remelt and circulation at less than 500 degrees F and will also be suffering from liquids. Thermosetting coverings crosslink significance that they are unaffected by most solvents as well as being heat stable after the first treating procedure. I think that if you are coating cast parts than you shouldn't have any issues with cranking but aluminum may expand and contract too much during heat cycles and cause bursting in a thermoset product.

[John Z Goriup]

I'm going to be restoring a '73 trombone cooler and was wondering if there was any reason not to powder coat it? Given their inherent lack of cooling efficiency I was thinking that the powder coating material might not allow heat to escape as well as paint?

Kent

You open by stating your intent to restore your trombone cooler, and then in the same sentence promptly segue into asking if there's any reason not to powdercoat it.

Doesn't the term "to restore" imply "to return an item to its original state" ? Were trombone coolers ever powder-coated from the factory? No, of course they weren't.

They were quite ineffective at best with the standard, thin factory coat of black paint and being mounted behind the passenger-side battery box, where there is very limited airflow, so why on Earth would you want to further reduce the efficiency of this marginal item by powder-coating it to encapsulate more of the heat?

...........and that holds true for the external oil lines as well. They probably contribute more to the oil's temperature drop than trombone coolers ever can and will, by virtue of being more exposed to ambient temperature air passing over them, as opposed to hiding behind a battery box where the trombone lives. A thin coat of black paint for appearance's sake and leave 'em be

Respectfully

JZG

[kentf14]

Thanks for the info John. My use of "restore" versus your interpretation of my usage differ in semantics only. I was looking for a way to refresh the cooler while providing additional protection over the factory paint. Knowing myself the limitations of a trombone cooler I was hoping that someone could comment on whether powder coating would significantly decrease efficiency.

Sounds like you are saying that powder coating is not recommended.

Thanks for the advice. I will use paint.

-Kent

[NorthernThrux]

If the point is to best preserve the cooler, then powdercoat is tougher than paint, even if it is not "correct".

While the thermal conductivity of powdercoating materials is about 100 times worse than copper, the powdercoating is actually about 100 times better than air and that sets the ultimate heat dissipation. So do what you want. It won't change the operating properties of the trombone in a dead air space.