Copper clear coat

B

Boxhead

Senior Member
Hi All,

Still slowly working away on the old 42 truck, I have the chrome pieces away at the chromers but I am getting some pieces done in copper.

The copper will need to be clear coated to seal it from tarnishing quickly, the chromer said there was agreat product from New Zealand that people use and he said reports were it worked very well ( unfortunately he did not know the name of the product )

Wondering if any members here have used any good clear coat for copper or other plating, or happen to know the product he may be talking about?

Any help is appreciated

Cheers

Corey

Sent from my SM-F936B using Tapatalk
 
I built a '90 Harley Bagger in the mid '90's. Had several items 'copper plated' at the chrome place, and several items that I made out of sheet, plate, and tube copper. I had all those items clear powder coated.

Yes, you are correct on polished copper and copper plating corroding/tarnishing quicky!

It was a PIA and a little costly. But I had the chrome place immediatly after the copper plating process deliver those pieces to a powder coater near by. And had arranged for that powder coater to immideatly after receiving those plated items, spray and 'cook'!

The other copper items that I had made. The local powder coater to me, I took my buffer polisher (lots of Brasso) hooked it up at his place, and as each piece was polished he immediately clear spray and cooked them. His cost was 1/2 that of the powder coater near the chrome place!

More than 1/2 of the copper items were on, or near the motor. As to date ALL those copper items are still shiney copper!

However,,,,,,,,, here is the 'fine print'. After the powder coating 400+ degree cooking process the copper came out a shade darker than when it went in.

Do this. Take a small piece of copper plate. Polish it to a smooth high luster. Spray some clear 'rattle can' paint. (don't worry, it will look milky) Stick that in your oven, or in front of your garage heater and 'cook' it for 5 min. Let it cool completly before handling. Or even take a small piece of copper (with a hole drilled in it) to your local powder coaters hand polish it there, and immediatly get it clear coated. Then you will actually see what your 'good' pieces will look like!

Another note. Try to use a good quality of high melting point sodder. Regulaer old pluming sodder will melt 400-400 degrees.
 
@acchaplin mate thanks for the reply that information is great, I actually didn't know there was clear powder coating. I will investigate this for sure as if your parts were still in good shape last time you checked that is worth doing.

I will post how I go

Cheers

Corey

Sent from my SM-F936B using Tapatalk
 
There is a paint company called Tamco that claims they have a clear that can be sprayed over clear metal but not sure of adhesion on a high polish surface. Call them , knowledgeable people.
I used their black single stage & was a very good product
 
Brass musical instruments are commonly polished and then sprayed with clear lacquer. I have done the same with copper parts. Easy to remove and re-polish too.
 
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