Clear powder coating of silver

I’ve considered plating silver jewellery to protect from tarnish, but have concluded for the amount of work I generate the investment required is prohibitive.

I’ve seen mention of powder coating in a couple of recent posts. A quick look on the internet didn’t throw up a suitable product. Does anybody know of a suitable clear powder coating product/system available in the U.K.? Any comments on suitability for rings and pendants?
Regards
John in Dartmouth, Devon UK.

All it takes is a powder coat gun. The powder to put in the gun and a toaster oven. I don’t know about the UK but powder coating has been around for a long time. I bought my gun from Harbor freight. A cheap online tool company. I had a small air compressor and a toaster oven. I would get a good oven thermometer. The powder I buy online from the Eastwood.com. An autobody tool company.

The “problem” with powder coating jewelry, with the possible exception of chunky bracelets, is the ungainly thickness of the coating.

A far better solution, if you can afford it, is to have your pieces e-coated. For lack if a more technical answer, think of it as a clear plating solution. Works great and is usually worth the money, if you consistently have tarnish issues.

Also consider:

If casting, look into the many tarnish-resistant casting alloys. You’ll be impressed.
If fabricating, think about Argentium and some of the other company-specific anti-tarnish wire and sheet alloys. You’ll pay a small premium over 925 sterling, but you’ll save a whole lot in firescale issues and after-sale tarnish complaints.

David
David L. Feldman Consulting
maximumprofitspricing.com

I do E coating as well. I have for the past 6 years. It’s harder to do and get consistent results. I still use it for Items with stones that cant be set afterwords. It is way more expensive to do and has a much higher learning curve. The thickness of the powder coating actually has a nice smooth feel to it. I can’t tell you as yet which lasts longer but the powder coating is more work to get off if you need to remove it. I do E coating in multiple colors on the same piece. Can’t do that with powder coating. Or I at least have not figured out a way yet.

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Powder coating is used a lot by makers of coin rings. Due to coin composition many are not really suitable for direct skin contact. Some tricks are used to get a nice coating including part curing, then sanding to remove some of the coating (if a colored coating is used it is sanded down now to reveal details) followed by finishing the curing. Another useful technique is to dissolve the powder coat in a liquid that allows you to paint it on, you can do very thin coats this way and vary the thickness on different parts of the workpiece. Several companies offer liquid base for the powder coat, then cure as usual.

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Thats interesting. Painting it on would almost be like low temperature enameling. Can you give me the name of a company that sells it in a liquid form.

Well I have yet to venture into it myself so I hesitate to recommend anyone, but if you google liquid powdercoating you will find several sources. You buy the liquid and dissolve the powder into it, then paint on and cure.

Ben