I’ve got a 2005 (blue aluminum) KH muni frame and a friend willing to powder coat it for me. The only issue is that I dont have the means to strip the frame while here at college. Has anyone had experience with powder coating over a previously powder coated piece without stripping it? If so, how well did it hold up? Is this a bad idea? Thanks guys, I appreciate it.
Just go spend $5 on Aerosol stripper, it’s worth it.
If you “Don’t have time” to do that… you’re just lazy.
Spray it on when you find time, takes like 10 seconds max.
Then when you have some more time, use steel wool.
Whole process should take no more than 15 minutes…
How do you not have a means of stripping it at college? Surely you are at least within a bus or bike distance to a small town or city or something. Even Walmart I’m sure has some sand paper.
Sand papering down the entire powder coated frame? I mean I’m right in the city but as far as I knew for stripping an aluminum frame you had to use some sort of chemical stripper.
Okay thanks, I’ll look into that. What I’ve heard people describe has always been a big pain in the ass stripping using the chemical stripper. I suppose if I’m doing it just to coat it over with something else it doesn’t have to be as perfect as if it was to keep it raw.
Thanks guys, I’ve got it all figured out now. 
Anyone who has a problem using chemical stripper either bought a bad can, or they have serious aiming issues.
I sprayed the tiniest little spurt of it onto my DX cranks, and it instantly bubbled up and peeled off easily.
If I took my time and sprayed it really good and even, I probably could have had a shell of powdercoat from my cranks.
The chemical stuff works so good it isn’t funny, maybe you heard of the gel form, which might not work as good.
Chemical stripper doesn’t work too good on spray paint though, powdercoat it’s a miracle to have around.
Good to know. I sanded my old DX cranks, would have been better off with the chemical stripper I guess.
The thing is, your Kh frame is anodised not powder coated as standard. This is very different to paint or powder, for instance on DX cranks. Anodise is a thickened oxide layer that’s been coloured. Aluminium always has an oxide layer on the surface as it is highly reactive, so I should think that if you can powder aluminium normally then you could probably powdercoat anodised aluminium. There are plenty of threads around about the best way to strip a KH frame as it’s become pretty popular for that striped look.
I was relatively sure that the KH frames were powder coated and not anodized. Can someone else chime in on this?
My 2007 KH is definitely not anodized, although I thought about stripping it and getting it anodized! I’m certain I have never seen an anodized uni, although I’m sure someone has done it.
Dude I’m pretty sure your friend can take it of for you. I know a guy who powdercoats and he said it takes like 2 seconds, he just hits it with the torch or something and says it comes right off. I’m not sure if thats exactly how he does it but you should ask to see if you really need to strip it.
KH frame is definitely powdercoated. if it was annodized you wouldn’t have to worry about stripping it before painting, you could just go right over it.
Ive powder coated right over old paint before… its not gonna be as nice of a job as stripping, cleaning, and painting, but Ive had pretty good results.
Ive been told you can put a painted item in the oven, and then powder coat over the warm paint for better results.
There are chemical strippers that work better than others for powdercoating. the Krylon brand “Sprayon Heavy Duty Paint Stripper” Is the stuff that workes the best… Cant find it everywhere tho.
I used stuff called “Krylon Off!”
I sandpapered my KHU down. It wasn’t that hard and didn’t take too long. It’s the knurling that you’ll need a stripper for.
Things might be different in Canada, but if you were able to get a stripper for $5 here, you wouldn’t want anything to do with what you got. Even the $50 strippers are questionable.
I am sure the KH isn’t anodized
I don’t think it’s powder coated either. Powder coating is extremely scratch resistant and hard. I think it’s just regular paint.
I would ask the guy who’s going to bake the frame for you if he can strip it. I have worked at factories where we had a large hot bath of acid. An alum part that soaked in that for 10 minutes would come out all shiny. So maybe he will strip it for free. It’s really no work at all if you have the right setup.
If not, maybe PM Terry muniaddict. I remember he did a KH a while ago.
The paint on a kh would probably come off easy enough with a chemical stripper, but I have never done it. I have used stripper in the past that was painted on with a brush, then hosed off. Terry may know just the thing, and save you some hassle.
You should be able to experiment to find a temperature that will allow you to sprinkle the powder onto the pre-heated frame and it will stick to it. That way you can get a coat to stick on all of the surfaces. Then you can post cure it in the oven.
The temperature to get it to stick should be just below the recommended bake out temperature.
This method won’t build up coating thickness on exposed corners as well as electostatic application of the powder.
If you are hiring a stripper to do the powder coating, post pictures!
you mean MY old DX cranks?
Haha, yeah. Or Jordon’s current cranks. The DX is a beast.