Columbia Coatings PP shelf life?

[PerchJerker]

Wanting to make a substantial order to Columbia Coatings but after a little reading on their website I ran across a shelf life of 6 months in controlled enviorment. Is this accurate?
I have CSI powders that I've had for 5+years.
Can their powder paint be dipped? Instructions say must be sprayed.
Any other information I might need to know about Columbia coatings? T.I.A.

 

[Bucko]

Yes it can be dipped. So long as you store it well it will last. Humidity is your enemy.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Wanting to make a substantial order to Columbia Coatings but after a little reading on their website I ran across a shelf life of 6 months in controlled enviorment. Is this accurate?
I have CSI powders that I've had for 5+years.
Can their powder paint be dipped? Instructions say must be sprayed.
Any other information I might need to know about Columbia coatings? T.I.A.

I have some CC that I've had for 18 months and still use, biggest issue here in Australia is the heat, I tends to clump up, but so do all brands when its 45 degrees Celsius.

 

[PerchJerker]

Yes it can be dipped. So long as you store it well it will last. Humidity is your enemy.

Wanting to make a substantial order to Columbia Coatings but after a little reading on their website I ran across a shelf life of 6 months in controlled enviorment. Is this accurate?
I have CSI powders that I've had for 5+years.
Can their powder paint be dipped? Instructions say must be sprayed.
Any other information I might need to know about Columbia coatings? T.I.A.

I have some CC that I've had for 18 months and still use, biggest issue here in Australia is the heat, I tends to clump up, but so do all brands when its 45 degrees Celsius.

Cant it be crushed. sifted and applied?

 

[plateboater]

Use of a lot of CC....and yes for dipping. Live in central IL.....I keep in my garage inside brown paper bags from the grocery store. Temps range in garage low 34 to high about 100. Have used same stuff for almost 18 months....no issues. I have been drifting a little more to Rosey's Powder coating company. Either work just fine. I use 3" TJ tackle fluid beds. I take a pencil and gently stir mix up in puck if been not in use for a while....helps the fluid bed get going.

 

[Radtexan]

I've got some paints that have to be 5-6 years old. Mostly inside storage, but did spend a couple years tying in the garage.

Like plate, big range of temps, but don't think I've had one go bad. I think moisture is more of your enemy

 

[LedHed]

HuH????? Shelf life for powder paint???? Is it a specialized paint? Need Cadman to weigh in on this one.

I have a lot of powder paint from various manufacturer's (some from early 2000) and never had a issue with any of them going "stale". It's an inert material and like most are saying, "moisture and hot conditions are problematic". Can you recover exposed paints? Yeah - but sometimes it's not worth the hassle. The liquid powder paint has zero shelf life.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Cant it be crushed. sifted and applied?

Yes it can be I still use it, clogs up my airbrush though but moving to big fluid beds

 

[BucktailJiger]

What little pp I have and use keep it in a plastic shoe box filled with rice .

 

[Kdog]

Moisture is the biggest enemy during powder storage. Relative humidity > 60% is known to have a negative effect. High temperature > 80 F is also a know factor. Some colors will have shorter shelf life but.. most of what you will see is a color change and not a change in coating performance.

Powders are made to be sprayed electrostatically and that is where most problems will occur, For those of us using fluid beds or dipping it is unlikely that we will ever notice much more than some clumping or caking (run powder through a sieve and problem goes away).

I started out getting powders from a PC company and some of what I got for free were several years old. They store everything in an environmentally controlled room Temp below 70 degrees and humidity below 40%. I was told the best think you can do it store it in good 4-6 mil bags twist the top, fold over and rubber band to seal then double bag. I started PC 6 years ago and still have some of my original powders and all perform well for my process (fluid bed, some dipping, some brush/tap coating).

Shelf life may be a concern in a production environment but for our hobby use is IMO unlikely to be a cause for concern.