Finishing Process

Hope’s Power of 5 Finishing System

Finishing processes for steel windows and doors vary dramatically. Hope’s takes tremendous pride in offering the ultimate finishing solutions geared to protect your investment whether your project is inland or ocean-front. Finishing processes must be carefully scrutinized to ensure products will perform, both aesthetically and functionally, for years to come.

Cleaning

All steel sections must be acid pickled to white metal as defined by SSPC – SP8 creating a pristine, white metal substrate which is paramount to achieving ultimate finish performance.

Pretreatment

Following welding and all machining operations, products are subjected to a multitude of pretreatments geared specifically to project specific criteria (consult Hope’s for guidance).

Inland locations (12-stage process)
Greater than one (1) mile from salt water and similar corrosive environments:

Alkaline cleaning spray
Alkaline cleaning – submersion
Water immersion rinse combo
Water immersion rinse clean
Acid immersion
Neutralizing rinse
Water immersion rinse clean
Conditioner immersion
Zinc phosphate immersion
Rinse immersion
Sealer immersion
Water reverse osmosis rinse immersion

Ocean Front/Coastal locations (13-stage process)
Within one (1) mile of salt water and similar corrosive environments:

Zinc metal deposition (Electroplate and/or hot-dip, consult Hope’s)
Alkaline cleaning spray
Alkaline cleaning – submersion
Water immersion rinse combo
Water immersion rinse clean
Acid immersion
Neutralizing rinse
Water immersion rinse clean
Conditioner immersion
Zinc phosphate immersion
Rinse immersion
Sealer immersion
Water reverse osmosis rinse immersion

Epoxy E-coat Primer

All pretreated frames and accessories are immersed into an electrostatic (E-coat) bath of PPG Powercron® 8000 epoxy primer. Electrostatic application ensures all substrates are encapsulated evenly. Epoxy ensures superior adhesion for secondary coating.

Permeate spray
Permeate rinse
Paint immersion and electrostatic encapsulation
Water reverse osmosis rinse
Oven-cure, 45 minutes @ 350° F

Epoxy Powder Primer

In addition to a pristine substrate and cutting-edge pretreatment and the E-coat system, Hope’s incorporates an abrasion resistant coating that ensures ultimate substrate protection.

Following pretreatments and the E-coat priming system, all frames and accessories are factory coated with an epoxy powder coat abrasion resistant layer.
Powder is applied electrostatically over cured E-coat to a dry film thickness (DFT) of 2.0-3.0 mils.
Parts oven baked at 325° F to completely cure prior to final top coat.
Powder coat is intended as an intermediate finish applied prior to the final finish top coat.

Ultrathane Polyurethane Top Coat

The final top coat defines the final stage to the overall aesthetics and performance of the finished product. Hope’s ultrathane polyurethane finish is a polyurethane blend that offers outstanding UV stability, superior touch-up capability, low chalking and fading characteristics, unlimited color matching, and 70,000+ standard colors, including metallics.

Following pretreatments and the E-coat priming system, all frames and accessories are factory coated with an epoxy powder coat abrasion resistant layer.
Powder is applied electrostatically over cured E-coat to a dry film thickness (DFT) of 2.0-3.0 mils.
Parts oven baked at 325° F to completely cure prior to final top coat.
Powder coat is intended as an intermediate finish applied prior to the final finish top coat.