Two coating processes, one company, for mower decks, frames, carts, outdoor furniture, and garden products
Lawn and garden products live in sun, rain, wet grass, and fertilizer. Great Dane e-coats decks, frames, mounts, and handles. We powder coat mower decks, carts, spreaders, hose reels, furniture, and fencing. Two dedicated plants, a sub-1% rework rate, and a 5-day standard turnaround keep your season on schedule.
What lawn and garden equipment and products does Great Dane coat?
Great Dane coats components and subassemblies for lawn, garden, and outdoor product manufacturers. On the powered equipment side, that means mower deck weldments, tubular frames, ROPS structures, foot plates, fenders, grilles, bumpers, seat and battery mounts, bagger frames, guards, wheels, and rims. Walk-behind work includes deck shells, handle assemblies, folding joints, wheel brackets, control plates, and discharge guards. Snow equipment includes frames, housings, handle assemblies, control panels, blades, and attachment structures. Attachment work includes sweeper frames, aerator frames, dethatchers, rollers, seeder and spreader chassis, hitches, and wheel supports. Cart work includes steel beds, trays, tailgates, legs, and axle brackets. Outdoor living work includes furniture frames, bases, benches, planter frames, bike racks, hose reels, fencing, gates, trellises, pergola components, and privacy panels. We also coat battery trays, controller covers, lighting brackets, and protective housings. Our target is the bare metal part before final assembly. We do not coat complete mowers, tractors, or snow blowers with engines, batteries, belts, bearings, and tires installed. Send a part list and we will tell you what fits our line.
Why is e-coating used on mower frames, deck weldments, and complex parts?
Outdoor equipment often rusts from inside the weldment out. A mower deck is the clearest example. Water, wet clippings, and soil collect in folded channels, overlapping joints, and the underside of a welded shell. A spray gun cannot reach all of it. An immersion process can. Our e-coat system runs an eight-stage zinc phosphate pretreatment, then the electrocoat application. Racked parts enter a charged bath of Axalta AquaEC 6000 series coating. An automatic voltage control system delivers uniform film thickness regardless of the square footage being coated. The coating deposits on every conductive surface the bath reaches, including welds, edges, recesses, and interiors. Two properties matter most here. Throw power carries the coating into tube frames and boxed structures. Edge protection covers the sheared and welded edges where rust usually starts. Film build stays thin and controlled, so handle fits and mounting holes hold tolerance. Closed tubes and boxed frames need drain and vent holes so fluid does not stay trapped. Send prints and we will confirm the part before we quote.
Which mower, snow equipment, attachment, spreader, and cart parts are powder coated?
Powder coating handles the metal a shopper sees and the metal that takes abuse. That covers mower decks, frames, panels, guards, foot plates, fenders, and bumpers. It covers snow blower housings, control panels, and blade structures. It covers sweeper and aerator frames, spreader chassis, seeder frames, and lawn roller structures. It covers cart beds, trays, tailgates, handles, wheels, and rims. Powder coating applies a charged dry powder that heat cures into a hard film. That film resists chipping, scratching, impact, corrosion, chemicals, and UV fading. It holds color and gloss across a full production run. Two things matter most to an equipment manufacturer. First, these products sit on a dealer floor or a retail aisle, and finish quality is part of the sale. Second, color has to match across decks, frames, handles, and guards that arrive from different suppliers. We select exterior-grade chemistry for outdoor service, because epoxy powder chalks and fades in sunlight while polyester holds its color. Our batch system handles long frames and rails.
Can Great Dane coat outdoor furniture, hose reels, fencing, gates, and pergola components?
Yes. Outdoor furniture, fencing, and garden structures are established powder coating work here. We coat chair, table, bench, glider, and lounge frames in steel and aluminum. We coat bases, seat supports, planter frames, bike racks, and litter receptacles. We coat hose reel frames, hose carts, wall mounts, posts, and cabinets. We coat fence panels, posts, gates, trellises, arches, decorative screens, railings, pergola frames, and privacy panels. These products face a different problem than a mower does. They sit in full sun for years, they get cleaned repeatedly, and people touch them every day. So color, gloss, texture, and fade resistance carry as much weight as corrosion protection. Exterior-grade polyester is the usual answer for that service. Steel and aluminum both run well, though each takes its own pretreatment approach. Long fence and pergola sections may suit our batch system rather than the conveyor line. Watering products need careful masking at threads, swivels, and valve seats. Send the part, the substrate, and the color standard.
When is e-coat plus powder the right finish for outdoor products?
Some outdoor parts need more protection than either process gives alone. For those, Great Dane applies a dual-layer finish. There is a specific technical reason it matters in this market. Our e-coat is a cathodic epoxy primer, and epoxy breaks down under sustained sunlight. A powder topcoat absorbs and scatters that UV before it reaches the primer. So the two layers do different jobs. The e-coat covers the seams, cavities, and edges a spray gun misses. The powder adds color, hardness, and the UV resistance the primer needs. Great Dane already uses powder coating as the finishing step over e-coat, and outdoor products are the clearest use for it. Chemistry drives the same decision. Fertilizer, ice melt, de-icing salt, lawn chemicals, fuel, and oil all attack metal at different rates. Wet grass and trapped moisture do it slowly and constantly. Tell us what contacts the part, how long residue sits, and how the product is cleaned. Learn more on our E-Coating and Dual-Layer Coating pages.
What color, gloss, texture, and masking options are available?
We work from stock colors when speed matters, and from special order colors when the match has to be exact. Color carries more weight in this market than in most. A retail shopper compares your product to the one beside it on the shelf. Send a color number, a paint code, a sample panel, or a part from your current supplier. We will confirm what we can match before you commit. We also offer a range of gloss levels and textured finishes. Texture hides handling marks on decks and frames, which matters on parts that move a lot before final assembly. Masking matters as much as color. Threads, spindle mounts, bearing bores, axle bores, press fits, and shafts have to stay bare. So do electrical grounds, connector faces, gasket lands, water and swivel connections, valve seats, labels, and serial plates. Our masking program uses conductive silicone plugs that mask the hole and support the part on the rack. For ferrous parts, we use custom silicone masks with high-temperature magnets molded in.
How does Great Dane support seasonal builds and repeat production schedules?
Lawn and garden runs on a calendar, and the calendar does not move. Mowers ship before spring. Snow equipment ships before winter. A coating delay in February can cost a season rather than a week. Great Dane runs a 5-day standard turnaround on most work. When a job needs to move faster, we can often accommodate it. Ask us early and we will tell you honestly what is possible. Capacity is part of the answer. Our 18,000 square foot powder coating plant and 6,000 square foot e-coating plant handle production volume. We take blanket orders with scheduled releases, and we take one-time lots. Seasonal builds with a heavy front end are normal work here. We also handle the work around the coating. That includes sandblasting, pretreatment, masking, ID sheets, labeling, barcodes, kitting, and line-ready packaging. Light assembly is available as well. Parts can reach your dock labeled, sorted, and sequenced for the line or for a retail kit. One point of contact stays with your program from quote through release.
Why choose one supplier for lawn and garden e-coating and powder coating?
A single product rarely needs a single finish. One mower can include a welded deck that wants e-coat, a hood that wants powder, and a frame that wants both. Most coaters run one process. That leaves you managing two vendors, two schedules, and two quality records for one product. Great Dane offers powder coating and electrocoating from one company, in two dedicated plants. Because we run both, we recommend the process that fits your part, not the process we happen to own. It also means a dual-layer part never leaves our control between coats. Consistency holds across repeat releases. Our rework rate stays below 1%. Plant Manager Colton Adams drove that number down from about 3%. Quality Manager Kendrick Bolish oversees the systems that hold it there. Quality here is built in upfront rather than caught at final inspection. Owner and General Manager Gary Lamolinara has led the company from its very first days. We serve manufacturers throughout the Eastern United States from Loyalhanna, Pennsylvania.
Ready to quote your lawn and garden coating program?
Send your part list, substrates, seasonal volumes, release schedule, and color standard. Prints help, and so does a note on the sun, moisture, and chemicals each part will see. We will recommend e-coating, powder coating, or a dual-layer finish, then quote it. Call 724-537-9709 or request a quote today. We deliver on time and on budget, with no hidden fees.
You can learn more about the markets we provide coating services for on our Industries Served page.