Powder Coating

2017 Buyers Guide

Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/765972

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 33 of 127

Let's not forget the newer lean man- ufacturing powder coating systems that perform color change in spray- to-waste booths in seconds. These systems have gained great popularity where on-demand color change is required to provide the flexibility demanded in lean manufacturing environments. Myth #5: Color matching with powder coatings is impossible. Maybe at one time getting powder coatings in all colors was impossible, but that's no longer the case today. Some powder coating formulators boast more than 300 stock colors and textures. Other powder formulators will specially match your color in 5- pound quantities or more. This means that if you need a special color or texture in powder coating, you'll most likely find a stock material or have it custom-formulated for you. Deliveries of special materials may take a bit longer, but are normally worth the wait. True, you can't just go to your local paint store for a color- matched powder coating (at least not yet), but getting custom powder coat- ings in a day or two isn't so bad. Besides, that's why FEDEX is in business. Endnote 1. A water-break-free test indicates cleanliness. Parts exiting the last rinse stage before dry- ing will show uniform sheeting of the rinse water. If the part isn't clean, it will have a beaded surface that resembles a freshly waxed car after a good rain. From "Surface Cleanliness Tests," by Brad Gruss, Powder Coating Pretreatment and Stripping Desktop Reference, August 2005, p. 22. Why do people convert to powder coating? Although it may seem that there are infinite reasons why people convert to powder coatings, I've learned to fit them into the following categories: • New system: Powder coating is often the choice when either the old paint system is worn out or a first-time system is being installed. This fact is proved over and over because the cost for new equipment for either powder or liquid is nearly the same. When you look at the other benefits of powder coating, the decision nor- mally favors powder coating. • Superior coating performance: Many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) look to powder coatings to improve their products performance in the field. Powder coatings are well-known for their improved dura- bility and long service life. Taking advantage of this superior coating performance can be a strong reason to use powder coatings on your OEM products. • Marketing advantage or competitive pressure: Since powder coatings have gained more acceptance, many OEMs highlight the superior coating proper- ties of powder coatings in their mar- keting literature. If you compete with an OEM who offers a powder coating finish on his or her products, you may be at a marketing disadvantage with your old, inferior, liquid-painted prod- uct. Using powder coatings will level the playing field and may give you the advantage if you're the first to use this technology in your industry. • Environmental conformance: Pow- der coatings are one of the few fin- ishing technologies that meet all EPA requirements for air and water pollution control. If you want EPA compliance, then powder coatings are the answer. • Reduced coating cost: The applied material costs for powder coatings are typically 50 percent cheaper than that for conventional liquid paints. Energy and manpower costs are also cheaper with powder coat- ings. Overall, this means it can be 50 percent to 70 percent cheaper to run a powder coating line than a liquid coating line. How do I find out more about powder coating? There are several books on powder coat- ing. I've edited two of them and consider them to be the most complete texts. They are Powder Coating—The Complete Fin- isher's Handbook, published by the Pow- der Coating Institute [www.powdercoat ing.org]; and The User's Guide to Powder Coating, published by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers [www.sme. org]. Both these publications are avail- able on my website [www.powdercc. com]. These and other books are also available through the magazine's web- site at www.pcoating.com. You can also call me at 800/97-POWDER. I'll be happy to discuss your application. Once you've had the opportunity to examine powder coatings, you'd be hard-pressed not to convert to this technology. PC Endnotes 1. See the glossary sections in this issue. 2. Volatile organic compound Editor's note For further reading, see the "Index to Articles and Authors 1990-2016" in this issue, or click on the Article Index at www.pcoating.com. Have a ques- tion? Click on Problem solving to sub- mit one. Nick Liberto is president of Powder Coating Consul- tants (PCC), a divi- sion of Ninan, Inc., 1529 Laurel Ave., Bridgeport, CT 06604. Established in 1988, PCC is an indepen dent engi- neering firm specializing in the use of pow- der coating technology. Nick has more than 3 decades of experience in the powder coat- ing industry and is a member of many industry associations, including the Appl - ication Equipment Technical Committee of the Powder Coating Institute. A registered professional engineer in Connecticut, he holds a bachelor's of science de gree in mechanical engineering with a minor in physics. A prolific writer and seminar pre- senter, Nick is a contributing author to two industry handbooks and numerous articles for various industry magazines, including Powder Coating magazine. Nick has held various sales, marketing, and technical positions for Ransburg-Gema and Inter- rad, which are powder application and recovery equipment companies. He can be contacted at 203/366-7244; pcc@powder coat.com; www.powdercc.com. 30 POWDER COATING, December 2016

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Powder Coating - 2017 Buyers Guide