Powder Coated Tough - Fall/Winter 2007 - (Page 43) “Trends in these industries to subtle colors, new pigments, metallics and other fine finishes put a critical demand on the powder line.” These parts must be free from contamination and require fast, but efficient, color changes. “Color-change time is really a function of your threshold for contamination,” says Brown. “All 15minute color changes are not equal. “When we say a 15-minute color change, we mean a color change where the first part through the line after changing colors is perfectly free of cross contamination,” Brown continues. “That’s a requirement for the highappearance finishes we handle. It’s not switching from one black to another— it’s one pearlescent color to another— and any contamination is visible and a reject.” The Nordson system helps PSB achieve low cross contamination in several significant ways. The cyclone collector design minimizes the amount of powder in the system and provides for easy operator cleanout through a series of access doors. The booth is constructed of a composite material that actually resists powder buildup on its surfaces. As powder falls from the booth walls onto a sloped floor, pulsing air knives drive powder down to specially engineered plenums. Airflow in the booth has been specially engineered to provide quiet zones in the spray area to maximize transfer efficiency while creating turbulent controlled flow where powder collects to ensure it’s removed from the booth. A centralized feed station provides for rapid changeover from one box of powder to the next, while the automatic pulsing sequence cleans the powder Lawn spreaders come in contact with extremely aggressive chemicals. Powder coating with its automated system gives PSB the repeatability and consistency required for finishing these products. sieve and feed system with little operator effort. The PSB line operates at a good 12 fpm clip, and can run continuously with 15-minute gaps in the line when a color change is required. “This [system] really made it easier for us to schedule production,” explains Reyna. “We can fit a color change in now where before it might have really caused scheduling problems.” PSB, an ISO 9001/2000 standardcertified company, has been so satisfied with the line that they recently purchased a second system for installation in December at its Dayton, Ohio, facility. racks and hangers, and builds them efficiently in-house. “Good rack design and racking efficiency can be a big factor in our profitability,” explains Rife. “Not only do we save on the cost of these fixtures, but we design them to last longer, provide a better paint finish, and to maximize the density of parts on the line.” Recently, PSB installed its own rack burn-off facility so that everything is kept under control, just the way old man Ingram would have wanted. Sharon Spielman is editor of Powder Coated Tough. She can be reached at 847-302-2648 or via e-mail at sspielman@powdercoating.org. Visit PSB online at www.psbcompany.com. Contact Nordson Corporation, Industrial Coatings Systems, at 800626-8303; via e-mail at powder@nordson.com, or visit www.nordson.com/powder. Framework for Efficiency The Ingram vertical integration philosophy has continued to pay other dividends to PSB’s coating operations. Because the company has significant engineering and manufacturing resources, it designs its own fixtures, www.powdercoating.org 43 http://www.psbcompany.com http://www.nordson.com/powder http://www.powdercoating.org
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