North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event heads to Orange County Convention Center in October 2024. FABTECH provides a convenient "one stop shop" venue where you can meet with world-class suppliers, see the latest industry products and developments, and find the tools to improve productivity, increase profits and discover new solutions to all of your metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing needs.
North America's Largest Metal Forming, Fabricating, Welding and Finishing Event
By: Jeff Hale, Gema Marketing Director
Many manufacturers today are looking for process improvements and turn to automation in order to gain more productivity, better flexibility, and reduced costs
Automation is a trendy word, but for many businesses, it is an essential word. In order to stay ahead of the competition, many companies are seeking new and better ways to produce their goods. A common choice among many companies is to automate their process. Specifically for those companies that perform powder coating within their production facilities, the question is where to begin.
In powder coating, automation can have an immediate impact in two key areas with each area providing improvements in higher productivity at a lower cost. Those key areas to evaluate are (1) application of the powder, and (2) management of the powder.
Gema-RobotGun GM03-R
In regards to the application of the powder, several advancements in application control are available. Being able to control the gun with accurate gun placement ensures that the powder is applied only where it needs to be. The use of powder guns mounted onto robots are becoming more popular with some manufacturers. Elimination of manual coating operators can improve coating coverage, reduce costs, and eliminate unnecessary production labor. If robots are not your thing and you are looking for alternative methods; the addition of gun motion machines that dynamically contour the part can be a valuable addition to the production line. By using a scan of the part or even part specific information provided by your systems, the powder coating guns can be automatically positioned for precise application of the powder onto the part. Once again, this automation will provide better looking parts while improving productivity and reducing coating costs. Additional advancements in application control technology allow the electrostatic charge to be accurately set and adjust when needed. The ability for the electrostatic settings to be fine-tuned and be adjusted below 10 microamperes is a critical feature when working with “highly chargeable powders,” such as metallic and other special effect powders. These precise adjustments help manufacturers to avoid overcharging of the powder, which produces the common reject effect known as “orange peel.”
Gema-OptiSpray AP01 Pump
However, in order to apply the powder, we have to get the powder to the gun in a consistent manner. Another advanced technology that is taking application control to the next level is the use of smart inline technology design of the dense phase pumps. Specifically, the smart technology provides smooth powder delivery along with extreme output consistency. This is especially helpful for automated powder systems where long powder hoses are used to transport the powder from the hopper to the application gun. With this advanced technology, minimal air is required to pull the powder from the hopper to the gun, resulting in a more controllable powder velocity at the gun nozzle and reduced powder consumption. The advanced technology delivers consistent powder charging and high transfer efficiency, putting the right amount of powder on the parts every time.
Gema-OptiCenter Powder Management
Lastly, better management of the powder generally has to do with automation of the material handling components and recovery/reprocessing devices. Specifically, powder systems use a centralized powder management center to fluidize, regulate, deliver, and reprocess the powder. This equipment minimizes the manual intervention required, eliminates excess waste and over consumption of the powder, and provides excellent color change flexibility.
For many companies, color changes are a production line bottleneck and reduce production efficiency. The advanced powder management tools available today offer risk free color changeovers by automating the cleaning and color changing process. These functions take only minutes to perform and open up a great deal of production flexibility previously not available.
There are many options to choose from when you decide to automate your powder coating finishing line. One great way to see the newest and most advanced technology is to visit the upcoming FABTECH Expo and technical conference being held in Chicago, Illinois in November. For more information on the show visit www.fabtechexpo.com and for more information on the latest in Gema technology stop by our exhibit booth #A6243 or go to www.gemapowdercoating.com.
FABTECH 2024
About the Expo
North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event heads to Orange County Convention Center in October 2024. FABTECH provides a convenient "one stop shop" venue where you can meet with world-class suppliers, see the latest industry products and developments, and find the tools to improve productivity, increase profits and discover new solutions to all of your metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing needs.
