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The move is on to better powder coating gun calibration.
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There's higher productivity at a lower cost in the air, for a maker of air distribution equipment.
Read more about it!
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Product Spotlight:
ITW Gema's Rotary Oscillator
Gun Mover
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Free Optimization Assessment.

Find out how your
company can
Lower your powder coating costs and improve overall finish quality.
Raymon-Donco did!
Click Here.
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Manufacturer of air distribution equipment replaced their manual powder coating tools with ITW Gema
OptiFlex™ Manual Powder Coating units and found that there is no replacement for saving money!

Calibrate Your Powder Coating Gun Speed and…
OBEY THE SPEED LIMITS!

In the March edition of the GemaGram, we talked about the importance of calibrating your automatic powder coating guns when they’re mounted to a gun mover or reciprocator. We called the calibration, “Gun Stroke” and stressed how important the measurement is to coating quality. It’s often not enough to move the guns in, out, up or down without considering how FAST these movements should be. We call that “Gun Speed”– and it’s a measurement that’s important to coating quality as well.

Why is gun mover speed a concern in automatic powder coating booth spraying? Simply, a correct gun mover or reciprocator speed enables spray patterns to blend properly and allows for the application of a more uniform coating. If the gun mover or reciprocator speed – or cycle speed – is too slow, you can get an apparent “W”- shaped pattern on your parts, or your parts will show areas that were lightly coated. On the other hand, if the cycle speed is too fast, the powder cloud can become erratic and inconsistent. Whether moving too slow or too fast, your guns end up wasting powder and creating rejects, costing you money and time. It’s just like driving down the highway. Going too slow can waste time, but going too fast can be inefficient, and also waste money!

So on the road to better coating, you want to obey the speed limit, but you’re not sure of what that should be. The speed is not posted and it varies with the situation. As with “Gun Stroke” calibration, we have a simple formula you can use to determine the “Gun Speed” for your application. You should know the “Line Speed”– or speed with which your parts move through the booth on the conveyor and you will also need to have your gun’s “Effective Pattern Width”. (We used the Effective Pattern Height last time). This would be related to whether you use a horizontal, vertical, or round spray pattern, or something different. For our example, we’ll use an Effective Pattern Width for a horizontal fan spray nozzle, which would be 10 inches. Here is the easy formula:


Click here to view a PDF of the calculation formulas

The resulting number is then used to adjust the gun mover, reciprocator or oscillator controls. Watch the guns during initial operation to make sure they don’t spray powder needlessly onto the booth floor or walls, or collide with the booth or parts being coated – make adjustments accordingly. As with the Gun Stroke calibrations, you would recalculate and adjust the Gun Speed if the line speed changes. This makes the best use of your powder. You’ll see that the risk of the “W” spray pattern will be reduced, with a more consistent and uniform film build being the result. Together, these calculations are a simple and cost-effective way to minimize downtime, spray less powder, reduce labor costs, and experience fewer rejects… giving you higher productivity!

Getting Higher Productivity at a Lower Cost is what Powder Coating Booth System Automation is all about. If you need more information, visit us at www.itwgema.us, or call us at 800-628-0601 to locate an ITW Gema Distributor near you.

“We are using 60% less powder and have 50% fewer rejects with the OptiFlex.”

THE COMPANY
Family-owned business, Raymon-Donco, was founded in 1979 by Larry Raymon. Operating out of a 60,000 sq. ft. facility in Albion, Iowa, Raymon-Donco is a leading manufacturer of high quality air diffusers for the HVAC industry. Experiencing downtime due to rejects and high powder usage with their Nordson manual powder gun, Raymon-Donco realized a need for newer technology that would reduce their operational costs. After investigating powder coating equipment suppliers, they purchased an OptiFlex Box Unit from their local ITW Gema distributor, American Industrial Corporation. “We liked the OptiFlex for its lightweight gun, minimal number of spare parts required, and ease of maintenance,” stated Joe Hermann, Director of Engineering.

THE RESULTS
Along with an OptiFlex Box Unit, Raymon-Donco also purchased a 24mm flat spray nozzle, for use in hard to coat areas, and a 500ml application cup, which attaches to the bottom of the gun, for small production runs. With their new First Pass Power™ OptiSelect™ gun, Raymon-Donco is experiencing tremendous benefits. They are now using 60% less powder, going from a usage of 500 lbs every 7 days to 500 lbs every 18 days. “The finish quality was better the first time we used the OptiFlex than with our previous equipment,” remarked Joe Hermann. Raymon-Donco has also recognized a 50% reduction in rejects, leading to less downtime, less recoats, and shorter turn-around times for their customers. “Switching to the OptiFlex was a no-brainer – we noticed the payback on the first day,” stated Joe Hermann, “We estimate our payback on this equipment at only 3 months in scrap savings alone!” Raymon-Donco is committed to manufacturing high quality products, and believes that settling for “good enough” is not what they or their customers are looking for. That is why choosing the ITW Gema OptiFlex was the right choice to assist Raymon-Donco in producing the highest quality air diffusers available!

Product Spotlight:
Going back and forth when trying to improve coating quality?
You need the ITW Gema Rotary Oscillator Gun Mover!

Designed for use with automatic gun systems, ITW Gema’s Rotary Oscillator Gun Mover is the answer when stationary guns cannot efficiently coat your parts. The oscillator provides mounting and pivotal gun movement for up to eight automatic powder coating guns. The guns have varying distances from the work piece, which allows for more uniform coating over the most complex parts. The vertical oscillating motion of the guns keeps top and bottom overspray to a minimum while reducing the incidence of “banding”. Film build is uniform and consistent, making ITW Gema’s Rotary Oscillator a cost effective and efficient tool for a variety of applications. And because it’s from ITW Gema, the Rotary Oscillator Gun Mover is an easy to use, reliable and dependable addition to your powder coating booth system.

For more information on the Rotary Oscillator Gun Mover or any of the other quality powder coating products from ITW Gema, call1-800-628-0601,
email us at: powdersales@itwgema.com
or visit: www.itwgema.us

Click here for a PDF on the Rotary Oscillator

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