Paint shop equipment

ome people associate paint shop equipment only with spray paint guns, compressor and grinding equipment. .

However, refinishing work could be done with the use of already mentioned devices, but can we say then about complete equipment?

As you may expect that the answer is NO.

I would like to present you several devices that I think need to be in every paint shop. I heard from painters many times that some products they use are too dense and some are too thin and this is why the problem with application occurred.

How to check if viscosity of a product is appropriate?

In order to check whether a given material we are about to use has a right “denseness” - viscosity we use Ford viscosity cup number 4. In particular column of products technical data sheets or on their package there is a piece of information about the viscosity of a product ready to use and information about the temperature of measurement.

Ford viscosity cup is a standard dimensions device with the hole of 4mm diameter. Pouring tested material into it and measuring the time till the substance goes through the cup we get information about the viscosity. This is a very simple device and reasonably priced, and thanks to it we get basic information about the quality of the products that we use.

The next device that turns out to be very useful is a coating thickness meter. Currently, several instruments allowing measurement on steel, steel-aluminum and zinc surfaces commonly used in car production are available.

Already at moment of taking car into repair we will be able to investigate if the vehicle was previously repaired or not. And after the repair we will examine whether we exceeded the of thickness recommended by the manufacturer.

For the workshops, which have their own mixing systems, but not only - I recommend the lamp that simulates natural lighting - it helps to make a correct evaluation of a color that we obtained. In order to avoid re-painting we should previously assess received color before we start painting. The place which car is prepared for painting in (e.g. cab) is often equipped with lighting that can be misleading while evaluating color. The recommended lamp is portable and comfortable in use.

The measurement of humidity and temperature in the paint shop are also very important issues therefore they need to be considered. Not only materials based on solvent but on water as well, require certain conditions to be met, a number of paint drawbacks occur when they are not kept. These parameters can be measured with very simple bi-functional devices. I think that the items mentioned above are very useful, taking into consideration my wide experience- I would say – they must be present in an every paint shop.