Cleaning Ecoat Paint Hooks

Q. Is there a process or substance to keep hooks cleaned without taking them off the paint line? We use a process of ecoating, but we lose time taking the hooks off the line to clean them. —M.G.

A. I am not aware of a direct method to strip hooks in place on the line. There are generally two methods for hook cleaning: burn-off ovens or chemical stripping methods. Assuming you are looking for an in-line system, the entire conveyor would likely need to run through the oven, depending on your hook and racking configuration. For this reason, a liquid stripping bath may be preferred for your hooks and racks. Chemical stripping baths fall into two general categories: solvent-based and water/caustic-based. However, unless you either have a power-and-free conveyor system or can “park” one of the racks from a conventional conveyor in one of these tanks for a substantial amount of time (1-3 hours for example), this would also not be helpful to you.