Articles
Just How Clean Is Clean?
Most finishing consultants have lost count of the number of times that inadequate cleaning and pretreatment was the cause of defective painting or plating. Skip plating, blistering, delamination—these are just some of the commonly found defects caused by poor cleaning.
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Adding E-Coat to an Existing Powder Coating Line
If sales for your finishing business have been declining, you may need to consider adding a new coating line to bring in new business. An option may be to add an electrocoat system to your current powder line to increase your coating capabilities.
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Military “STARs” Are Born With Paint Facilities
The Yermo Annex Marine Corps. Logistics Base in California and the Corpus Christi Army Depot Aviation Center in Texas have acquired new systems to help train and enhance employees’ painting abilities.
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A “Bizarre” Approach: Using Moisture to Cure CARC Coatings
When veteran inventors Mike Bunnell and Daryl Bruischat put their minds together to build a better mousetrap for the drying and curing of waterborne CARC paints, they both hoped to come up with a system that might change the industry somewhat.
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Navy Is Full Steam Ahead On Powder Coating
With the military increasing its use of powder-based coatings to cover vehicles, equipment and ships—the Army has recently announced that it will allow the use of powder coatings in its CARC coverings that are normally e-coated—more assets are getting the powder coating treatment than ever before, much to the joy of the powder manufacturers.
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Valley Chrome Plating Receives National EPA Award
Lead anodes at VCP facility switched for graphite ones and hexavalent chromium replaced with the more environmentally friendly trivalent chromium.
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MATT KIRCHNER: "The Number One Problem Facing Surface Finishers Today"
Matt writes: With nearly one in five American workers either unemployed or underemployed it seems inconceivable that coaters and manufacturers alike would have such a difficult time finding the right people.
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Powder Coater Turns To Flashy Football Helmets
Oregon company sees sales soar with novelty paint applications
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FTC Says Graco-ITW Deal Violates Anti-Trust Laws
The FTC charges that if the proposed acquisition were completed, the combined firm would control a dominant share of all North American sales of industrial liquid finishing equipment and have a monopoly specifically in the market for circulation pumps used in paint systems in the automobile industry.
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New Coating Could Make iPhones Waterproof Without A Case
Liquipel claims to make smartphones water resistant by bonding it inside and out with a "nano" coating which repels water
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Houston Plating & Coatings Announces $9 Million Investment in Louisiana
New 80,000-square-foot facility will bring 120 new direct jobs over five years to Lafayette Parish
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New Coating Could Mean Cheaper Solar Cells
An MIT website says a novel way to make thin, uniform coatings developed at Rice University could reduce the cost of making conventional silicon solar cells, and could open the way for new kinds of solar cells that are far more efficient or cheaper than conventional ones.
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