JR Custom Metal Products, an existing IntelliFinishing customer, has once again leveraged the power of IntelliFinishing to elevate overall operations and efficiency. (View the video of the JR Custom IntelliFinishing system.)
JR Custom is committed to competing and succeeding on quality, yet has found a way to ensure that quality is consistent while also promoting new efficiencies. Recently, the company added a Parker Ionics Prime Coat booth to its existing single-coat finishing system.
Overview and Challenges
While JR Custom’s efficiency and throughput were already high as a result of their use of an IntelliFinishing system, installed in 2016, the company was seeking a way to efficiently offer a two-coat powder coating option on their single-coat system due to increasing customer demand for two-coat (prime and topcoat).
JR was already doing a two-coat process with their IntelliFinishing system when needed, but it required parts to move through the entire finishing system track twice, slowing throughput considerably.
The new addition needed to add this prime coat option in-line with the system and be installed with minimal downtime.
The Solution: A Parker Ionics Prime Coat Booth Fitted into the Existing System
To address these needs, JR Custom chose to fit a new Parker Ionics Prime Coat booth into the company’s existing finishing system.
The booth was installed and integrated with the existing recipe software with an insignificant amount of downtime. The booth was positioned directly after the existing dry-off oven. For parts needing to receive a primer coat as part of their recipe, the parts are heated a little longer and hotter than normal in the dry-off oven, then immediately sent into the prime booth while hot. Pre-heating products before they are primed is a process called flocking.
Once in the booth, doors on the booth close behind and in front of the part, so the booth’s airflow system works properly – meaning the booth doesn’t pick up ambient heat from the nearby dry-off oven that could create an updraft that would tend to float powder up and out of the booth.
Integrating a door system to the existing track flow and software was extremely important to make the prime booth function properly.
After being primed, the product can then move along the remainder of the existing finishing track system for the top-coat application, final curing, cooling and unload.
Items that do not require a prime coat simply flow through the prime booth without stopping, as they would have on that section of track before adding the prime booth.
The Result: Added Efficiency and Options
With the prime coat booth added to their existing system, JR Custom has one more service and recipe option for their IntelliFinishing recipe-driven automated finishing system.
“Now, I can offer my customers options on finish longevity,” said Jorge Martinez, Co-Owner. “A single-coat powder finish on my system routinely achieves about a 1,000 hours or more (depending on the powder and other options chosen) salt spray, while my two-coat process can achieve over 2,000 hours of salt spray test.”
“The best part is that we can simply toggle from a recipe that allows for one coat to a two-coat option without any other complications and with a system that maintains a high level of throughput capacity.”
JR Custom’s system flexibility allows for an extremely wide assortment of parts to be finished via the recipe system. They currently have hundreds of recipe options on their system, including options for shotblast or no shotblast, speed within the shotblast, number of times through the blast, pressure settings per stage in their wash, wash stage on/off options, unlimited time and temperature settings for the dry off and cure ovens, and many other possibilities.
Ultimately, the goal of JR’s system is for each type of part to be finished optimally based on its unique cure and finish requirements.
JR Custom’s IntelliFinishing System also saves money on utilities (up to 40%), because the conveyor rides above the ovens. There are no chains or carriers riding through the oven to soak up heat. There are also doors on the ovens to help keep the heat contained, as well as other energy-saving and insulating properties.
Thanks to its IntelliFinishing System, JR Custom Metal Products has a modular system with the ability to expand to meet changing process or throughput needs while also being cleaner, quieter, and much less expensive to operate than a comparable traditional automated system.
Contact IntelliFinishing Today
To learn more about how IntelliFinishing can help elevate your productivity, throughput, and efficiency without sacrificing quality and agility, contact us!
Click here to view the video of the JR Custom IntelliFinishing system in action and if you’d like to learn more about JR Custom Metal Fabrication, visit their website at www.jrcmp.com.
