Powder coating gun which one to choose
Powder painting is a modern, progressive method of painting metal products. Powder paints create the most resistant and durable coating. If the technology of applying the material is followed, the coating can last up to 20 years.
The main difference between powder coating and all other types of paints and varnishes is that it requires special equipment. These are spray guns, spray chambers and polymerization ovens. The durability and uniformity of the final coating depends on the quality and correct selection of devices. In this article, we will show you how to choose a gun for powder painting metal products.
Powder coating principles
Powder paint is deposited on a metal product due to the electric field. To do this, the gun must charge the powder particles. And the painter, product and equipment should be grounded. Thus, the paint appears to be magnetized on the surface.
The paint is applied in the following way: the product to be painted is suspended in the spraying chamber, the powder is sprayed onto the surface with a paint gun.
After the paint has covered the entire product, it is sent to the polymerization oven. There the paint should melt and harden.
The baked part must be allowed to cool down, and then it can be used.
The spray gun can be tribostatic or electrostatic.
Tribostatic sprayer
In a tribostatic gun, the particles are charged by rubbing the paint particles against each other and on the special surface of the device barrel.
The gun does not produce current and generates less voltage, it allows painting products of complex shape and over arduous places.
The tribostatic powder coating gun has a lower price than electrostatic devices.
However, it is worth considering the instability of such a gun. Due to the peculiarities of its work, the quality of painting is directly affected by the humidity in the room where the painting takes place and the paint that is used. Only very high quality epoxy paint is suitable for it.
The scope of his work is limited by the size of the tank. The less paint in the tank, the worse the electrification and settling of powder particles.
Electrostatic sprayer
When using an electrostatic spray gun, painters do not face many problems. And all because it charges particles in a completely different way. This gun works from the compressor. Thanks to that the particles receive a charge.
However, due to the fact that during its operation there is much more voltage and current is generated, various physical phenomena may occur that interfere with the settling of the paint. For example, you might encounter the Faraday cage effect or reverse ionization. This goes to the products of difficult shapes, corners, grooves, etc.
Any kind of paint is suitable for working with such a gun.
How to choose a gun
Before buying a suitable painting gun that can serve for a long time first decide which items you need to paint. For a large number of simple form products the electrostatic gun is ok. But for complex shapes products a better option will be a tribostatic gun
But if you need to paint a huge number of parts of complex shapes then it is better to install an automatic line in production.
You also need to decide what layer of the final coating should be. The tribostatic gun makes a thicker coating.
Remember that tribostatics do a much better job of arduous places and corners. But it is not suitable for long-term, continuous painting.
If, after reading this article, you were unable to figure out which paint gun to choose, then we recommend you to contact our specialist for recommendations. They will be able to choose the necessary tool, taking into account all the features of your production.
