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Automatic powder coating of large components
The task which Wolfgang Dattendorfer, owner of the DAWO company in Mattighofen
in Upper Austria, set for the systems supplier for the coating booth and application,
J Wagner AG, was anything but simple: in the planned extension building whole
steel and aluminium structures, portals and façade elements, up to 3400
mm in height, were to be coated - with the highest possible process security
and the highest possible level of automation.
The reason for expanding the plant was mainly that capacity in the existing
premises had become tight. Today the new plant is designed for objects up to
300 kg in weight and with dimensions of 8000 mm long, 3400 mm high and 1200
mm wide. At the time of its implementation in 2003 the result was the largest
(horizontal) powder coating plant in Austria with regard to work piece height.
Mainly automatic operation
J Wagner of Altstätten presented the best technical solution to the problem
right at the start. In the booth (SuperTech) designed for fast colour changes,
the supplier has available a flexible, proven basic product that can be adapted
to the customer's needs with a few additions.
Thanks to the high-performance electrostatics, 12 automatic guns and two manual
guns are adequate even for this broadly spread range of components. In order
to save as much space as possible J Wagner arranged the automatic guns in a
single vertical row on two reciprocators with positioning trolleys. The manual
coaters have a lifting platform each - an absolute must for this height of work
piece.
Extraction is taken care of by the recovery unit with mono cyclone and end filter,
which operates in two stages. Depending on the operating mode 23,000 or 28,000
m3/h of air are available. Due to the height and, especially for the manual
coating, due to the distance of the powder over-spray from the floor extraction
system in the booth, innovation was called for, to reliably prevent the powder
from escaping into the environment.
In the upper area of the booth, opposite the manual coaters, an over-spray extraction
system controlled by a butterfly valve was integrated directly into the cabin
sandwich structure. The extraction through these openings goes directly to the
end filter, as the expense of additionally cleaning it in recovery mode is out
of proportion to the benefit.
The controller (ProfiTech) is equipped with an SPS S7 and visualisation through
the 15" MP 370 touch panel. Component sensing is through a light grid system
with 10 millimetre resolution for gaps, height and depth.
 Flexibility
in the pre-treatment
In the course of the expansion of the plant, Wolfgang Dattendorfer also decided
to adapt the pre-treatment to the increasing demands of the market. The choices
available to him are the etch degreasing, rinsing, VE rinsing, phosphating stages
and the application of a no rinse conversion layer.
This gives Dawo the ideal conditions to pre-treat both bright steel parts of
for indoor applications, zinc coated steel for outdoor applications and also
aluminium parts for indoor and outdoor applications, depending on requirements
and customer's wishes.
With this courageous investment the contract coating company was able to gain
new customers and expand business with existing customers. With it the company
is in a position to be competitive even for small orders and paint batches,
in spite of the considerable size of the booth. After all there is an average
of 15 colour changes a day. Depending on the density of the work-piece placement,
it is possible to work economically with powder recovery even after four passes.
With a powder consumption of over 20 tonnes - mainly facade powder grades in
every conceivable colour - the Mattighofen company is one of the most interesting
coaters in Austria - for customers and suppliers.
Wolfgang Dattendorfer: "With our individually designed equipment we can
fulfil a customer's requirements precisely and to the highest standards of quality,
economy and operating reliability. The customers are also aware of this and
have given us an encouraging uplift.
We are very happy with our choice of system partner, J Wagner AG from Switzerland.
The quick, expert realisation of a plant specifically tailor-made to our needs
has worked out excellently."
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