Product category:
Paint and painting systems
News Release from: 3M Speciality Materials | Subject: Paint Preparation System
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 12 May 2005
Advanced paint delivery system cleans up
Independent trials prove that an advanced paint mixing and delivery system reduces solvent use, cuts emissions and improves productivity at the UK's largest aerospace companies.
An advanced spray gun paint dispensing system from global innovations company 3M has delivered impressive results during trials at one of the UK's biggest aerospace firms During the trial, adoption of the system resulted in a 75% reduction in the use of Toluene solvents and paint savings of up to 10%
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 26 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The system also delivered improvements in surface finish, with dramatic reductions in sputtering and the elimination of inclusions in the paint.
3M's Paint Preparation System (PPS) is an innovative new type of dispensing system designed to reduce paint wastage, improve finish and dramatically cut solvent consumption during the spraying of chromated primers onto aircraft parts.
PPS is a modular dispensing system that comprises reusable plastic cups and disposable, flexible liners and lids.
Paint or primer is mixed in the liners within the reusable cups.
The system, which contains a built in filter, then attaches directly to standard spray guns.
During use, the liner collapses, ensuring maximum paint utilisation.
Once empty, the liners are discarded, eliminating the need to clean the system with expensive and toxic solvents.
PPS works with both gravity-fed and siphon spray guns.
Currently under evaluation with several major UK aerospace firms, the PPS system has proved itself to be particularly appropriate in aerospace applications, where chromated primers are very difficult to clean, while used paint and contaminated primer present a significant environmental danger with associated high handling and disposal costs.
"We have been working closely with the paint shops of the major aerospace manufacturers for some years, and they are already big users of our tapes, films and abrasive products," says David Humphries aerospace key account executive at 3M.
"When we brought PPS onto the market we realised that it could have huge benefits in the sector".
"All our trials so far have borne this out and the painters love using it too." PPS has been developed by a 3M R and D team in the UK.
Its first applications were in the automotive sector, where savings in paint and solvent, combined with the ability to rapidly switch paint types and colours without time consuming cup cleaning, have already delivered dramatic cost savings and productivity benefits.
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