Product category:
Washing and pretreatment
News Release from: Stowlin Croftshaw | Subject: Cool-Phos pretreatment process
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 07 March 2001
Cool Phos - a solution for a clear way
ahead
At Britax, all wipers are processed with a Cool-Phos pretreatment process that allows the manufactured product to retain its finish whilst clearing unwanted obstacles from a windscreen.
Britax PSV Wypers Limited is an International name recognised by anyone who has ever been behind a steering wheel What is surprising is that the company is not involved in the mass-produced car market
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Fundamental to the growth of Jack Sayers products is the largest UK Cool-Phos combined degreasing, phosphating and drying system, which is critical to the quality of the finishing process.
Instead, its success lies in supplying wipers to bus and coach, truck, commercial vehicle, off-road and specialist vehicle builders, and the resultant after-market.
In such demanding markets a vehicle and its component parts are subjected to hostile environmental conditions and many bear the scars as a once gleaming finish starts to peel away.
However, at Britax, all wipers are processed with a Cool-Phos pretreatment process that allows the manufactured product to retain its finish whilst clearing unwanted obstacles from a windscreen, ad finitum.
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Surface preparation 'key' to a good finish
To provide a good, reliable and consistent 'key' for powder coating, communications OEM, RW Data, installed a Cool-Phos open surface combined degreasing, phosphating and drying system.
A fine finish at the point of sale
The installation of the largest UK Cool-Phos combined degreasing, phosphating and drying system is critical to finishing process at Jack Sayers Products.
Cleans, phosphates and dries in one process
A pre-treatment process that combines the benefits of vapour degreasing and aqueous phosphating produces a better key for paint or powder coating and also protects the parts against corrosion.
'Here at Britax our design office is occasionally called upon to work on a new design.' stated Director Dave Watts.
'For example, a recent innovation is a wiper assembly lubricated from a central point that has increased the longevity of a bus assembly.
Also, having supplied several European train builders, we are now breaking into the UK market.
Discussions with a major builder of high-speed trains, has seen us work with the manufacturer in a totally new design and build.
However, the majority of our work would see us receive a drawing from an OEM that would require a modification to be made to an existing wiper assembly.
Having established the component dimensions and drawn up a work pattern we would either machine the parts required or assemble from standard parts.' 'We have a traditional production facility here at Worcester and build a full linkage assembly, arms and legs - only the AC motors are bought in.
Generally speaking, our OEM batch quantities are normally 200 and occasionally 500 for a specialist off-road vehicle, whereas trade/distributors seem to have adopted just-in-time and MRP principles and after-market batch quantities of 10 and 20 are now common.' continued Watts.
'Divided into cells, we produce a 'family' of wiper assemblies.
However, as much as the reliability of the product is essential to repeat business, so too is the finishing cell.
It is essential that we ensure that contaminates do not cause rust and other chemical reactions, thereby affecting the working elements.' Britax has built a bespoke finishing cell; consisting of a Cool-Phos pretreatment system, a manual racking system and overhead track, a Nordson spray booth and a G and G engineered gas-fired oven.
'The Cool-Phos cleaning operation - a 2.5 x 1.2 metre, open surface Cool-Phos combined degreasing, phosphating and drying system, designed and installed by pretreatment specialists Croftshaw Solvents - is the critical part of the finishing process.' stated Watts.
'We produce a large number of different sized components but small batch quantities, and therefore need to get the product out of the door quickly.
The previous cleaning method consisted of dipping a loaded basket systematically into three manual tanks - a hot wash, phosphate, and cold rinse.
Not only was this manually intensive but was a time-consuming operation that caused a bottleneck.
Taking more than 60 minutes, rinsed components had to be dried in the oven and allowed to cool before jigging up for the powder coating operation.' Today, wiper components in mild steel or sandblasted stainless steel, are loaded into baskets as they come from production, and by means of an electronic hoist, a basket is raised and lowered into the Cool-Phos tank.
Once in the tank, the components are prepared for powder coating as they are lowered into the vapour zone above the boiling Cool-Phos solution.
Vapour condenses on the components until the temperature equalises at 381C.
This degreases the surfaces and removes loose dirt as it is flushed off by the condensed Cool-Phos.
Dipped into the solution for 1 - 2 minutes, a phosphate conversion coating, a thin crystalline bond that is integral with the metal substrate is added.
The phosphate coating increases the surface areas available and provides an excellent >key= for paint, powder and other finishes.
Additionally, Cool-Phos presents a physical barrier against moisture, thus inhibiting rust in the event of a damaged surface.
After dipping, the coating basket is raised into the vapour zone where it is spray-rinsed with cooled Cool-Phos distillate to remove traces of phosphoric acid.
Residual condensate flash evaporates as the basket is removed from the tank.
The Cool-Phos process completed in just five minutes, parts are immediately jigged up on racks fixed to the overhead track, and moved to the spray booth when required.
Powder coated - all Britax wipers are black - a closed oven dries the components before being transported to final assembly.
'We are an International organisation that has continued to grow in difficult times.
With a just-in-time approach to component manufacture and a 'fast track' finishing operation, we have the capacity to expand further into the Far East, and untapped Asian markets.
To that end we are reliant on our OEM suppliers to be on-hand to provide a first class service.
We can afford neither poor quality nor downtime and it was therefore essential that in resolving our finishing problem we sourced the best product and the right supplier.
In Croftshaw we are dealing with engineers that understand our needs, and in Cool-Phos, we have an environmentally friendly process and cleaning solution that has never let us down.' concluded Dave Watts. Request a free brochure from Stowlin Croftshaw ...
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