Schubert Technical Services Ltd, have successfully installed a new automatic panel spray coating line at Staircraft Ltd.
Along with current UK manufacturing trends, Staircraft has become increasingly frustrated with transit times and quality issues from far-flung subcontractors outside the UK, so when they decided to significantly grow the business internally and take control of all of their production, including the finishing process, Schuberts had the answers.
Significant effort was put into multiple site visits and full scale tests were carried out at labs in Italy with the customer’s product and paints, alongside Schuberts.
An order was placed for a new finishing system consisting of infeed conveyor, Rotofast brushing/cleaning machine, modulating electric infrared preheat section, panel spray machine, outfeed conveyor, drying tunnel with modulating infrared, jetted air and cooling section. A separate line was also ordered for profile sanding, with belts and wheels for the spindles, balustrades, and long profiled sections.
The system installed is flexible enough to deal with softwood as well as MDF substrates, narrow profile pieces, as well as large full sized panels. The Kronos spray machine will spray primer and base coat through one dedicated circuit and then top coat through a second circuit, meaning colour changes and production down-time are kept to an absolute minimum.
The innovative belt cleaning system ensures no overspray returns to the start of the machine and that the overspray can be reused. A 15” touch-screen colour LCD display allows the storage of recipes and allows all working parameters to be altered and saved.
Dean Lucas, Production Director at Staircraft, says: “Schuberts worked hard to get what we have found to be a perfect solution to our wide ranging production. We needed a system that not only would deal with our flat panel work but also complex, non-standard profiles with stop chamfer edges. They had all the answers to the preparation of the pieces, the spraying and drying. As our business grows over the next few years, we are confident in the investment we have made in the new finishing systems and can recommend the thoroughness of their work.”
For more information, contact www.schuberts.co.uk