Follow these tips and recommendations to get the best results out of your powder spray booth.
Change the Filters Often
Replace your filters before they get like this.
Powder builds up over time. Even when you purchase a professional powder spray booth, the filters eventually get clogged and stop functioning if you don’t change them. Clogged filters can burn out the fan, which prevents your operators from seeing their work. Worse, if the powder isn’t going into your filters, it’s going out into your shop.
Most powder spray booths have multiple stage filtration (ours have a three-stage system). While maintenance cycles vary, the first stage filtration (usually blanket media) will need to be changed every 1-2 weeks, the second stage (usually bag or pocket filters) will need to be changed between 1-3 months, and the third stage (usually HEPA) will only be changed once every 18 months. However, it’s important to note that if you don’t change your filters often enough, you can ruin your HEPA filters MUCH faster. Since HEPAs can be very expensive to replace, it’s cost-effective to keep a proper maintenance schedule and change the cheap filters on time. (Find our recommended maintenance schedule at the bottom of the article here.)
Have Proper Ground
You can have the best powder spray booth and still have poor coating application if you don’t have proper ground. Good grounding is what allows the powder to adhere to the parts while you’re coating. If you are wasting a ton of powder or your coating is falling off in the booth, check your grounding rod and make sure you are getting good metal-to-metal contact. It is recommended to use a ground that you can apply directly to either the part, the hook or the rack. (For more info on proper grounding, go here.)
Clean Your Parts Before You Start Coating
It doesn’t matter how nice your operation is, if the part you want to coat isn’t clean to begin with, the coating will fail. Proper pretreatment, whether it’s a simple wash or multiple-stage chemical pretreatment and/or sandblasting, is the most reliable way to improve the lifespan of your coating.
Bonus Tip: Don’t Build or Buy Racks With Cheap Rubber Wheels
While it’s not directly related to the powder spray booth, make sure you have the right tool for the job. If you are coating anything, chances are you are coating on a rolling rack. You will be rolling this rack into the curing oven, where the parts will be cooked at nearly 500 degrees – anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours at a time. If the tires on your racks are not temperature rated, they will melt.
Remember that all the hooks and racks you use in the powder spray booth will baked in the curing oven along with the parts. Make sure whatever you buy or build is temperature rated before you ever attempt to put it in the oven. Save yourself the headache and check this before you ever get started.
Need More Information?
For some more articles on powder spray booths, check these articles from our manufacturer: Common Booth Misconceptions and Five Tips For A Better Finish.
Need Any Help?
From troubleshooting your existing system to helping you design a brand-new powder coating line, our technicians and systems specialists can help answer your coating needs. Give us a call today.
