In addition to state of the art automation we have combined a robust pretreatment system and in-house surface pre-finishing and masking to assure each part reaches its maximum potential.
Part Specific Process Control
- Custom Part Process Menus: Each part running on our line receives a custom process menu that fits the metal substrate and part geometry and part prep specifically. This allows us to treat a part with only the steps it needs and cut out the rest.
- Indexing Hoists: Our indexing hoists move parts through our system to each tank allowing for speed adjustment and additional dips to better treat the parts. If it doesn’t need a step the hoist moves up and over the tank to the appropriate next step.
- Bay Style Oven Cell: Each carrier bar of parts is sent to its own oven cell to cure so we can specify the exact amount of curing time necessary for the best cure of the part. An onsite PosiTest oven temperature logger allows us verify and test curing process times on parts as needed.
Robust Pre-Treatment
- The key to excellent finishing is the cleaning process. Our 12 stage immersion pretreatment cleaning area is designed around cleaning light metals as best as possible with multiple chemistry options. We also have multiple full bath sized ultrasonic rinsing stages in our process.
- Pretreatment process tanks are automated with heat and chemistry controls, agitation, filtration, halo sprays and overflow weirs to clean parts as best as possible. These automation functions strengthen our process providing consistency and reliability of cleaning and operation.
- Our entire facility runs on RO Water assuring clean and consistent performance of chemistry, rinses and coating operations.
Eco-Friendly Conversion Coatings
- Our flexible pre-treatment area contains multiple conversion coatings to match any substrate, further enhancing the final coating’s durability. We can run TCP, Zirconium or no conversion coating at all depending on what your part requires to look and perform best.
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- We do not have Zinc Phosphate chemistry on our line so we cannot process parts requiring that coating.
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All chemistry is RoHS and REACH compliant.
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Process free of Conflict Minerals
In-House Blasting, Vibratory & Custom Masking
- The best parts are prefinished and we have extensive knowledge of prefinishing light metal substrates both in-house and at outside services. We know what works and what doesn’t and can assist in finding the right finish for your part’s quality and aesthetic requirements.
- In-House Capability: Our facility has both dry and wet blast process equipment as well as vibratory deburring equipment. We offer this service on small to medium volume projects.
- Outside Services: We have worked with outside pre-finishing businesses in the Midwest and can interface and suggest suppliers that meet the highest volumes of production for blasting and tumbling.
In case of Emergency
Electrical Generator Backup: As emergency contingency becomes a greater concern for customers we have added onsite electric generation capability to support our line in the event of an electrical outage. We are located on a high priority high-line and have never suffered a significant outage but we now have the ability to run our line even if we did lose power.
On-Site Laboratory Support
- Our coating lab not only performs regular pretreatment titrations but basic solids analysis and advanced gas chromatography of coating baths. Where we once sent out coating bath samples we can now obtain that data on site in the moment when needed.
- Our lab also has a salt fog cabinet that we use for process support and development to determine current capability and future innovation of pretreatment and coating processes.
- Other quality tools at Accurate include the latest Defelsko and Elcometer ultrasonic thickness meters, computer based stereoscope for inspection, Mitutoyo profilometer, Zehntner gloss meter, Xrite color meter and Defelsko oven logger.
Ecoating Part Window
12”x48”x36”
Here is an example of a standard carrier bar and our rack package dimensions. Our system is built for small to medium sized parts that often fit in the palm of your hand.
E-COATING OVER PEO
Extreme performance
We have years of experience E-coating over a variety of plasma electrolytic oxide coatings on magnesium and aluminum substrates. We have worked with Technology Applications Group – Tagnite.com (Grand Forks, ND) and Keronite Ltd. Keronite.com (Greenwood, IN/ UK) for nearly a decade on various magnesium and aluminum programs that required the highest environmental durability possible. E-coat is a perfect finishing top coat for PEO coated parts.
Capabilities
Ecoat will apply to all conductive metal substrate types including aluminum, magnesium, zinc and steel. Different types of metal require different treatments and prefinishing. Our primary focus is aluminum and magnesium substrates both cast and machined billet. We are limited on steel by size and weight and do not currently have processes in place to meet steel automotive specifications.
Our Ecoat rack package is 1’x3’x4’. We usually split this in half with a maximum depth of 6” from the rack center on either side. Our most efficient size is a part that can fit in your cupped hands. Our part price represents density more than anything so the more parts we can fit onto the carrier bar – the better the price. We also have a weight limitation using side arm hoists so large or heavy pieces limit our capacity and may fit best on a larger line than ours.
Unlike a standard monorail ecoat line we clip our parts onto the rack rather than hang them on a hook. The speed of a sidearm hoist forces us to clip parts which guarantees less parts loss but often requires custom parts racks. Racking or tooling is determined in the RFQ stage and depends on the part size, geometry and estimated annual volume (EAU). Custom racks assure the parts have the best possible connection, exposure to chemistry and uniformity in finish.
We discourage masking but we can apply pull plugs, screw plugs, flat space masking and more if needed. Masking is not ideal for ecoat because it’s labor intensive and therefore expensive and slow. Masking can often be engineered out of the process through oversized threads, alternate self-tapping fasteners and machining after coating especially on threads smaller than 2m.
Yes, we have run PEO parts processed at Technology Applications Group and Keronite since the early years of our business. Ecoat over Tagnite or Keronite is a great option to seal, protect and give color to a PEO substrate on magnesium or aluminum. Past salt spray performance of ecoat over PEO typically exceeds 1,000hrs.
