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Liquid versus powder paint finishing?

   

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I am looking at the pros and cons for liquid painting versus powder coat painting for a valve manufacturing company. The size of the steel and cast iron valves that will be made will range from 1/2" to 12" in size. The valves will be completely assembled before they are painted. At the moment I am leaning towards liquid painting because I am not sure that it is a good idea to put the finished valve into an oven at 400F. However, this may not be a problem. The powder paint process seems more straightforward to set up - with no need for a make up air unit to bring in tempered air to replace exhaust air and no requirement for pollution control for the exhaust air. We plan to use 10 different colours for painting. I would really appreciate any advice about the two methods.

Peter Marsh
Mechanical Consulting - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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Powder still can't match the appearance of the very best liquid paints, but other than that, it's hard to beat. It's one of the very few truly environmentally friendly processes because no solvents of any sort are involved; it's highly corrosion resistant; and it's still a new technology in its ascendancy. Whatever we say "it can't do" it will probably do tomorrow.

Ted Mooney, P.E. finishing.com Brick, New Jersey