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Electrocoat vs. powdercoat vs. ACC for truck frame painting

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We are looking out for a cost effective coating process for replacing the existing AED process for truck frames ( max frame size -12 m long , cap- 100,000 frames / annum). Autophoretic process is being considered as a likely replacement. Could any body help us with the following info :

a)details of autophoretic installations processing truck frames and the experience with respect to cost & quality.

b)Maximum size of frames being processed

c) Any other alternative process for frame painting being processed with autophoretic critical issues to be considered while opting for the above.

subhas mallik
telco - Pune, Maharashtra, India

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We have lot of experience in engineering coating plants for large structures (up to 24 m) a.o. truck frames. Processes used are:

Pretreatment: blasting, Fe or Zn phosphate, electrodip paint, autophoretic coating.

Coatings: liquid as well as powder. Largest automotive parts presently coated with ACC I know of is LandRover plant in Turkey. Parts up to approx. 6 m in length. In our region actually several plants are coating truck frames. Capacity up to 25 pcs/shift.
Best regards

Remmelt Bosklopper
- Enschede, The Netherlands

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The autophoretic process is a special process marketed by a major chemical company. The equipment for the autophoretic process can be manufactured by companies approved by that chemical company.

Electrocoating is another means of coating truck and auto frames. In the USA the method used by most of the frame manufacturing companies is electrocoat. The equipment for this process can be manufactured by many companies.

In some speciality shops the preferred method of painting truck and car frames is powder coating. Equipment for powder coating is also available from many companies. Tyrone L. Caley
- Jefferson City, Missouri

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March 4, 2009

Commercial aspects:

I'm sure that ACC866 meets the automotive industry Quality performance; on other hand it reduces the total coating cost.
You can simply contact Henkel to receive cost comparison.
Technically, frame coating process is divided into pre cleaning which depends up on the surface condition, the ACC Coating, rinse then reaction rinse, and curing; the process could be summarized as follows:
1- Spray Rinse (if the surface is highly rusted)
2- Dip Alkaline Cleaning
3- Tap Rinse
4- Pickling (if the surface requires)
5- Tap Rinse
6- Neutralization (in case you are using Acid Pickling)
7- Tap Rinse
8- Spray Rinse
9- D.I Rinse
10- ACC Coating
11- Tap Rinse
12- Reaction Rinse
13- Oven ( Curing )
Kindly note that the surface condition strongly affects the Number of Stages, where if your work package contains corrosion Fe+++ you will need Acid pickling which in turn will require a rinsing and neutralization then Rinse again, whereas if your surface needn't have Pickling, you are going to reduce 4 Stage.

On other hand you may upgrade your current plant to use ACC

Khaleed El Deeb    autophoretic coatings 6October, Cairo, Egypt

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April 10, 2011 -- this entry appended to this thread by editor in lieu of spawning a duplicative thread

i need to know difference (Comparison) in paint cost between ACC 866 and powder coating

Ashraf Youssef
SQE paint specialist - Egypt
  ^- Privately contact this inquirer -^

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April 11, 2011

Hi, Ashraf. As Khaled advises, you can get a cost comparison from Henkel. However, for balance you might talk to an electrocoating proponent like PPG and a powdercoating proponent like Tiger Drylac. The details will matter, of course, as the technology that is the least expensive for one particular type of part and production volume might be the most expensive for another situation. Good luck.

Regards,

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

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July 5, 2011

Hello
It will be much more accurate when you apply the comparison parameters in your actual case,
Comparison Parameters like
- Price/Kg
- Price/Litre
- Wt. solids as supplied
- Vol. Solids as supplied %
- price for 100% Vol. Solids
- Dry film thickness. (Microns)
- Theor. cov. vol. solids/m²
- Process Efficiency * as %.
- Coverage m² after Efficiency
- Paint costs per m²
- Pretreatment/cleaning costs per m²
- Additives
- Net Plant Cost
- 2 processed per year
- Capital repayment (Amort. 5 year)
- Annual interest repayment (@10%)
- Total annual plant costs
- Plant costs m²
- Electricity costs/m²
- Stoving schedule 20 Minutes.
- Effect. temp rise. (Amb. =20° C)
- Oven heating costs per m²
- Afterburner costs per m²
- Maintenance per year
- Maintenance per m²
- Touch up manpower/yr
- Touch up manpower/m²

Total cost per m² =

Khaleed El Deeb    autophoretic coatings 6October, Cairo, Egypt