Posts from — May 2008

We have discussed the quality of PPG water borne paint here on the Blog. Some of you may be wondering what kind of equipment you will need to convert your body shop. This article will answer all your questions regarding shop equipment. The conversion to waterborne basecoats will positively impact your day to day shop operations and your equipment. Fortunately the changes will not be too intimidating. On the bright side they will help make your life easier and more productive as well.

The best feature of the new PPG waterborne system is that there is no mechanical agitation required to achieve great color matches. This is a result of PPG’s revolutionary new anti-settle technology. Simply rock the toner side to side by hand and that’s all that is required to ensure the tint has all the pigments dispersed evenly and then it is ready to pour. This makes color mixing fast and easy. No longer does a painter need to wait fifteen minutes when changing a toner or upon arriving to work in the morning, just shake and pour. What does this mean then, this means no more loud mixing machine in your paint room adding extra noise to your work day and no more wait times decreasing your daily production. We get paid to paint vehicles not stand around playing the waiting game. Think about the time you will save during the course of a year.

A dedicated spray gun used exclusively for water borne base coat. PPG recommends using a dedicated paint gun for waterborne base coats and should not be used with solvent based paints, just as you do not use your base coat gun to spray clear coat. I know what you probably thinking, we will have to buy more spray guns for our shop. Not when you switch to PPG’s Envirobase. PPG is going to give their existing shops and their new clients a dedicated waterborne gun. If your shop has two booths than you will receive two paint guns, one dedicated paint gun per booth. While we understand you could make one of your existing paint guns a waterborne gun, considerations should be given to the technology improvements manufacturers have made with this most valuable tool. The spray gun must be rust proof, which means it should be made of stainless steel, brass or plastic components. Many spray gun manufactures have specific gun, cap and fluid tip recommendations. Since water and aluminum can cause corrosion, aluminum cups will be replaced by plastic cups or other systems such as 3M’s PPS system or the Sata RPS system which use plastic. The required strainer size for waterborne base is 125 micron.

Please come back to the Blog as I will elaborate on some of the other key pieces of equipment your shop will need to make the switch to PPG Envirobase waterborne basecoat. There are some other ingredients to make your shop the most productive most successful shop on the block.

PPG water borne conversions are gaining momentum in Canada.

According to PPG, more than 700 collision shops have made the transition to waterborne basecoat in anticipation of new air quality regulations in Canada. Pending and existing regulations intended to reduce VOC atmospheric emissions and improve air quality, has so far resulted in more than 700 facilities switching to PPG’s Envirobase High Performance basecoats.

Canadian shop owners who have made the change have been pleased with the results. Many of my customers we a little nervous about their switch to water, but after converting would not go back to the solvent borne paint again. But why is this I asked a painter at a local body shop. “As we get more familiar with the Envirobase paint we are finding it is faster and it provides a better color match than the Global system we were using previously. Also it lays down better and is a lot easier to blend than solvent based paint, plus gives us a smoother finish than our previous paint”. 

 
 In Canada, the regulations will take effect nationwide on January 1, 2010. To help assure shops make the conversion smoothly, PPG’s “Convert with Confidence” program provides shop owners, managers and technicians with training, advice and support before, during and after the conversion. A shop must attend a meeting on the new water system and watch a seventeen minute video on the do’s and don’ts of spraying water borne paint. One this is finished we then take a look at the shops equipment and make sure they are 100% ready to convert. According to Jim Downey, PPG senior regional manager, “Transitions are going very smooth; the program employs a methodical implementation plan for managers, then painters coming to class at our training centers. While they’re in class, we install the new equipment at the shop. When they return, everything’s ready to go with a PPG training team there to help.”

PPG is encouraging shop owners in  Canada and the U.S to take advantage of the “Convert with Confidence” program as soon as possible to ensure they will be “shop ready” when regulatory deadlines take effect. It is better to do this now rather than leave it to the last minute as equipment and supplies will be in short supply. The time is NOW to convert your shop with confidence and grab a hold of the new way of refinishing technology.