Page 35 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

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STEVE PEART, MD OF IRG TALKS UV CURING BENEFITS
IRG was one of the first adopters of UVA technol- ogy from Sikkens and TeslaCure. As one of the UK’s largest independent repair groups IRG has repair centres across Wales, Bristol, Her- eford, Newport and Whitland with Prestige, Accident, Express and light commercial re- pair facilities all equipped with the latest re- pair technology and processes.
IRG works alongside the leading manufactur- ers and insurers, as well as private vehicle own- ers and fleets, carrying out repairs on all makes of cars and light commercial vehicles.
Peart said; “We have been using the Tesla- Cure lamps since we helped with the testing and prototypes two years ago. We use the R100 hand held lights and the larger area robotic lamps.” Peart explained how high speed curing has improved workshop efficiency and dramati- cally reduced IRG’s energy bills. He says that the primers are fast to cure and can be sanded im- mediately (no need to waste time on cooling), there is no waste mixing cups or time taken to mix. Guns can be cleaned out at the end of each day or every few days, so it reduces gun cleaning time and gun wash waste. “This can also reduce your gun wash service intervals along with waste collection services. Saved time can be converted into improved efficiency and therefore $$$.
“Clearcoats curing requires little energy so there is significant savings to be made on
energy costs when compared to baking or gas infrared curing. It also lends itself well to future vehicle technology, such as electric cars, as it avoids placing vehicles in hot environments.”
IRG uses Sikkens Autosurfacer UV primer in combination with Autoclear UV clearcoat which Peart says was easily accepted by his workshop technicians. “UV Primer has been well received in the workshops with minimal training on the product use; the TeslaCure handheld R100 UV LED light is completely portable which makes it easy to integrate into the workshops.
Using this fast curing technology has had a significant impact on IRG’s profits.
“For our Express locations it has helped to complete an additional job per day (approxi- mately 250 jobs per year,” Peart said, with no extra staff employed.
The R100 Handheld can be used to carry out 15-20 jobs per day between charges, if you charged it up every day for 365 days per year it would only cost approximately $9 dollars, “so it’s virtually free to run”, so energy cost sav- ings are a huge benefit.
“We have been a Sikkens user for over 15 years, they have an excellent product range and were first to develop their UV clearcoat about 14 years ago. It makes a lot of sense to partner with a product manufacturer and tech- nology solutions provider as this partnership has proven. I’m sure we will see more develop- ments coming from AkzoNobel and Tesla- Cure,” Peart said.
Having fast curing products or fast cur- ing equipment is no use if you don’t have a defined process to compliment them. My recommendation to anyone looking to in- crease their efficiencies is to start with process and compliment it with new tech- nology, equipment and products. Embrac- ing UV products and curing would certainly speed up all your processes.”
TeslaCure UVA equipment can cure Sikkens UV primer in 30 seconds using only 100 watts of energy.
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AUTOMOTIVE EXTERIOR PLASTIC PARTS:
One of the lesser known applications is the use of a UV curable clear coat over moulded-in-colour body side mould- ings. Initially, this coating was devel- oped to decrease the yellowing on ex- terior exposure of vinyl body side mouldings.
OTHER APPLICATIONS:
Development work continues for auto- motive applications including plastic coatings used on automotive interiors, coatings for alloy wheels and wheel covers, clear coats for body exterior,
Energy cost savings
are of huge financial benefit, not to mention
the speed and process time savings.”
moulded-in-colour parts and for under- bonnet parts. The UV process continues to be validated as a stable curing plat- form. All that is really changing is that UV coatings suppliers and high tech curing equipment manufacturers like the TeslaCure company are now creat- ing the future of vehicle painting/cur- ing processes that will become the next industry standard.
The technology can deliver value as well as a superior finish. The UV coating suppliers, equipment suppliers and re- finishers need to continue to work to- gether to design solutions that improve the refinisher’s bottom line. Most of all the energy savings achieved from using the TeslaCure UVA LED technology will probably be one of the major drivers of this technology as energy prices are be- ing driven higher and higher.