Choosing the Right Powder Booth

Q: I am thinking of changing to a powder coating system and understand that one of the most important decisions is choosing the right powder booth for my application. What are the most important factors to consider when selecting a powder booth?

A: When choosing a powder booth, there are many things to consider. It is also essential to look to the future, meaning that your requirements today may not be the same in the future. Look for something flexible that can grow with your production requirements. Below is a summary of the items to consider:

- Identify the part's dimension. The part's dimension is important because it will affect the booth size, the number of applicators, and processor speed.
- Next, consider the number of parts needed, which will set the conveyor speed. Understanding the production requirements will help determine the conveyor speed and number of units produced.
- A critical aspect is color-change time. This is important as this helps determine what type of recovery equipment is needed. Typically, color-change powder booths can get a complete color change in 6-10 minutes by following the procedure set up by the manufacturer and by automating much of the color-change process.

Types of color-change booths:

Most color-change booths are designed for manual and automatic applications, but there are differences. If an application requires more manual reinforcement, the booth has a larger manual reinforcement-based operator station. If more automation is needed and minimal reinforcement, the operator station would be smaller. The third booth type is used when more automation is needed, such as a simple gun mover or fixed gun stand on each side. Often, a budgetary proposal up front is the best way to confirm the correct booth and application equipment needed. Typically, a lab test would be conducted.

There is also a different type of powder booth for powder coating vertical extrusions up to 30' tall. This style is unique because it only uses automatic guns without manual reinforcement. For this type of booth, the simpler the extrusion profile, the faster the line can travel, and the more difficult the profile, the slower the line speed.

Similarly, the shorter the part, the faster the line can move as the reciprocator does not have to use up a longer stroke for more travel time.

As a standard, all color-change booths utilize a powder kitchen for the feed center connected to each booth or can be separated if floor space is restricted and feed from boxes, drums, or totes. The control center uses a PLC and can integrate with the customer's plant to track production, stops, part counts, etc. Troubleshooting is done via an ethernet connection back to the manufacturer to save downtime and reduce costly visits.

Recovery Equipment

Color-changing booths are designed to be very efficient in powder utilization, with some designs returning up to 97% of overspray powder back to the system. When you consider that the customer is buying powder daily for production but only invests capital dollars once every 10-15 years for the equipment, it makes sense to add additional items that will keep the daily costs down, so there is a good ROI.