Air Cap Upgrade Saves Over $16,000 in Annual Paint Costs

CUSTOMER: Electric fan manufacturer

GRACO EQUIPMENT: ProBell rotary bell atomizers

A global manufacturer of household electrical products started using Graco ProBell rotary bell electrostatic sprayers to coat ceiling fan components after the factory manager got the results of a lab trial. In a side-by-side comparison with the Ransberg Aerobell, the Graco ProBell provided 30 percent better transfer efficiency. The Graco atomizers also sped up color change time from 5 minutes to 90 seconds.

CHALLENGE: Installed on reciprocators, Graco ProBell rotary bell atomizers served the factory paint line well all 18 hours of its daily production schedule. But the factory manager needed to keep the paint line on a continual improvement cycle, so he made the ProBell the focus of a Kaizen activity to reduce paint and solvent waste.

SOLUTION: Working closely with their Graco finishing equipment distributor and account representative, the factory manager and paint line team identified ways to keep improving ProBell performance. The distributor and account represenatative explained that Graco’s next generation of ProBell air caps were designed for more efficient paint usage, better cleanliness, and higher transfer efficiency. The factory manager felt this would be the perfect application of his Kaizen report and agreed to test the next generation of air caps for Graco ProBell rotary bell atomizers.

• To test paint usage, they monitored the difference of dry film thickness (DFT), also known as mil thickness, of paint on the part between the ProBell legacy air cap and the new ProBell air cap.
• A higher DFT at the same flow rate, would show higher transfer efficiency for the new ProBell air cap.

RESULTS: The results showed that the new ProBell air cap could make a real difference in their bottom line and help them spray one-component paint onto aluminum ceiling fans parts better than before.

• They found that the DFT was 12 percent higher using new ProBell air cap at the same flow rate, showing that more paint was reaching the part than before. To get the same dry fluid thickness (DFT), they lowered the flow rate, effectively using less paint for the same result.
• The new ProBell air cap saved over 10 liters of paint per shift, equating to over $16,000 in paint costs per year.