PALFINGER has this month installed a new painting system at its Marburg production facility in Slovenia using cataphoretic technology similar to that used in the car industry. A similar system will also be installed at the Austrian crane manufacturer’s Lengau factory later in the year.
According to Palfinger, cataphoresis has never been used before by loader crane manufacturers. The basic principle is that each element to be painted is given an electro-static charge and then immersed in paint to ensure absolute and uniform coverage. Palfinger says that the finish achieved gives the crane greater protection against corrosion.
All crane components pass fully automated through 16 steps of the painting procedure. After blasting with steel wire pellets, the parts get washed twice, first in an immersion and then in a spray procedure followed by two rinse stations and activation to apply the electro-static charge. After coating with zinc phosphate the parts are rinsed twice again before being dipped in the paint which has been developed for Palfinger by DuPont. The parts are then dipped in two separate rinsing stages and transferred to the drying oven. Excess paint from the rinsing stages is recovered by filtration and pumped back into the system.
Because of the low drying temperature, even parts such as hydraulic components can be coated. Palfinger claims that the paint system, known as KTL, achieves a grade of corrosion protection normally only found with coatings for marine applications (about 1,000 hours in a salt-spray test). High UV-resistance helps to maintain the original finish.
