For plastic molders competing for their share of the automotive interior, electrical or office furniture business market delivering a high quality product is essential for their success. In today’s market these plastic parts need to be produced in a variety of colors, and there are only two ways to give those parts color: molded in color or plastic painting.
At the present time molded in color in plastic parts technology has not produced the results desired by OEMs for their products because, over time, molded-in color plastic parts tend to fade and very thin “spider” lines appear in the material. Until these problems can be resolved the best finishing solution remains painting plastic parts.
In order to paint new molded plastic parts there are special procedures and precautions that must be taken in order to make sure that the finish will match the rest of the interior parts, last a long time, be fade resistant and withstand some abuse. This means that every employee in a plastic painting company understand these procedures and precautions in order to get the job done correctly each and every time.
To those unfamiliar with painting plastic molded parts it may seem that painting plastic correctly is a long and difficult process; however, once a set of standard operating procedures are in place and with all of the necessary products at hand, the process of painting new plastic molded parts will actually go quite well.
Painting plastic correctly the first time eliminates costly repairs later, and promotes good customer relations for the company. Even though painting plastic uses many of the same techniques used when painting other types of materials, special processes must be used to make sure the end product has a long lasting and quality finish. This is so critical that every automotive or paint manufacturer provides special instructions to follow when painting their plastic parts.
There are different instructions when finishing new unprimed plastic parts and repaired plastic parts, as well as for painting undamaged, previously finished molded plastic parts. The stages of painting plastic are similar to those for painting steel but involve a number of special steps and products that have to be used to make certain that the type of high quality finish and longevity of the end product that is demanded in today’s automotive market can be met.
Before a plastic paint company can develop a painting plan for a molded plastic part, it is important to first identify the type of plastic used in manufacturing that part. While the general term “plastic” is used to identify many different non-metal parts, there are an amazing number of plastic types used in manufacturing parts for an automobile, electrical company or office furniture business.
The two main categories of plastic compounds are Thermoplastic and Thermoset, the primary difference between the two being how it reacts to heat. Many flexible parts on an automobile (like the front and rear bumpers) are made of a Thermoplastic material while parts like mirror holders and automobile grills are made with a Thermoset plastic.
Plastic parts will normally have an ISO code molded on the back of the part which will identify the type of plastic from which the part was made. This is important so that a plastic painting company will be able to structure a plastic painting solution appropriate to the type of plastic used.
Commercial plastic painting companies can successfully paint a wide variety of plastic parts for the automotive, electrical and office furniture industries. Here is a list of some of the types of plastic that can be painted for car interiors, electrical components or office furniture parts:
- SMC, or Sheet Moldable Compound;
- ABS, or Acrylonitrilebutadiene-Styrene;
- PVC, or Polyvinyl Chloride;
- Polycarbonites;
- PP, or Polypropylene;
In addition to the types of plastic that can be painted, there are a number of plastic paint processes that can be utilized. Among them are:
- Wet Painting;
- Liquid Finishing;
- Water Base;
- Lacquer;
- Liquid/Wet Coating Services;
- Liquid Coat;
- Open Spray Paint Booth;
- Robotic Painting
When a plastic molder is searching for a plastic painting company it is important that they make sure the plastic painting company has the appropriate kinds of paint lines to accomplish the job. Types of paint lines are typically robotic paint lines, open spray paint booths and infra red ovens for short lines and/or quick turnaround jobs.
Don Bolt is the Vice President for Operations at A&K Finishing, Inc. of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
A&K Finishing is known as “First to Finish with Quality” in the automotive, electrical and office furniture businesses.
With 2 plants and over 60,000 sf of space, A&K Finishing employs over 45 skilled non-union painting experts, has 11 state of the art robotic lines, 20 paint booths and 10 paint lines with enough capacity to handle any sized job.
