Powder Coat Finishing Protects Your Skid Steer Attachments

In heavy equipment manufacturing, architecture, electrical applications, and the automotive industry, powder coat finishing is an extremely popular alternative to liquid painting. It has benefits that land all across the board, some of which we’re going to cover today.

Benefits of Powder Coat Finishing

Back in 2014, we completed the install of our powder-coat paint system, and it has had a significant impact ever since. Here are a few ways powder coat finishing impacts our skid steer attachment manufacturing process.

Toughness: Corrosion, Scratching, Fading

Powder coating is resistant to corrosion, scratching, and fading. It leaves skid steer attachments with a finish that is both attractive and durable. Liquid painted attachments look pretty great on the showroom floor, but it doesn’t take a lot of heavy use and time in the sun for that paint job to scratch and fade.

A powder-coated attachment can be left in direct sunlight for two years and it still won’t fade. The coating cures onto the attachment and protects it from rust and other forms of corrosion. Instead of peeling off like liquid paint can, powder coating adheres directly to the metal with an ultra-strong bond.

Speed: Drying Time

When compared to liquid painting, powder coat finishing is extremely fast. Liquid paint required several hours to dry and weeks to cure. If you’ve ever seen painted heavy equipment that has thumbprints in the paint, it’s a permanent reminder that the piece was handled too soon after painting.

Alternatively, after the powder coating is applied, it is baked for just under 30 minutes. This baking dries and cures the coating, so the attachments just have to cool down before they can be handled.

Environment: Water, Overspray, Chemicals

Since making the switch to powder coating, we’ve experienced a 96 percent reduction in water usage. Plus, we’re able to reduce waste by reclaiming, sieving, and reusing the overspray. Currently, we reclaim 85-90 percent of the overspray, causing very little to go to waste.

Unlike liquid paint, powder coating is a non-hazardous material, so the transition to powder coating allowed us to eliminate the creation of hazardous waste from our manufacturing process.

In all of the ways outlined above, powder coat finishing has helped us to manufacture a better product. Skid steer attachments that are corrosion resistant, faster to manufacture, and kinder to the environment.