“Installing the new Burkle roller coating machine was a no brainer,” says Ian Mathews of Hi-Tec Joinery, “the line will give us greater efficiency in the day to day production, but it does not stop there. The savings and improvements are endless.”
Hi-Tec Joinery makes specialist products to a premium specification market, so all of its doors and door sets must be finished correctly, first time, and to the highest standard – the Burkle RCL 1300 gives Hi Tec this capability. The machine can be used for base and top-coat finishing with varying gloss levels.
“There are major benefits compared with conventional solvent-based and water-based spraying systems,” says Ian.
The equipment payback is very fast, as past Burkle customers have found. This is primarily because the amount of lacquer used in the Burkle roller coating system is, on average, one tenth of the amount used by the spraying method.
Although UV lacquer is typically twice the price of PU-based lacquer, this means the cost of UV is one fifth of the price of PU. There are many other benefits too, but looking at the lacquer costings, according to Burkle, when compared with a solvent-based PU lacquer, the UV lacquer costings make good commercial sense – see box.
Leicestershire-based Membrane Pressing Services, which supplied and installed Hi Tecs new Burkle coating machine, explains that the RCL 1300 is a highly efficient system. “With the Burkle RCL 1300, there is no waste lacquer, any material not used is returned to the lacquer tins to be used again.
“The machine also has full control over the amount of lacquer it applies to the surface and it will calculate – with the control of the coat weights and recycling system – that it can save up to 80% on lacquer usage compared to hand application.”
The door surface finish is not the only improvement – the hardness of the UV-cured lacquer is another added benefit as well as the increased speed of production. The panels are touch-dry as soon as they exit the machine and can be processed immediately.
“The installation at Hi Tec was trouble free and completed on time. No extraction was required – just a vent pipe from the machine to the outside wall,” concludes Ian.
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