Cool-Phos improves the presentation at Sahara
Methods
Cool-Phos improves the presentation at Sahara
Keywords Croftshaw,Finishing
Sahara Presentation Systems plc is a leading manufacturer and supplier of presentation and training equipment. This year the company celebrates 65 years of trading in an expanding,increasingly sophisticated and quality conscious market. Sahara employs 100 people and during 1997-1998 expects a turnover in excess of £10 million. Commented Richard Osborn, production director, "Our equipment has to be manufactured to exacting standards and all our products must be finished to the highest quality attainable".
Sahara manufactures over 30 percent of its product range itself. The company's products include rail and slide systems for dry-wipe boards, shelving units and OHP screens. It also produces conference room furniture, lecterns and full conferencing and audio visual equipment and accessories, using steel and aluminium sections. Sahara has its own CNC cutting and bending equipment and up until recently, components were finished by a contract finisher.
This had a number of repercussions, it meant that Sahara had less manufacturing flexibility, the inventory of finished products was often higher than required and the level of transit damage was unpredictable. Additionally, there was an operating requirement to reduce costs by bringing its finishing operation in-house.
Explained Richard Osborn,production director, "Last year the company decided that it wanted to undertake its own finishing, although we had no previous experience. The inclusion of a phosphating process was deemed to be essential in order to ensure that the level of finish fully reflected the high reputation we have developed. Water-based treatments were investigated but we did not feel that they would be economical with the wide range of components that we needed to degrease and phosphate".
Richard Osborn went on to say, "The size of components that we produce ranges from 2" brackets right up to frames measuring 6 by 3 feet. After careful evaluation, a Cool-Phos pre-ferment system was installed because it had the ability to treat all our components using only one tank. When we looked at aqueous systems we very quickly saw that they would require three to four times the area that Cool-Phos needs. This loss of valuable production space would have meant that a major and costly reorganisation of our existing manufacturing plant might have been needed. In addition, there were also other disadvantages associated with water-based treatments".
The principal problems associated with aqueous treatments are those of penetration into seams and behind spot welds and the subsequent problem of driving out moisture after treatment. The presence of moisture in seams and behind spot welds can lead to rusting and staining and long term corrosion. Cool-Phos is based on solvent, it claims excellent penetration properties and because it is used at elevated temperatures, the solvent evaporates rapidly and completely, leaving a dry surface that eradicates rusting and staining. The energy input required in Cool-Phos processing is at least 60 percent to 70 percent less than for an equivalent sized aqueous system and as no forced drying is required, usually much less than this.
Cool-Phos needs only a quarter the space that is required by aqueous systems and the process provides degreasing, phosphating and drying from only one tank, this means that there is no need to transfer components between stages. No forced air drying is required and as Cool-Phos easily penetrates folds and behind spot welds it claims the advantage of eradicating post finish rusting and staining. Cool-Phos also provides the additional benefit of a better key for the range of powder coatings used by Sahara.
Depending on the size,complexity or material combination of the work piece, Cool-Phos provides the options of a range of treatment cycles from one tank.
Typically a complete process would involve five stages:
- 1.
Suspension in the vapour area for initial cleaning.
- 2.
A spay rinse to remove loose contaminants.
- 3.
Immersion in the active Cool-Phos liquid for deep cleaning and phosphating,together with the removal of bonded grease, oils and process solids.
- 4.
A spray rinse with clean solvent to remove excess phosphoric acid.
- 5.
Finally a vapour rinse stage.
Any of these stages can be omitted or used in a variety of combinations so that the correct degree of treatment can be provided. If, for example, components only require degreasing this can be achieved by spraying and a vapour rinse, small items requiring phosphating can be sprayed only. This degree of flexibility is believed to make Cool-Phos the ideal method of treatment for companies who need to treat a wide range of items.
A work basket, measuring 2,000 × 1,200 × 500mm is used by Sahara and, depending on the component size, it is able to hold batches of between 10 and 2,000 items. The factory is laid out in four cells, punching and forming, tube bending and welding. From these processes work flows logically to the Cool-Phos pre-treatment system.
After treatment,components are sent to the paint shop for powder coating and stoving and then assembled. This flow-line offers Sahara the maximum efficiency and the minimum degree of damage. The significant advantage of the Cool-Phos solvent based pre-treatment process is reportedly that treated parts can be stored for up to six months without the risk of in-house rusting. This has important benefits where a company needs to apply a range of colours, because final finishing can be batched without the risk of a deterioration in the quality of the result.
Commented Richard Osborn,"The operational advantages provided by the Cool-Phos process do not end at its flexibility; perhaps the single most important benefit is that the system is extremely easy and simple to use. You do not need to be a chemist to operate it and quality control is so easy to maintain, as the colour change after treatment indicates the level of phosphating. We have found that the back-up provided by Croftshaw covering maintenance and the future removal of exhausted tank contents(only when tests show this to be necessary usually every two to three years depending on throughput) is first-class. They provided a comprehensive training programme similar to NVQ standards and our operators have diplomas to prove their competence. By bringing our entire finishing operation in-house we have achieved considerable cost savings, making us more profitable. It has also enabled us to improve quality and to obtain better stock holding".
Cool-Phos liquids are based on dichloromethane, which, according to Croftshaw, are probably the safest of the chlorinated solvents, both environmentally and for people. Dichloromethane is claimed to have an excellent environmental profile, extremely low ODP, it does not produce ozone at ground level and has a very short atmospheric lifetime, so it is easily absorbed by the normal atmospheric processes. Croftshaw informs us that it is now generally agreed by experts that dichloromethane is neither a carcinogen in man, nor causes long term health problems, providing it is used sensibly. The Cool-Phos process meets current environmental and Health and Safety legislation and the requirements of future emission standards.
Cool-Phos is distributed exclusively in the UK by Croftshaw (Solvents) Ltd, an ISO 9002 registered company.
Details: Croftshaw(Solvents) Limited, 32 - 33 Oakwood Hill Industrial, Loughton, IG10 3TZ.
