2 Reasons to Use Fluidised Bed Powder Coating

While you can use spray techniques to apply powder coatings, you can also use a fluidised bed process. Here, your parts or products are heated and then dipped into a bed full of fluidised powder. The heat melts the powder so that it can wrap itself around the item and coat it all over.

When is a fluidised process a good option?

1. You Want Thicker Coatings

While some items only need a thin powder coating, some need a thicker layer of protection. While you can achieve this with a spray technique, it can make the job more complicated.

A powder coating professional may have to make more than one application to achieve your desired thickness if you use a spray solution. This adds to the job time.

On the other hand, a fluidised bed can create a greater thickness of coating with less effort. Your parts are totally immersed in the coating, and a trained operator can gauge how long they need to sit in the bed to get the right results.

This is typically a one-shot process. If you have specific thickness requirements, your job should be completed more quickly and accurately in a bed.

2. You Want to Keep Your Costs Low

Sprayed powder coatings sometimes work out to be more expensive than fluidised options. For a start, the equipment used in the spray process is complex and expensive. It requires specific training and skills. This process also creates a fair amount of powder and water waste.

So, spray coating tends to be more expensive to set up and manage for companies that provide this service. They may pass on some of these costs in their quotes to cover them across their customers.

Fluidised bed powder coating is cheaper. Companies need less equipment and have fewer purchasing and waste costs. For example, they don't have to deal with wastewater.

Plus, you can reuse any excess powder that is left over at the end of a coating run in a bed. This isn't always possible with spray techniques where overspray isn't reused. The powder in a fluidised bed is often all used up across multiple jobs.

This also reduces your costs. The less powder you use, the lower your material costs will be.

Talk to powder coating specialists to find out more about fluidised systems. They can also help you choose the best way to powder coat your parts or products.