The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Paint finish inspection

I am looking for some advice as to how I should set up a quality checking process for our powder paint finish. I would like to know what type of lighting I should use and perhaps some way of setting it up (angles, etc.)

Duane Sharer
1998

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Hellow! I'd like to ask you for the information about a effective lighting system for visual inspection in automotive paint finish line. I'm working for Daewoo Motor Co. as a paint process engineer. Now I'm researching into the lighting sys. in order to increase the visual detection for the topographic defect on a surface of painted body in a real production booth. So I request your information kindly about that. Thank you. Goodbye!

Hyunho Lee
1999

Duane and Hyunho, As you have probably found out by now there is little objective advice available for setting up effective paint inspection lighting. Since about 1997, however, some 20 formal tests of inspection lighting and procedures have now been completed by engineers and scientists who are not in the lighting sales "food chain." About 6 or 7 of these evaluations have now been published. Check out the sites for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and Automotive Finishing magazine or send me an email and I will send you a couple of recent papers. Please let me know if you find any other defensible information or reports on inspection lighting.

Dr. Charles Lloyd
- Morrisville, North Carolina
1999

What can we do to prevent small bolls of paint from getting to the surface of the car, I think that sometimes the paint may not be fully vibrtatted? or can it be the paint was "old"because once the car is painted, we found this"small balls and we have to sandand reapply paint, this is time consuming and money wasted. any advice?

Guillermo Rosales
hst - San Diego, California
2006