AJB Group have taken delivery of a new turn-key Schubert finishing installation for both the manual and automatic application of their production.

Having just moved into a new 36,000 ft² factory, AJB took the decision to invest in new technology for finishing their wide range of high quality Internal Joinery, External Doorsets, Windows, Composite Doors and Mouldings.

The first part of the install was a new Schubert spray booth enclosure, complete with filtered air input, 1000 lux lighting and Andreae High Efficiency filters. An overhead conveyor track was installed where windows and doorsets can be hung and painted on both sides before moving into the flash-off and Schubox

A separate adjoining paint mix room was added, with a bunded floor, explosion relief panels, ATEX heating system, permanent independent extraction to atmosphere.

The spray shop features manual entrance doors as well as product slots in the side of the structure. Bright white lighting gives great colour rendition. Air input is through capture and hold tack filters, meaning the pressurised spray room is free from dust and contamination. The extract filters are Andreae HE two stage filters. Both the input and extract fans are inverter driven through a PLC run control system and air pressure differential sensors. This means that the spray room remains pressurised right up until the extract filters are clogged with overspray.

The spray shop was connected to a flash-off section, again with lighting and extraction into the Schubox. The flash-off allows the product to flow and settle after spraying. If the paint hasn’t settled and vented, the rapid drying in the gas catalytic infra red Schubox will encourage a too fast process and solvent entrapment can occur, producing tiny bubbles in the dried lacquer. The flash-off is also supplied with clean air through roof filtration to ensure the wet product is not coated in airborne contamination.

The Schubox gas catalytic infra red drying system features bi-fold double doors on the infeed and outfeed. Each coated piece is stacked in the flash-off zone and then introduced into the Schubox catalytic IR curing system for a maximum of 30 minutes at 35°C. The wet lacquer is fully cured with long wave IR and at a temperature that does not affect the substrate in any way. After 30 minutes, the pieces are removed from the Schubox and are taken straight to fitting up and then despatch.

To compliment the manual spray system, Schuberts have also installed an automatic profile spraying line. Lineal lengths are handfed onto the line at ~30m/min, sanded and then sprayed with either solvent or waterbased paints. The profile line is controlled from a central touchscreen PLC where run speeds and gun settings can be altered.
Once sprayed, the pieces are racked up on finger trolleys and taken to the Schubox for rapid drying, before being loaded onto the line again for the next coat.

Mandeep Binji, Operations Director at AJB Group, says “The new Schuberts installation is fabulous, allowing us to achieve a faultless finish time and time again. The pressure sensors on the spray booth are fantastic which tells the operators its time to change the filters and the pressurised booth means we can finally appreciate the benefits of spraying in a controlled pressured spray environment.”

For more information on the range of products from AJB Group, please see www.ajb-group.co.uk
To see how Schuberts can design and install a custom finishing system for your company, call +44 (0) 1226 360900.