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TOP-QUALITY PRECISION PAINTING OF ALLOY WHEELS
Cevher Group produces high-quality, stylish alloy wheels for leading OEM automotive customers. To further improve finish quality, they moved to a Graco ProBell Rotary Applicator.
The origins of Cevher Group go back to 1955, when technical teacher Hüseyin Özyavuz established a small workshop in Izmir. Over the years it grew to become a centre for the Turkish casting sector. Production of the first wheel was carried out in 1984. Following this, production continued in a 30,000 sqm alloy wheels factory in the Izmir Aegean Free Zone, which was later expanded to 44,000 sqm.
In 2005 the company completed delivery of its first wheels to Volkswagen, followed by Skoda and Audi in 2008, and BMW and PSA in 2009. Today, Cevher Group makes two million aluminium alloy wheels per year, of which more than 90% is exported. A new growth strategy was put in place in 2018. The biggest part of the investment was allocated for the 34,000 sqm new production facility in the Aegean Free Zone, where the existing factory is located. In this context, the company will double the capacity of its paint shop and then focus on the production of aluminum casting parts, customized for the hybrid and electric vehicles.
Cevher Group conducts projects with CAS, CAD, CAE, FEA and casting simulations for product design and development, while using CAD/CAM and CNC technologies for mould design and production. The company is committed to achieve high customer satisfaction and focuses on maintaining its position as a leading aluminium alloy wheel manufacturer by producing customer-focused solutions.
Spraying with Graco’s Pro Xpc electrostatic guns
In their topcoat and clear coat spray booths, Cevher Group use – and are very satisfied with – Graco’s Pro Xpc low-pressure electrostatic air spray guns. These compact, lightweight guns are perfect for robots and fixtures with lower payloads. They are safe, durable, PLC controllable, designed for efficient system integration, and come with a serialized certificate of performance. The system has 250 user settable presets and maintenance reminders that can be controlled from a PLC or switchbox control. This improves flexibility, enabling Cevher Group to spray a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
Adding Graco ProBell technology
Cevher Group wanted to further improve quality by ensuring more uniform clear coat film thickness on the wheels. To avoid any visual colour differences on the surfaces of tinted clear coat applications, they tried out Graco’s automatic electrostatic applicator called the ProBell. This is a rotary bell applicator that atomises paint and coatings, achieving up to 95 percent transfer efficiency. It’s intended for automatic painting applications and can be mounted in a fixed position, reciprocating arm, or a robot.
Fluid is delivered to the ProBell Rotary Applicator with a low-pressure supply, much the same as other applicators like air spray and basic HVLP guns. The difference with the rotary applicator is that the fluid is distributed with a bell cup spinning at 20,000 to 60,000 rpm. Because of the high rotation speed, the paint is subjected to high centrifugal force. The paint flows along the surface of the spinning cup. When it reaches the edge, the centrifugal force breaks it apart into a fine cloud of fluid particles. The droplet size is finer and more consistent than other atomisation methods, to deliver an extremely high-quality finish. The cloud of paint droplets is directed or shaped by the air coming out of the air cap. This allows the operator to shape and propel the pattern toward the part, which leads to improved transfer efficiency.
During the ProBell demo session, Cevher Group’s representatives were delighted with the clear coat film thickness uniformity and the overall top-notch finish quality on the surface of the wheels. Moreover, they could control the flow of clear coat and spray at low and precise flow rates through the integrated PD unit with unique positive displacement technology.
The final touch: PD1K Dual Panel
When discussions started between Graco and Cevher Group for the final product selection, Graco’s authorised distributor Genmar also offered the PD1K Dual Panel model. This allows two painters to spray independently at the same time. Each painter can change colours anytime: one could be changing colour while the other is spraying. In practice, it means that Cevher Group’s operators can control the flow rate for both ProBell and Pro Xpc guns in order to achieve more precise film thickness on the wheel surface.
Based on the demo results and Genmar’s recommendation, Cevher Group decided to go for the ProBell plus the PD1K Dual Panel solution. Now, Cevher Group is able to control their coating process with superior quality, high transfer efficiency and precision spraying for both applicators running at the same time.
For more information on Graco’s ProBell, Pro Xpc guns and PD1K Dual Panel, fill out the form below.
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