The paint shop at Jet Aviation St Louis has been upgraded with a system of controls for climate, air quality and final finish. “Our new computerized and automated climate control system, painter decontamination chambers, and paint delivery and quality control devices provide the best quality control in the art of aircraft painting,” said Britt Julius, manager of the paint shop at Jet Aviation St Louis in Cahokia, Illinois, USA. “We’re refining every part of the process. We leave nothing to chance to ensure that our customers get a flawless, high-gloss paint finish.”
The most recent improvement is the installation of three new decontamination chambers designed to remove traces of hexavalent chromium (hexachrome) dust from painters’ body suits, shoes and painting tools as they leave the prep hangar.
Before installation of the chambers, Jet Aviation St Louis completed a computerized climate control system. The system reads the air in the paint hangar and sets the temperature, humidity and dew point to the required levels to maximize paint application, drying and curing. The company says that kind of climate control is necessary when applying today’s high-solid paints that provide better coverage.
“The climate control system and even the spray guns used by the painters now get their pressurized air from more powerful new compressors,” said Julius. “They not only supply more capacity, but they also provide a better quality of air. And with the compressors, we also added new air lines and longer spray wands to reach areas like wing tops for a better finish.”
The paint shop has also acquired devices that analyze paint color tint, analyze pearl and metallic paints, measure the smoothness of the finish, and assess the level of gloss.
February 5, 2016
