Re: Dip Painting
Most Chevrolet assembly plants used a prime process called "Flow-Coat" for black prime coating of miscellaneous brackets, braces, etc. (and the steel-body car plants also used it for wheels, hoods, fenders, rad supports, header panels, etc.).
In this process, after high-temp degreasing, washing, rinse, and phosphating, the parts went through a fully-enclosed spray booth with a grated floor over a sump tank; the booth was full of spray heads (like showerheads) that showered a continuous flow of black lacquer primer at the parts passsing through the booth on an overhead conveyor (both individually-hung large parts and piles of small parts in wire baskets). The excess runoff of paint went through the grates in the floor back into the sump tank and was recirculated continuously.
The parts then passed through an oven and were unloaded into baskets and boxes by part number and taken to the assembly line. Runs, pools, puddles, and blisters of primer were common, as the parts were stationary on the hooks as they passed through the process, and they appeared to have been "dipped"; the "Flow-Coat" process was commonly referred to as "dip-prime", as the results were the same.
The "cement-mixer" process Tony mentioned was another variation used at some locations for small parts.
Most Chevrolet assembly plants used a prime process called "Flow-Coat" for black prime coating of miscellaneous brackets, braces, etc. (and the steel-body car plants also used it for wheels, hoods, fenders, rad supports, header panels, etc.).
In this process, after high-temp degreasing, washing, rinse, and phosphating, the parts went through a fully-enclosed spray booth with a grated floor over a sump tank; the booth was full of spray heads (like showerheads) that showered a continuous flow of black lacquer primer at the parts passsing through the booth on an overhead conveyor (both individually-hung large parts and piles of small parts in wire baskets). The excess runoff of paint went through the grates in the floor back into the sump tank and was recirculated continuously.
The parts then passed through an oven and were unloaded into baskets and boxes by part number and taken to the assembly line. Runs, pools, puddles, and blisters of primer were common, as the parts were stationary on the hooks as they passed through the process, and they appeared to have been "dipped"; the "Flow-Coat" process was commonly referred to as "dip-prime", as the results were the same.
The "cement-mixer" process Tony mentioned was another variation used at some locations for small parts.
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