Nick's Niche: Oven-design features every powder coating system must have
Greetings and salutations from Connecticut! In the 1990s, I wrote a regular column for Powder Coating magazine titled “Inside Information.” The column tackled a diverse range of topics on the powder coating process from color change to high-technology gizmos. Several of my associates at Powder Coating Consultants, including George Trigg, also contributed to the column. Although we enjoyed writing it, we got the opportunity to write the Questions & Answers column for this magazine. Eventually, I went on to write a similar Q&A column for another publication while George took over the column for Powder Coating. Well, I’m back with a guest column to be published occasionally throughout the year, and am thankful for the opportunity to once again write for the first publication dedicated to the powder coatings industry—Powder Coating magazine.
Recently, I participated in a webinar for the magazine on the topic of Cure Ovens. For those of you who don’t know what a webinar is, it’s an interactive seminar held on the Internet. (Go to [www.pcoating.com] and click on Bookstore.) During the webinar presentation, George Trigg and I discussed many inherent design features that all powder coating convection ovens require. The webinar prompted so many questions that we couldn’t get to them all, so it seems fitting to kick off this column with a discussion on cure-oven design.