Our Metal Finishing Process
As an ISO 9000 certified facility, our Rancho Cucamonga manufacturing plant adheres to stringent quality standards and procedures for all our metal coating processes.
We receive the steel or aluminum in coil form via rail, boat or truck – Western Metal is one of the few metal coating operations that can offer you a variety of shipping options.
Once received, the metal coils are tagged and delivered to our warehouse to be pre-slit, cut or sheared for our coil or sheet-fed lines.
The following process takes place for metal coil coating:
- Cleaning
- Power brushing
- Treating the surface via chemical conversion
- Drying
- Primer applied on one or both sides
- Pass through the first curing oven (less than one minute)
- Cooling
- Finish coating on one or both sides
- Pass through the second curing oven (less than one minute)
- Cool to room temperature
- Rewind the coated coil
In addition, testing and control procedures are performed during the coating process to ensure the satisfactory performance of the final product:
- Before coating -- testing of the metal substrate and paints
- During coating -- continuous testing and adjustment of the surface treatment processes, paint thickness, baking temperatures and speed of the production line
- Upon leaving the production line -- checking the physical appearance and testing gloss, color, hardness, adhesion, flexibility, resistance to cracking and indentation characteristics
Depending upon the application, additional tests may be conducted on the finished product, including testing for:
- Corrosion-resistance
- Aging
- Weathering
- Stain-resistance
- Welding capability
- Abrasion-resistance
Have a question about our process or what we can do for you? Contact us or request a free estimate today.
