Testimonials

Founded in 2012

Leading manufacturer of steel doors and doorframes

Located in Mt. Sterling, KY

Business Situation

In 2012, Black Mountain Door (www.BlackMountainDoor.com) began production in Kentucky, with equipment purchased from a Mexican manufacturer. As BMD was beginning production, they ran into an issue with their paint supply. The paint they were buying was not easily applied with their spray equipment, and not meeting their performance specifications. Black Mountain would not accept a subpar finish on an otherwise world-class door. After several unproductive attempts to resolve the problem with their paint supplier, Black Mountain turned to Jamestown Coating Technologies.

Technical Situation

Jamestown’s president, J.D. Walton, quickly visited BMD’s Mt. Sterling, KY location to assess the situation. J.D. met with BMD’s manufacturing, engineering, environmental, and purchasing personnel to understand each group’s needs. One issue that surfaced was the difficulty BMD had with spraying the current paint through their robotic atomized spray guns. J.D. completed a thorough survey of BMD’s entire finishing process and brought his report, along with parts painted with BMD’s current paint, back to Jamestown’s laboratory.

Solution

Jamestown’s laboratory began by testing parts painted with BMD’s current paint for Salt Spray Resistance (ASTM B113) and Humidity (ASTM 2247). These test results, along with BMD’s paint specifications, application parameters & price guidelines, would provide Jamestown’s lab with some R&D direction. 

With Jamestown’s history of supplying coatings into the steel door industry, its lab quickly selected a water reducible alkyd as its starting paint formulation for both the primer and topcoat. This paint would meet or exceed the elements of the Steel Door Institute’s paint spec. The primer also dries quickly, allowing BMD to pack the doors faster, thus improving throughput. Additionally, this formula is easy to cleanup and provides a durable and attractive finish. 

Over several weeks this paint was continually evaluated and refined until a formulation was selected to submit to BMD for testing. 

15 gallons of Jamestown’s primer was taken to BMD’s Mt. Sterling location for application to doors and frames on BMD’s production line. After some minor adjustments to the spray equipment, Jamestown’s primer was running flawlessly. Several doors and frames were finished from the 15-gallon sample. Jamestown solved the application problems that BMD had experienced previously. 

After the primer was approved, Jamestown submitted a topcoat to BMD for testing. Initial testing revealed that the topcoat was not curing as well on BMD’s paint line as it did in Jamestown’s lab. A DataPaq analysis of BMD’s ovens revealed that the actual temperature in the ovens did not match the temperature settings on the control panels. Once the ovens were recalibrated, the topcoat cured properly.

Business Benefits

Because Jamestown’s paint meets the Steel Door Institute’s spec at a low film thickness, BMD is able to apply about 1/3 less paint to its doors and frames. Additionally, the fast cure rate leads to faster packaging and improved throughput. Finally, scrap and rework is minimized because of the paint’s ease of application and durability.

Products & Services Used

Product – Water Reducible Primer / Topcoat

Services – Line Survey, Lab Testing