Instead, the company sought the expertise of a car racing expert. “Our inventor actually came out of the Formula race car circuit,” Carlson says. He had spent more than 20 years finding ways to optimize the way fuel is atomized and mixes with air inside a car engine. “He took a lot of the principles that he learned from the Formula circuit and put them into his original spray design.”

benefit of that is that less air gets trapped in the coating as it’s being applied to the surface,” Carlson says.

The Dux guns also have high transfer efficiency — the ratio of the amount of material that the finisher sprays out of the gun versus the amount that actually hits and stays on the target. “Because the lower air pressure creates less overspray, we can

improve transfer efficiencies 15 to 40 percent, depending on what coating it is the person is spraying,” Carlson says.

Range of materials

Dux guns can be used with a range of materials, including primers, base coats, clear coats, sealers, epoxies,

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Improved air flow

The result is what Dux calls laminar airflow technology. “Laminar air flow is basically moving air in a single column without creating any turbulence,” says Carlson. The technology takes lower pressure air, moves it in a single direction and focuses it on the air cap, he says. Then the air moves through the cap in a clean, organized method that provides better atomization as it mixes with the coating material.

The results are better finish quality and lower material waste. The Dux products use only about half as much air as the most commonly used high-volume, low-pressure (HVLP) guns, but manage to atomize the material just as well. “The

life

A simple filter/regulator is cost effective and extends pump life.

Select the pump that delivers material at less than its rated flow rate. Pumps should run no more than 25 percent of maximum flow, or less than 15 cycles per minute.

Select a pump that can run applications between 30 and 70 percent of its maximum delivery pressure and maintain it. Running the pump at too high a pressure subjects the air motor and seals to increased wear.

Use bigger, slower pumps for abrasive materials. A pump filled with an abrasive material may need to run more slowly to avoid wear and premature failure.

Source: Chris Poe, Binks’ fluid delivery product manager. For more information, call 800/992-4657 or visit www.binks.com.