Custom machine · Manufacturing
Robotic dual paint booth line
A robotic finishing line Mexx built for Ashton Manufacturing. Two ABB paint robots apply two coats to timber products of different sizes, then the line cures and cools them, ready to handle.
Project snapshot
The job at a glance
Client
Ashton Manufacturing
Industry
Timber products manufacturing
Product
Variable-size timber products
Mexx scope
Robotic finishing line, from booths to curing
The challenge
A consistent finish on products that are never the same size
Ashton used to paint products ahead of time and store them, which took up a lot of floor space. The manual finishing operation handled 120 to 240 units a day.
The new line had to paint several product sizes automatically, change colour automatically, mix 2K paint, and manage the time between coats, curing and cooling without stopping production.
What we built
Load, paint, cure, unload
Products move through two paint booths and into curing in a controlled sequence, with operators only at each end of the line.
01
Load and measure
Products are loaded and indexed in. Width, height and length are checked on the way in.
02
First coat
An ABB IRB 580 robot with automatic colour change and 2K mixing applies the first coat in a temperature-controlled booth.
03
Tack-off
Products rest for about 10 minutes between coats.
04
Second coat
A second ABB robot applies the second coat.
05
Cure
About 30 minutes of controlled curing per product, without slowing the line.
06
Cool and unload
Outfeed conveyors cool each product, and an alarm tells operators when one is ready.
The result
Painted on demand, not for stock
Each product is now painted in the colour its order calls for, and the system changes colour automatically for the next one. Stock is held unpainted, freeing up the floor space finished stock used to take.
See it running
The paint line in operation
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Next step
Planning a robotic finishing line?
Tell us what you need to paint, and how many. An engineer will get back to you within one business day.