“How many coatings do you apply to your parts?” our customers ask.

Well, It depends. Usually on what the coating manufacturer recommends, how the parts are used, and in what environments.

We use a coating thickness gauge (an instrument used in the paint industry) to determine how many coatings your part needs. Once we’ve coated a part and cured it, our quality inspector uses the gauge to measure the coating’s thickness and figure out if it needs another coating.

Years ago, a multi-national pipeline company asked us to re-coat some natural gas flowmeters. Every few years, they inspect these flowmeters and bring us in to resolve any rust problems they encounter.

We typically remove the existing coating by sandblasting. In one instance, the OEM (original equipments manufacturers) needed an alternate coating removal method. We reviewed several possibilities and concluded that using aircraft-grade paint stripping would do the trick. Next, we addressed the flowmeters’ coating requirements that needed a primer, mid-coat, and top coat. Each coating had to meet a certain thickness range defined by the manufacturer.

Our team at Protek collaborated to meet these standards. We documented this information (and more) onto a certificate of compliance – highlighting exactly what we accomplished and what materials we used.

Once we finished re-coating, the flowmeters looked brand new and performed for several more years.