East Manufacturing recently completed a new painting facility designed to improve the quality of paint application and provide a baked-on paint finish on steel dump trailers, frames, and subassemblies.
Painting is a three-step process at East. First, the metal is prepped for painting by cleaning and/or sandblasting, and dried in a special oven. East works with a Sherwin Williams primer and finish-coat paint mixes formulated for extra long life, which are applied in a temperature-controlled paint booth environment. The paint is then cured in a specially designed oven for a baked-on finish.
For the painting facility, East built its own device that allows a trailer chassis to be rotated a full 360°. This simplifies access to areas such as the underside of axles, suspension springs, and brake dust covers that are normally hard to reach. East painters can then apply paint at an even millage.
For curing the paint, East built an oven facility dedicated to the needs of large equipment. To the company's knowledge, no other trailer manufacturer uses an oven-curing technique that provides a baked-on paint finish. Paint cured in this manner has been proven to last longer and provide more durable resistance to the elements.