WHY KNAPHEIDE ?

Because Rust Never Sleeps.

K-Coat Protection 

It's true - rust never sleeps. it doesn't even rest for a minute. That's why Knapheide developed K-Coat.

Because rust is constantly looking for steel to consume, anything made of steel carries the risk of corrosion.

When you buy quality Knapheide products, rust shouldn't be a worry.  To provide the best protection against rust, we installed K-coat, our state-of-the-art, custom designed electrocoating prime paint system.

K-Coat is equivalent to the e-coat system used by the major auto and truck manufacturers.

Because it bonds paint to steel by electroplating process, any e-cost system give you better corrosion protection than spraying,  E-coat systems get prime paint everywhere in a product - including places that are impossible to reach using even the best spray techniques - and is absolutely consistent in thickness.  Salt spray test show that e-coating is far superior to spraying paint for inhibiting corrosion.

But Knapheide's exclusive K-coat is not just any e-coat system. K-coat is simply the best e-coat system in the truck equipment industry today, here's why...

Cleaning

We can't just dunk a Knapheide product  into the electrocoating tank and expect acceptable results.  Cleaning and pretreatment are vital to the bonding of paint to steel, so K-Coat begins with four cleaning steps and four pretreatment steps.

Spraying provides the most effective cleaning and rinsing capabilities, but spraying can't reach into recessed or hidden surfaces of complex assemblies; it won't get into every nook and cranny.  Immersion, or dipping, helps the cleaning solution reach all surfaces.  That's why our K-Coat system includes both spray and immersion alkaline cleaning, along with spray and immersion rinsing.

Pretreatment

K-Coat's pretreatment begins with a zinc phosphate bath which improves paint adhesion and increases corrosion resistance.  The coating applied by this immersion also increases resistance to humidity and water soaking.

Immersion in a chrome-free rinse seals the zinc phosphate coat to further improve paint adhesion and corrosion resistance.

Electrocoating and Rinse

K-Coat applies prime paint by immersing the product in a bath that's 80 percent deionized water and 20 percent paint solids.  Once the body is in the bath, K-Coat turns on 450 volts at 800 amps for three minutes.

A number of anodes, which have a positive charge, cover the inside of the electrocoat tank, and the service body serves as the ground to complete the electrical circuit.  The electric current carries the paint solids to the steel surface and fuses them to it.

The prime-painted service body then goes into three rinse steps to remove any paint that has not electrically bonded to the steel.  If it wasn't removed, unbonded paint would cause a rough finish.

What Does K-Coat Mean to You?

• Superior corrosion protection on the surface of the steel provided by cleaning and pretreating.
• Superior adhesion of prime paint coat provided by K-coat system electrically bonding paint to steel.
• Unmatched consistency of prime paint thickness on all surfaces.
• Superior prime paint coverage throughout complex assemblies such as service bodies provided by immersion in prime paint bath.

Before installing K-Coat, Knapheide searched for the best in state-of-the-art epoxy prime paint and electrocoating treatment chemicals.

K-Coat results in a prime coat that provides excellent chemical and solvent resistance.  Our K-Coast system is the best electrocoat prime paint system in the industry. Because rest never sleeps. And because you should never worry about the quality of your Knapheide product.

For more information contact Bob Services, Inc.

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