The Motor Classic company in Tatabánya, Hungary, began restoring classic cars 25 years ago. The technology-enthusiastic managing director quickly made a name for himself with his company. Motor Classic's services are also extremely popular with classic car enthusiasts outside Hungary. Word of the high quality quickly spread and the company received more and more orders for the surface finishing of various components, starting with mirror housings for automotive suppliers. Although classic cars are still the core business, Motor Classic now also sees itself as a highly professional production partner for machine manufacturers, e.g. from the shipbuilding, medical technology, construction, aviation and agricultural sectors. All work steps relating to painting, CNC machining, chrome plating, anodizing and surface treatment are offered in-house. In the last 10 years in particular, the company has invested a large part of its turnover in state-of-the-art surface technologies.
Fully automatic robot painting system for the highest demands
The classic cars and many individual customer orders, such as aircraft parts or aluminum wheels, are wet-painted in 4 manual paint booths. In 2020, Motor Classic invested in the construction of a new hall with a fully automated wet paint system and robot technology in order to be able to handle orders with large quantities. The paint supply, application and mixing technology comes from Wagner. For the Managing Director, who is known for his attention to detail and high technical standards, the highest possible quality was crucial when awarding the contract: "Everything this company produces must not be good - it must be perfect." Today, the ultra-modern automatic system is mainly used to paint exterior mirrors for automotive suppliers in series production.
The system works without conveyors: After pre-treatment, two transfer robots move the painting frames loaded with components between the 4 wet painting booths and several drying and cooling units. A total of 4 painting robots are in use. In this way, several workpieces can be processed simultaneously in large quantities. There is flexibility in terms of both the type of material (metals, plastics) and the workpiece geometry (small to medium-sized, flat to complex).
Application technology and paint supply from Wagner
The GA 5000EA electrostatic gun from Wagner is used to apply the primer to metal workpieces and achieves significant paint savings thanks to the wrap-around effect and high application efficiency. When applying primer and base coat (in a total of 8 colors) to the components, the GA 1900 airspray gun is used, which was specially developed for applications in continuous operation and produces extremely fine atomization with a precise spray pattern. This results in particularly brilliant surfaces. Finally, the clear coat is applied using the Topfinish RobotBell 1 high-rotation atomizer. "All application devices coat extremely efficiently and at the same time ensure perfect surface results," confirms Tibor Nagy, Production Manager at Motor Classic.
In the air-conditioned paint kitchen, high-performance ZIP 52 double diaphragm pumps from Wagner ensure an efficient supply of paint. Depending on customer requirements, water-based and solvent-based 1K and multi-component paints can be processed. Primer and clear coat are pumped from 200-liter drum lid lifting stations, the base coat from 30-liter drum lid lifters. A total of 3 primers, 7 base coats and 2 top coats are available at the same time, enabling fast, smooth color changes. Here too, Motor Classic sets the highest quality standards: Continuous monitoring of parameters such as temperature, humidity, viscosity, etc., ensures a stable operating environment at all times. The Intellimix 4 is used as the mixing system, which is particularly suitable in combination with robot technology to efficiently process frequently changing paint application quantities.
The restoration of classic cars by hand remains at the heart of Motor Classic. At the same time, the investment in the ultra-modern automatic paint shop was a decisive step for the future of the company. Motor Classic was thus able to successfully establish series painting as a second business segment and raise efficiency and quality for its customers to a new level. (OM-1/25)
Contact
J. Wagner GmbH
Otto-Lilienthal-Straße 18
88677 Markdorf (Germany)
Phone: +49 (0) 75 44 / 5 05-0
info@wagner-group.com
www.wagner-group.com