MONTERREY, MEXICO – This construction company manufactures construction equipment, primarily “Monster” dump trucks used in surface mines and quarries. Increased worldwide demand for the trucks, as well as a desire to improve paint quality, fueled an improvement project that included replacement of the existing painting facilities. The extremely large size of the trucks posed an equally large challenge to the paint system designers. One of the newest models, the 797, is so large that it requires five tons of fluids to operate and sits on tires that measure 13 feet in diameter. The truck dwarfs most other land vehicles and when fully loaded will outweigh a 747 jet by 40%.
HERR, based in Pennsylvania, was contracted by this construction company to design, manufacture, and install a 3-Stage Batch Paint System constructed as a completely independent facility.
Parts are brought from the fabrication buildings to the paint system on 40′ trailers. Once towed inside the first stage bay, the parts are pressure washed, rinsed, phosphated, and dried. The “hanger” size wash bay is lined with stainless steel panels and provides several operators with high pressure, recirculated, hand-wands, as well as a bridge-type telescoping manlift. Two additional manlifts are provided in the down-draft paint spray booth following the wash bay. Following paint application, the parts are towed into a gas-fired, convection oven to dry. The system is automatically controlled and monitored with a PLC located in a main control room.
