Custom-Shaped High Temp Green Polyester Die Cut for Masking
A large automotive brake company needed to mask off several different areas of a brake caliper. Viadon's team of professionals got together and found a mix of stock and custom parts to mask off the part successfully, and at the lowest cost / greatest efficiency for the company masking personnel.
The first thing Viadon needed to do was understand what areas on the part were not to be powder coated. An in-person discussion with someone familiar with the part allowed for a good understanding of the coating requirements.
Next, Viadon assessed the best methods to mask all areas - balancing time, ease-of-masking, and costs. A mix of stock die cut disks, silicone pull plugs, and a mask for two oddly-shaped, mirror-image areas on one section of the caliper.
Stock tape disks and regular green polyester tape cut by hand were eliminated as options due to the additional time it would take to manually cut them. Therefore, a custom-shaped high temperature green polyester die cut was evaluated and proposed as the best solution to masking this particular brake caliper part.
For the custom die cut, Viadon designed the shape to extend slightly beyond the edges of the metal itself, while hugging the parts profile-outline. This would allow masking personnel to quickly mask the parts and allow for some leeway in applying the tape die cuts. The brake calipers themselves are not all perfectly cast, so the slightly-oversized die cuts account for variation from part to part.
Prototypes were made on Viadon's plotter-cutter and tested. The fit was perfect!