AN IMPORTANT ITEM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 668, 21 May 1929, Page 14

AN IMPORTANT ITEM

LACQUERING PROCESS AT PLANT That lacquering processes on motor bodies have kept pace with mechanical improvements is evidenced by the care in selecting and applying lacquer. Recognising that colours must be chosen for durability as well as for tone. Dodge Brothers have evolved a system of body finishing that ensures a lasting hue. Before any colour is allowed to enter production it is tested to withstand weather conditions. Sample colours are painted on slides fitted in a revolving wheel that turns continually. first exposing the lacquers to a violet ray and next dipping it into a water trough, intensifying the atmospheric conditions a car encounters. The body is then prepared and conveyed through an oven -which evaporates all traces of the solvent. To complete the cleaning, the body is washed with an acid solution, rinsed with water, and again oven-dried. Next the body is sprayed with a priming of red oxide, which is baked on. Rough spots that show up in the inspection are rubbed with sandpaper and sprayed again. Three coats of sand surfacer are applied, and each is dried in an oven temperature of 120 degrees. LONG PROCESS The body is then rubbed down with sand-paper and coated with fine sand. After being washed, dried and inspected, the sanded body is given three double coats of lacquer, each of which is dried by oven. While any' given colour is applied, parts to be of another colour are masked with adhesive tape. After the third coat, the edges separating the colours are straightened by liand- ! brushing. The body is then rubbed down with wet sand-paper to make the surface smooth, after which it is washed and inspected again. A mist of lustre coat fluid is then sprayed on. The body is then carried down an upholstering and trimming line, at the end of which it is given a final rubbing with a wax-like polish and sent to the final assembly-line.