PPG makes available a wide range of colour support products to help bodyshops get a precise match every time.
Access Online colour system
Access Online offers the latest in colour formula and information retrieval to speed the efficiency of your shop's paint department. This is real time, always-on access to our colour database, available through www.ppgrefinish.com.
eFiche CD
PPG offers the latest in electronic colour formula and information retrieval to maximise your paint mixing accuracy and efficiency. By following simple menus, a painter can look up PPG formulations in just a few seconds. The CD updates are sent to customers on a regular basis to ensure they are always at the forefront of colour knowledge.
EasyMix Lite
Offering matches to thousands of colours in a compact and robust unit EasyMix Lite is simple to set up and use. Designed to replace traditional fiche and viewer, EasyMix Lite becomes a full colour retrieval and mixing system by connecting it to a scale using the cable provided.
PPG Access Information System
PPG Access provides an easy to use smart scale with a host of additional useful features including:
Colour mixing - accurate mixes for colour and no wastage.
RFU mixing - accuracy to reduce wastage and error.
Job costing - profit and charge out analysis.
Mix accuracy and wastage - highlights poor discipline.
Average costs - control volumes and monitor margins.
Stock usage and valuation - measure usage to manage stocks.
Colour Boxes
PPG is dedicated to delivering fully comprehensive colour chip systems, manufactured using our paint and sprayed to maximise the accuracy and reproducibility seen in the bodyshop. Unique in the industry, the Variant system can be ordered in Motor Manufacturers or chromatic colour order, letting customers choose the system best suited to their workflow. The Variant systems are updated three times a year, making sure the most recent colours are always available.
Getting the Best from Envirobase HP
1. Always check colour chips against vehicle in natural light if possible, or use 3M “Colour Check Light” (artificial light may give an incorrect match assessment. Remember, the “Prime” or No.1 shade is not necessarily the most common one, it is a match to the “master” panel supplied by the vehicle manufacturer. Subsequent changes in shade during production have to be found and matched by PPG and are issued as “variants” and “field formulations” or “specials”. These are also found from “cut offs” from original panels sent in to PPG by bodyshops.
2. Maintain mixing basics at correct temperature. Shake tinter bottles gently before adding to colour mix. Hand stir mixed colours thoroughly before use. Use nylon paint filters, 125 microns is recommended (190 microns maximum). Thin paint to correct viscosity (usually 10% for solid colours, 20% for micas & metallics). A slight increase in thinner may be useful when fading out high aluminium content colours (silvers, light blue etc.).
3. When spraying colour check cards, and final job, ensure that the spray gun is set up correctly. A spray gun with a fluid tip size of 1.2 – 1.4 mm is recommended. Use recommended inlet pressure at the gun (usually 2 bar) & reduce to 1.2 - 1.5 bar for the control coat. Adjust fluid control to give optimum performance.
4. Place the sprayout card on an old panel and “paint the panel” not just the card so that the same effect will be achieved on the vehicle (don’t place on a mix stick or hold in the hand). Spray to achieve opacity, drying each coat fully. Apply the control coat (lower pressure) and allow to flash off naturally (don’t blow dry). If the control is not as required, do not apply more control coats directly. A normal coat should be applied & dried before applying another control coat. Tack off between coats and especially before applying clearcoat (use tack cloths designed for waterborne basecoats). Apply clearcoat and allow to dry before assessing against the vehicle. Check adjacent to the repair as the colour shade may be different in other areas. Assess in natural daylight or use 3M light.
5. When painting the vehicle, ensure that the spray gun is set up and used in the same manner as for the sprayout card.
