1. Cleaning and Preparation
An automotive-grade hardened matte or gloss topcoat is applied over the dip to protect the decorated part. The coatings used are very durable and resistant to most cleaning solutions. Durability can be compared to that of an OEM vehicle. If it would scratch or damage your car's finish, it would do the same to our coatings.
Parts move to our paint booths to be coated in the proper base color. Primers or adhesion promoters may also be used in order to ensure proper paint adhesion.
5. Touch-Up
The film used for the pattern application is made from rolled polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) sheet printed with the desired pattern. The films come in thousands of standard patterns like wood grains, carbon fibers, stone and camouflage, but custom patterns may be printed to your liking. These custom films are more difficult to work with and come at a higher price, but allow nearly endless pattern possibilities. The film is laid on the water where it floats for a period of time as the PVA dissolves. An Activator is then applied using our automated spray systems. Parts are then dipped through the film, which chemically bonds with the base paint. The dip may happen manually or on our automated rack.
Our custom-built infrared (IR) curing banks are used to cure the topcoat prior to packaging. This IR curing allows the parts to be handled and packaged in as little as 10 minutes.
What is hydrographics?
8. Final QC and Packaginge
2. Base Coat Application
Following the rinse, parts are sent to a touch up area where a combination of paint brushes and air brushes are used to correct any blemishes that may have occurred during the dip.
6. Topcoat
4. Rinse
The hydrographic process (also known as water transfer printing or camo dipping) provides a decorating option for 3D parts of nearly any material. If the part is water-safe and paint can adhere, we can decorate it. Many common items are decorated using the process. Things like ATV's, firearms, archery equipment, furniture, household items, automobile parts are all frequently decorated. There are 8 primary steps to the process listed below.
Please visit our Gallery to see examples of the many items that can be decorated using the hydrographic process.
Parts are cleaned in order to remove any contamination and prepped for coating. This may include washing in our heated automatic parts washers, flame treated, or media blasting to create a proper profile for paint adhesion. Parts are then fixtured in bulk or individually and masked as required.
Parts are removed from their fixtures, examined for any imperfections, and packaged according to the customer's wishes.
The parts are rinsed in our conveyor wash stations to remove any residual PVA film and activator. At the end of the rinse, parts are blown dry with compressed air.
3. Hydrographic Decoration
7. Infrared Curing