Watson-Marlow chosen for gold and silver coatings

Catering for the high quality end of the cosmetic and confectionery markets, Boxes (Prestige) supply boxes and cartons in unique iridescent, sparkling and shimmering gold and silver finishes. High quality products bring increased demand, and when the company installed a new Man Roland Twin Coating Unit as part of a £2.5 million investment, Watson-Marlow Bredel 700 series pumps were selected to meter the metallic and pearl varnishes and lacquers.

Mark White, Works Manager, confesses to being a long term Watson-Marlow Bredel fan. "For our markets we need a finish of the highest possible quality and, after experience with other pumps, I would never consider anything else but Watson-Marlow Bredel for an important duty such as this. We have used them for more than fourteen years."

Boxes (Prestige) needs pumps that can deal with wide variations in viscosity. The varnishes and lacquers containing gold and/or silver pigments are often highly viscous and abrasive. When using diaphragm pumps, downtime was a constant problem, primarily due to clogging. "With Watson-Marlow Bredel pumps there is no risk of clogging or of metallic particles settling out and downtime is confined to a periodic tube change. Viscosity changes with different coatings are no problem."

When changing colours or at the end of a run, cleaning involves no more than flushing out with cleaning fluid which is water or solvent based, depending on whether the varnishes and lacquers are UV or aqueous.