The Oldest Paint Booth: From 1980s to 2020s
Accudraft has been a key leader in the paint booth manufacturing industry for over 40 years. Since its founding days in 1981, our company has set out to manufacturer the highest quality paint booths on the market. We’d like to think we’ve achieved this goal, as some of our earliest customers are still using Accudraft booths to this day!
One shop in particular, located in Northern New Jersey, is using a classic, fully functioning 1980’s Accudraft booth in their production shop—the oldest paint booth we know of! The longevity of this booth truly speaks to the quality of our products and materials. It also shows the value of keeping up with maintenance and upgrades years after a booth was installed.
What Makes an Accudraft Booth Long Lasting?
As technology and the industry standards are always changing, so is Accudraft. We are always using the best materials and aim to be trendsetters in emerging tech. Currently, our booths use galvanized steel and vinyl coatings to protect and increase the longevity of the equipment.
Why Galvanized Steel?
Galvanized steel offers true protection against wear and tear and potential damages from maneuvering vehicles in and out of the booth. It’s also extremely reliable and tough, making it the perfect material for paint booths.
How Does Accudraft Use Technology to Increase Their Booth’s Lifespan?
In 2022, Accudraft launched Live, a mobile-friendly, cloud-based solution for monitoring a paint booth’s performance, costs, and technical metrics. Previously, shops would have to have a record of maintenance or parts for their booth. Now with Live, everything is digitalized on the platform in an easy-to-use dashboard. This allows shop owners to make data-based, educated decisions when it comes to upgrades and maintenance, therefore adding to a booth’s lifespan.
How to Keep Your Booth Up and Running for Decades
When a paint booth starts to have mechanical or performance issues, many shops think it’s time to buy a new booth. While that may be the solution for certain situations, often times a shop can retrofit their current booth to keep it high performing. As long as the cabin is in decent shape, the booth can be considered for a retrofitting.
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When and How to Retrofit Your Paint Booth
As long as a booth’s cabin is in good shape, it can likely be retrofitted. We often see electrical components show the most wear and tear, which can be corrected by replacing the VFD with more modern controllers to help balance the booth. Motors and control panels are other elements that often get replaced to help keep performance high and the booth up and running. Sometimes, we’ll even put a brand-new face on the booth, including doors and front panels.
When anything mechanical starts to breakdown or break entirely, start considering replacements for your booth. You know it’s time to retrofit your system when you spend more time repairing it than working in it. If properly taken care of and updated, our finishing systems can last for decades!
Should I Retrofit My Current Booth or Buy a New One?
There are different situations where retrofitting, buying new, or both can be the best solution. Here are our tips on how to decide if you should retrofit your current booth or buy a new one:
- Retrofit Your Current Booth: If the cabin of your booth is in good shape, but it’s not performing as it once did or it’s difficult to find replacement parts for it, consider retrofitting the booth with upgrades.
- Buy a New Booth: If the cabin itself has damages to the framework or panels, you may have to buy a new booth. We also recommended buying a new booth if your shop has simply outgrown its current one, whether that be because the vehicle mix or services have changed.
- When to do Both: In some cases, it makes sense to retrofit your current booth to keep its performance high while adding a second booth to your shop. While upgrading a booth will certainly help it turn out more jobs per day, an entirely additional booth may be the solution to completing the scope of work your shop now needs.
If you are considering retrofitting or buying a new booth, contact Accudraft. We can talk through your current shop’s setup and discuss potential solutions to increase your painter’s productivity. Contact us online, call us, or send us a messing on social!