PivotLine — Busting Myths about Vertical Spraying

Nathan Guffey is a custom cabinetmaker who built and finished cabinets for 24 years. That experience gave him a superb foundation for creating the industrial strength, engineered, patented elements of Guffey Systems’ innovative vertical spraying system.

One thing that has become very clear to him is that cabinetmakers and furniture builders often love the fabrication process but aren’t so keen on finishing. For years, he too dreaded the booth. But that quickly dissipated once he started spraying vertically. Gone were the issues that came with flat finishing such as doors sticking to racks, debris landing on a wet coating, bugs walking through an uncured finish, those ‘forever’ dry times, and endless material handling.

Together, those stumbling blocks become a recipe for the most time-consuming, bottleneck-creating, profit hindering process in the woodworking industry. 

Finishing doesn’t have to be like that. It can actually be a fun and rewarding process that helps drive production and increases revenue. But before that happens, shop owners may want to think about some of the myths and misconceptions that get in the way of progress.

For example, why is flat finishing cabinet doors still viewed as a ‘professional’ technique? In most cases, it’s just because “we’ve always done it that way”. Which, of course isn’t true: woodworkers spray vertical cabinet sides, interiors, vent hoods, end panels and so on all the time. But the fact that a shop can choose from hundreds of different versions of flat racking and spray tables reinforces the myth, because there are only a handful of solutions for manually spraying in a vertical orientation.

Using a Guffey System, the shop can spray both faces at once, and scuff sanding can be done without removing the parts. Customers have reported reductions of up to 80% in material handling. 

And when there’s a constant supply of finish, the gun doesn’t have to be set down until the last part is sprayed. 

Nathan often hears from flat finishers that they don’t believe they’ll get the same quality when spraying vertically. But his experience is that hands down, the quality is better – and there’s virtually no rework. Debris, bugs, even perspiration and other contaminants can land in wet finish, and a horizontal part offers a much larger target than a vertical one. Doors frequently stick to flat racks too, which means even more handling and rework. 

And it can save on material, too.

“Spraying vertically,” Nathan notes, “just makes you more mindful of the amount of product you’re spraying, as well as the technique being used, which in return leads to using less coating.”

One reason shop owners are slow to go vertical is the perception that they will need to invest heavily in a new system. But small or medium size shops quickly discover that Guffey Systems cost a small percentage of the price of a large automated flat line. Nathan often hears back from new customers that they’re experiencing the productivity they were hoping for, with a reasonably sized investment that has a sensible ROI. The company designs systems to meet individual shops’ needs, and that can impact the budget in a very positive way. 

And scale isn’t an issue. Guffey Systems equipment is also used by 200,000 square-foot shops that began by finishing around 60 parts at a time on PivotLine, and have grown their system to a capacity of around a thousand parts. Thanks to the modular nature of 100% American made Guffey Systems, clients repeatedly return to expand their capacity as their shops’ bottlenecks disappear and production levels increase.

GUFFY SYSTEMS
(865) 316-9633
sales@guffeysystems.com
www.guffeysystems.com

IWF Booth C2762