Electronic Paint thickness gauge

M

Michael H

New member
What electronic paint thickness gauges are out there that do a decent job at a fair price - for home detailer rather than professional. I have seen a ETG unit for about US550.00.
 
I would also like to know this since I work with some cars that have really thin paint.



$550 is just a little to expensive for my blood and I dont really trust the cheap ones.



Jason
 
ETG-1 gauges, this the one that you are discussing, reads from steel substrates only, not steel and aluminum.

Beth is going to put it on our home page,


$509.67 plus shipping.

That's the best we can do.

www.autoint.com

Ketch
:bounce
 
This is the same gauge we provide the vehicle manufacturers.



You can see it working on the site under the Tech Tips.



The ETG-11, reads from both steel and aluminum, but is double the price, $1010.00.



This is the one, the best, measures in mils or microns, easy to switch, easy to use.



Uses one 9 volt battery, just turn it on and place it on the surface.



You can move it across the surface and watch the reading changes as the paint film is not totally evenly applied, needless to say.



Ketch

:up
 
Too bad it came a little too late, just pluncked down my last $500 (made $100 down payment and the other will be paid off at a date to be determined, more like whenever I have money to give to my bank aka parents) on a new computer. I am in serious need of one, other one unked on me.



Well maybe in a few years I will be able to sum up the courage and cash to get one. Once I get a nice, steadly salary coming in.



Thanks again Ron,

Jason
 
Really do, but the things cost some serious money.



That price is the volume professional detailer price.



Am considering putting up some more specials, but there are things to be considered.



Like I could drop the ABC price, but then the purchaser would have to pay the frieght, and that is not cheap.



It is a trade off.



Ketch

:cool:
 
...but when you say the more expensive paint thickness gauge will read from either an aluminum or steel substrate, does that mean that it won't work when the paint is applied to a polymer/composite surface (like a Corvette, for example :D)?
 
Schwa72, it seems that it will not work on non-metal components because it measures the distance between the metal component of your car and the the gage as you set it on your paint. Different sensors use different things to measure the metal component. The cheaper ones probably use a magnetic charge, while the larger one may even use an x-ray.



I'm curious as all machines will probably give a total coating thickness, rather than just that of the clear coat. And since we won't have numbers of paint thickness we cannot subtract to isolate the clearcoat thickness. 1 measurement with 2 variables (paint thickness and clearcoat thickness) will not give us the clearcoat thickness.



But then again I do not know the mechanisim of the machine because becuase Ron won't explain it to us :)
 
Ron,



Is this gage a type of DFT paint gage? Dry Film Thickness. They can not distinguish between paint layers just total thickness.



I know industrial paint manufacturers like Carboline, Ameron etc have them for inspecting paint on industrial products. They are used extensively in the offshore oilfield manufacturing world along with Wet film gages.



OR



Could a NDE weld inspection equipment (UT) be used. Hmmmmmm. I am gonna ask my friend a AWS certified inspector about the UT machine since he access to one.
 
The standard, as I have pointed out numerous times, as well as pointed everyone to the PPG photos/text of OEM paint application on our site shows, is that the clear is 1.5 to 2 mil in thickness, and THAT is what is important.



That,coupled with the poristy of the clear, only the top .5 mil being the dense portion, with the majority of the UV blockers is ALL YOU NEED TO BE CONCERNED WITH.



We do offer other gauges, ones that will read from composite, such as Vettes, etc, but they start at $4,000.00.



If one desires units that read wet film build, etc, start digging really deep, as they start at around $10,000.00 and go up to over $50,000.00



Ketch
 
okay let me explain, since it can only take a total coating thickness (paint + clear) we will never know the true thickness of the clear (that and both may vary).



but after lots of deciphering, the 0.5 mils part is our concern.



so if you ever get hold of a machine, measure it, and make sure you stay within the limit of the clear that you can work with aka don't take off more than the 0.5 mills, ron was refering too



The only problem with that is if you've been buffing before and you don't know how much you've taken off in the past. if you take a total thickness measurement, you'll never really know what part is the clear.
 
Take readings from several areas, like, within a half an inch of a pillar, molding , etc, it never gets the abuse the flat surfaces do, even by a butcher with a rotary.



Ketch

>><<>>
 
Hey YoSteve:

I like your point about measuring the clear's thickness <strong class='bbc'>before[/b] any abrasives. Interesting how nobody mentioned that, thanks for pointing it out. Good post, no useless information.

puter
 
hmm i might actually invest in one if i can get it shipped around $500. but of course i have to save... quite alot since i have alot of other things in mind i want to get. could be of great use when i wet sand... since i made my first mistake to sand down to the pirmer. a good tool to educate yourself of your cars current condition too.:)
 
...but what if the paint isn't applied evenly at the factory? Then Ron's way of checking the "true" thickness of the paint by measuring near a pillar or molding won't necessarily help you determine a "safe" amount that you can remove by buffing or sanding.

On a 1998 Pontiac I used to have I <em class='bbc'>know[/i] the paint wasn't applied evenly because there were areas where it was so thin you could see through it to the primer.
 
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