White Paper
Custom Coil Samples
One of the most enlightening comments made regarding custom color samples was from a paint supplier who, when asked to supply a sample of a white finish, said: “You don’t understand, there are over 200 shades of paint that are referred to as “white”.” Custom color is commonplace in today’s construction and coil coated metal is no different than many other materials. No matter how many versions of a color are available, the designer is searching for something unique and different.
The difficulty is what the architect or designer wants to review is often outside the ability of the coil coated material suppliers to provide.
Visual appearance of the final, installed product is critical to the successful completion of the project and enabling the architect to make color decisions is critical. One very important tool to make that important decision is the color sample. The typical specification will have a requirement for the color sample to be in the range of 12” x 12”. When calling for a standard color, this size request is generally reasonable since the sheet manufacturer often has standard colored coil available, however, it is generally not possible to create a custom color sample (on metal) of this size.
To create a custom color sample, three key elements are required: paint formulation, paint application thickness, and curing of the painted surface.
- Panel Formulation
- Paint Application Thickness
- Curing of the Painted Sample