“To make best use of the space available, and to meet all the requirements Duncan had asked for, our engineers designed a bespoke facility which would be manufactured to sit neatly within the shell of the existing building”, Mike Lodge explained, “and the primary objective was to provide a facility that would be fully capable of undertaking all the finishing work generated by Doig Furniture.” Manufactured from laser-cut mild steel panels, which fit together perfectly to give a smooth internal surface, the dry filter spray room and the drying room each provide a working floor area of 16m2, with 2,000mm x 2,000mm doorways, and an internal ceiling height of 2,250mm throughout. An array of 8 equally-spaced, flush-fitting, twin fluorescent units gives an excellent all-round work light, and the double-skinned, fully-glazed doors allow easy access and good visibility. The spray room is fitted with 8m2 of replaceable filter media through which a belt-driven centrifugal fan, powered by a 4.0kW motor, has the capacity to extract over 16,000m3 of contaminated air per hour.
The adjacent heated drying room is of similar mild steel panel construction, but is designed for operation at temperatures up to 40°C, with heat provided by a fan-assisted 56kW gas burner unit. Externally, the roof is covered with a 50mm layer of mineral wool insulation, faced with aluminum foil, and the roof construction also forms an explosion relief area so that, in the unlikely event of an explosion, the effects will be vented vertically to prevent injury to personnel. The burner is located above the drying room and warmed air is recirculated 4 times a minute by a 5.5kW centrifugal fan. The heating system includes various safety features, including a purge timer and cool down timer, over temperature thermostat and airflow pressure switch to monitor recirculated airflow and bleed fan airflow – 10% of the recirculated air is exhausted to atmosphere to prevent any accumulation of solvent fumes.
“We are delighted with the new facility”, says Duncan Doig. “The quality of the construction is excellent and Gallito’s installation team delivered a professional service. We are now up and running and fulfilling the finishing requirements of our furniture design business – our next step is to offer the service to other local manufacturers who need a bespoke finishing service.