Flex Proof Incorporated

New flexproof.com Sprayers

 
Leather Repair

Velour Repair

Vinyl Repair

We have Bob finishing up the last lasering steps on my new invention, the flexproof.com Sprayer. I'll start shipping at the end of this week. The easiest way to receive one is just click on the store tab above to purchase over the internet. The Set-Up kits are a featured item. They won't last and are pretty time consuming to make. You don't need to register to use the store. However, we're just better able to track and trace orders if you do register with your company name and email.



These handcrafted pen-style spray instruments were invented to replace detail guns, airbrushes and compressors in most field restoration procedures as well as fine woodworking and graphic arts. Clean-up time and labor have been eliminated by using disposable quick-change paint tubes that can be replaced and dialed-in in a matter of seconds for less than a penny. The picture shows a disposable paint tube temporarily stored inside the metal barrel to save space in my tool kit.

I achieved a startling improvement in the aerodynamic efficiency with this sprayer compared to conventional old-style mouth atomizers.  These new sprayers apply more than three times the liquid with the same effort due to the unique internal machined geometry of this new instrument.   They are an especially ideal alternative to troublesome conventional atomizers or expensive Preval sprayers to apply difficult liquids such as spray velour adhesives (SVA) and spray grains (W-2 & W-3) texture camouflage.



The picture above shows a typical working set-up for applying W-2 Spray Grain to camouflage a repair with pebble grain on a leather kick panel. Here I'm using the flexproof.com Sprayer with a 2 ounce cylinder round bottle of W-2 and a common flex straw as a blow pipe extension. The latter is just for convenience and hygiene. The color coat and topcoats are applied in a similar manner.

The user inserts a disposable self-threading paint tube into the metal sprayer. The metal barrel is swiveled clock-wise to dial in and hold the best air jet centered position.

You then lower the paint tube into the spray body fluid. An air stream is blown through the sprayer barrel to lift the liquid into the air jet venturi. This dispenses a very fine mist of liquid from the sprayer nozzle to the work piece. You will discover that the fine spray output of this new design is very much higher than you are used to if you use conventional mouth atomizers or Preval sprayers. This is due to the laminar flow characteristics designed into the flexproof.com Sprayer. I'll insert a link to a short demo video here as soon as we get it updated.

Here is another photo of the set-up used above to spray W-2 (without the flex straw). Note that the Sprayer is well enough balanced (light weight) to remain standing on a lap top key board. Don't try this at home.


An important advantage of the flexproof.com Sprayer is the savings in clean-up time and frustration by using the non-stick polymer semi-flexible paint tubes. Because the only wetted part of the system is disposable, and because they are incredibly inexpensive, you don't waste time. Just change them out, dial in a new one and spray. Here is a picture of a thousand paint tubes. Despite the big spread in the first picture, we cut them to fit a thousand perfectly in a small flat rate box so they ship and store conveniently (also shown).



As always, questions or comments are welcome. Just drop an email to dan@flexproof.com Many Thanks!

Velour Fiber Color Usage (Sleepers?)

Velour Repair

The North American market for automotive velour repair relies on about 120 different mixing colors of velour fibers. However, only about 60 of these could be considered quite active in terms of current resupply demand by actual working professionals in the field. The remaining 60 (largely older colors dating to the 1980's and 90's) are still used for tinting or adjustment of actual fabric matches to produce soiling effects or muting, for example.

Based on current actual experience, the top 25 fiber colors used today are listed below along with an individual ranking score in terms of current resupply use in the field. What does the ranking score number after the color description mean? It means that when your colleagues, acting independently, order resupply totaling the next 100 units out the door, we would expect them to order a total of about 13 units of No. 056 Off-White, 8 units of No. 145 Black, and on down the list to include about 2 units of No. 175 Graphite Black Dull.

No. 056 Off-White 13
No. 145 Black 8
No. 084 Light Quartz 7
No. 039 Charcoal 6
No. 033 Black 6
No. 030 Amethyst 6
No. 138 Grey 5
No. 024 Silver Grey 5
No. 170 Sand Beige 4
No. 141 Grey 4
No. 140 Grey 3
No. 073 Medium Grey 3
No. 136 White 3
No. 149 Brown 3
No. 023 Saddle Tan 3
No. 121 Brown 3
No. 148 Grey 2
No. 044 Dark Brown 2
No. 173 Stone Dull 2
No. 088 Light Titanium 2
No. 135 Beige 2
No. 174 Shale Dull 2
No. 177 Moonlake Grey 2
No.176 Dark Graphite Dull 2
No. 175 Graphite Black Dull 2

How is this list useful to you as a working professional? Two things. First, look over the list to see if there are colors you do not use but might want to try. Are there any sleepers in that list that might make your color matching faster based on the colors that other Pro's are actually ordering currently? Second, over the next several years you are likely to go through a dozen bottles of certain colors such as No. 056 Off-White, for example. A one pound bag of No. 056 costs about $30. It is equivalent to 12 or 13 each of the 6 oz (by volume) jars of No. 056. They would cost about $120 when ordered one or two at a time. If you expect to be in the business at least for the next five years, it makes sense to order bags and hold inventory of the high volume colors.

What We Hear (2-17-11)

ProFlex Conversations

Vinyl Repair

Roy reports from Texas on another of his very profitable MacGyvered techniques. On door panels the factory finish coat often fails and it's difficult to feather the residual edges of the flaking OEM coating or film surrounding the repair/recolor area. The margins keep flaking and the failure area continues to grow as you try to wind up the prep sanding and cleaning.

Roy's MacGyverism uses a foam brush to apply a self-leveling layer or layers of L-1 around the edges and into the recolor area. The L-1 (and sometimes L-2) stabilizes the surrounding factory finish while filling and bridging sufficiently to provide a sandable margin that grains nicely. There is adequate background information in Tech Sheet 55 on the L Series compounds.

Thanks Roy! What a time saver. dan@flexproof.com

Crosslinker I - Technical Comments

Leather Repair

Vinyl Repair

ProFlex Conversations

David in New York recently asked about crosslinker additives to make his recolor work stronger. He also wanted to know if a crosslinker additive was advisable for the ProFlex Intermix Color System. With respect to our ProFlex "dyes," crosslinkers are not necessary or advisable. I occasionally will use a carefully selected crosslinker but in a different manner or sequence than you might expect. But first, some background.

Crosslinkers are easily hazardous chemically reactive additives that are used to force a chemical combining reaction between separate long chain polymers in modern coatings. Almost all color and finish coats on vinyl, leather and soft molded plastic trim are crosslinked to one degree or another during the factory or tannery manufacturing process, typically in the drying or curing stages. Moreover, crosslinker dosages are usually varied between different finish layers such as base coats, color coats and topcoats. This is done to tailor results and final physical properties.

Think of an applied coating in its wet fluid state as a couple styles of widely separated wet noodles circulating in a pot of hot water. The chef has used, in this example, a mix of broken spaghetti noodles and elbow macaroni. She is also using a couple tricks of the trade such as added salt, olive oil and a bit of wine in the boiling water. Just before the cook drains the water from the soft noodles she throws a handful of small treble fish hooks (crosslinkers) into the mix and stirs vigorously. When the water is drained the hooks and noodles get closer and closer together and the barbs penetrate some noodles or tangle with other fish hooks. A three dimensional network of drying noodles is then poured out on a plate. The mass continues to shrink as the noodles dry.This leaves a nice mess of mixed pasta drying on a platter. Had the cook forgotten to throw in the treble hooks (crosslinkers), the noodles probably would have spread out to occupy more space on the plate. They would not stack up as high as a pile of noodles made with added fish hooks.

So let me ask you this. If you intentionally make one crosslinked and one non-crosslinked pile of pasta and let them air dry for a week or so, which is stronger? Which pile shatters or breaks up easier? Which pile sticks to the plate better? What if the plates are not made from rigid china but from a flexible material like styrofoam? Which pile would break loose first from a plate that is being bent back and forth? In other words, which pile of pasta is more flex proof? Well, the more flex proof pile is not likely to be as mechanically "strong" in some respects as the other, but it is likely to stick to the plate longer. So, the "tougher" pile of noodles is not necessarily a stronger pile when laid out and allowed to fully cure.

This illustration is pretty silly but none the less discriptive of the challenge facing restorers wanting a stronger recolor job. A crosslinker can help but can also contribute to a too tough coating that self destructs and tears loose early if its ultimate cured mechanical properties don't properly match the substrate base.

So, getting back to David's question about a stronger finish using crosslinkers, we use a different approach. Because polymer knowledge has advanced so dramatically we avoid using treble hooks (crosslinkers) by carefully selecting and layering different noodles (polymers) during the recolor process. If forced to use a crosslinker, I personally would not dose the initial tack coat (first pass); use a low dosage in the base color coat; and maybe up the level again but only in a very thin pass of a clear topcoat with an added dulling agent if necessary.

Finally, please remember I wrote that crosslinkers are easily hazardous. If you allow I want to talk about that in a couple more posts in the coming days. I do want to close today with one technical point. Today's crosslinker technology is not really focused on improving the ultimate physical properties of the coatings because there are so many more tools available to the industrial scale manufacturer. They don't necessarily need to use a crosslinker to make a stronger product because they can achieve that by selecting and tailoring the now-available polymers. What is really driving crosslinking today, to borrow from the noodle chef illustration, is the fact that our cook has been told that she can no longer use as much olive oil or wine in the pot when preparing the pasta. We call those ingredients volatile organics and folks are striving to reduce their use by resorting to crosslinkers. Please watch for my next post on crosslinkers. There are a couple you should never ever use unless you are real old like me. Younger workers especially should limit use of a couple to brush (non-spray) application only. Your questions or comments are real welcome and I will answer ridiculously fast as I can. Many thanks! dan@flexproof.com

What We Hear (2-14-11)

HEADS UP!

ProFlex Conversations

Leather Repair

Vinyl Repair

Velour Repair

It looks as though the seasonal turn in used car work is occurring about a month early and is much stronger this year despite historically bad weather across the US northern tier and the Ohio Valley eastward to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The orders coming in here over the last week have had an unusual preponderance of urgent delivery requests even though snow is still all over the lots. West coast commercial work is pretty robust except in the central California valleys.

On the auto front Rusty just called in from a merged 400 to 600 car per month lot. They haven't been able to "see the asphalt" all winter due to the weather. He just wrote up twenty-six cars for work and they didn't bat an eye. "Get it done."

Rusty's comment was that no matter how unfair the dealer shut downs were it looks like the survivors have comeback stronger and more willing to take care of the used car inventories.  That is a significant change.  They are still two or three weeks away from the auto shows when business usually begins picking up in his area.

You might check your supplies so you don't get caught paying $70 overnight freight on a couple velours and a quart of dye. It's only Valentine's Day and the folks are getting busy up north. As usual, comments and questions are welcome. dan@flexproof.com

What We Hear (01-29-11)

ProFlex Conversations

The not so smart smart guys were forecasting that our mobile tech gasoline prices would increase about 6% by July from what we're paying today. That is before this latest round of overseas unrest. We ordinarily would expect gas would then drop off through the holidays of 2011 and head up again in summer 2012 to about 11% above January 2011 levels. However, to plan for what might happen due to political disruptions just look at January 2008 when prices spiked upward by 33% to over $4.00 by July 2008. You might want to look at your service call price structure now to see if you have some room to move in the event of a fuel cost spike.

One other thing to think about is your ordering and shipping preferences. FedEx and UPS are set up to add fuel surcharges at the drop of a hat whereas USPS has to move much slower. Take advantage of the Priority Mail Flat Rate shipping if you can. With USPS it takes $10.50 to ship only one, BUT ALSO UP TO FIVE, quarts of water base to any US zip code between Puerto Rico, the North Slope or Hawaii. You are already paying for some of this through your tax dollar transfers to the postal service. You might as well use it. With USPS, unlike Brown, there are no residential delivery or fuel surcharges. Of course, none of this works if you are still locked into solvent base systems. You may as well take advantage of the USPS programs by thinking ahead a little when you order. Consolidating anticipated orders to fully fill Medium or Large Flat Rate boxes drives more dollars right to your bottom line. Many thanks!

What We Hear (01-27-11)

Leather Repair

Velour Repair

Furniture retailer buyers (purchasing agents) have been a bit slow recognizing the poor durability of "reconstituted leather" upholstery. Alas, some of it has been imported and sold at pretty fancy prices.

You can think of it as "particle leather" as it is roughly analogous to particle board, i.e. solid particles of genuine material cast in a resin binder and substituted for a genuine hide.

Unfortunately a lot of particle leather upholstered items have been sold to consumers with inadequate one year warranties. The consumer is left with no recourse once the so-called hide or its finish fails after a year of service. We hear that there is still a lot of this working through the system resulting in too many pointless service calls for our customers, i.e. skilled restorers. We're looking at a miniature version of the Chinese drywall situation where the imported gypsum board has to be ripped out of recently constructed homes due to chemical off-gassing. In our case some of our folks are getting calls for repairs that don't merit the effort and all the bad feelings that may result.

Our advice at this point is to avoid taking on the importers' responsibilities by attempting repairs or re-dye on inferior so-called leather. If you do, be prepared to spend a couple days on what looks like a 45-minute job. You may end up buying a new matching surface hide and then redyeing it to match the furniture piece before sewing in your re-dyed genuine leather panel.

Here's a side note. The new flexproof.com Sprayer is a hot item since its introduction last month. They are difficult to keep in stock because their production is still quite labor intensive. We're not going to resort to low-cost offshore production because high build quality and design integrity are essential for these instruments. Improper knock-offs can also become a problem. You are aware of the challenge if you have recently purchased imported conventional folding style mouth atomizers. The velour repair specialists are especially pleased with the new sprayers for blowing on adhesive (SVA) without the need for time-consuming dip tube clean-up.

flexproof.com Sprayer Instructions

Leather Repair

Velour Repair

Vinyl Repair



Insert a self-threading black quick-change dip tube into the bottom of the threaded hole at the Sprayer front nozzle. Screw the poly tube clockwise into the machined hole to begin self-threading. Use gentle firm pressure to further screw the poly tube into the hole until it just appears all the way through the hole.

Next, hold the poly tube in a fixed position while dialing the metal sprayer barrel clockwise around the poly tube axis 2½ to 3½ full turns in a manner similar to adjusting a clock minute hand. This raises the pickup tube tip about 70 thousandths of an inch to the center of the air jet.

Make sure the upper end of the black pickup tube is at a height near the middle of the air outlet. If necessary, adjust the height by dialing the sprayer barrel around the poly tube axis. One full turn will raise or lower the pickup tube by 25 thousandths inch.

Use a sharp snap-blade cutter to bevel trim the bottom of the pickup tube to a length near the bottom of your spray liquid container. Make a clean bevel cut without creases or burrs. Dip the poly tube into the spray liquid so the metal sprayer barrel is within a few inches of the top of the liquid. (In field trials I timed a high-producer for the above four steps during color changes. Her average time was seven seconds).

Direct the front of the sprayer toward the test or work surface. Blow through the sprayer to spray liquid onto the work piece or artwork. The poly tubes are sufficiently flex proof to bend for vertical spraying of ceiling panels, molding or headliners without spilling open spray liquid containers.

Modify spray patterns by raising or lowering the pickup tube slightly. Raise the poly tube tip only 1 to 1½ turns above the threaded lip to produce large droplet (spitting) print coat splatter patterns. Centering the poly tube at 2½ to 3½ turns is best for general purpose fine spraying. For very fine (fogging) spray patterns try dialing the poly tube height to 4 full turns or more. When you dial-in the spray pattern sweet spot for any particular liquid the tube remains locked in place until readjusted.

Clean the sprayer after use with water or the proper solvent for your spray body. The poly tube may be unscrewed for re-use or plastic recycle (recycle plastic code 2-HDPE). Clean poly tubes may be stored inside the sprayer barrel in tool kits to protect from creasing or folding the dip tube.

Prepare to work faster with less effort than with old folding-style mouth atomizers due to the 300% higher output of the flexproof.com Sprayer's laminar flow design. Replacement pickup poly dip tubes are available at $6.50 per thousand to avoid high-cost clean up time, plugging and mechanical failures.

Leather Fragrance

ProFlex Conversations

Leather Care

Leather Repair

About twenty-five years ago several of our leading tanneries participated in efforts to provide leather samples of their hides that had the "most natural" or "most pleasing" leather fragrance. Aroma chemical additives were then developed that mimic those odors. Today they are marketed on an industrial scale such that most North American commercial leather and leather artifacts (including simulated leather) have a very similar enhanced fragrance . . . irrespective of the tannery source or processing methods used.

Today the flesh side of hides and even the unexposed surface of plastic trim components are often lightly sprayed with these chemical compounds to produce the "natural" leather fragrance experience for the consumer . . . go figure.

I bring this up because we are asked from time to time to impart a leather odor to our dyes or conditioners. We don't do that for a couple reasons. First, odorized or perfumed products cannot legally ship by air (including Flat Rate Priority Mail). Second, this class of chemical compounds (organoleptics) typically are very prone to chemical reactivity, whether on your olfactory receptors or in blends of coatings and compounds. First thing they do is turn midnight black upon oxidation. That is not good for the color values over time.

If I want to leave the client with a natural leather odor it makes more sense to put a few drops of the aroma additive on a piece of absorbent (like heavy card stock) and hide it in the furniture or under a car seat, etc. Be careful though. These are powerful and dispersive odors that can make a room (or automobile) uninhabitable. It can take several hours for the full intensity of the odor to develop so don't be suprised if things get out of hand. Remove the odor emitting card stock and air things out if you overdose the environment "naturally."

Leather Conditioners - Technical Comments

Leather Care

Leather Repair

ProFlex Conversations

I've had several thoughtful messages from professionals on subjects of interest to the larger restoration audience. Here is an email from Dan M about leather conditioners, topcoats and solvents. It is very interesting to me because each one of Dan M's statements is "exactly" correct and technically sound over a given time frame in a given geographic location.

He introduces some fascinating (at least to me) subject material. For us the challenge is the so-called "arrow of time" because, unfortunately, nature steps in and begins to mess with our best leather technologies very quickly. As a result our exactly correct methods can become perfect errors pretty quickly unless we get a chance to analyse each situation on a case by case basis and then apply the appropriate skill protocols. Here is Dan M's message followed by my observations.

Hi Dan (Flex Proof Dan)

It's been my understanding that finished leather's top pigmented coating can't be penetrated by conditioners, thereby making them useless and a waste of money. These moisturizers are basically just dust collectors, that in turn hasten the demise of the leather upholstery's coatings. I don't know if naphtha is such a great chemical for stripping a leather's finish, isn't this solvent oil based? Thus interfering with the adhesion and long term integrity of the finish. I've been told that PM Acetate would be a better alternative than naphtha. A combination of PM Acetate, surfactant, and water would make a great topcoat remover.

Regards

Dan M.

I wholeheartedly agree with Dan M's first sentence (see above) but typically only for the first three to seven years of finished leather's lifespan. That time frame could easily expand to more than twenty years for high quality goods kept under mild conditions. Sadly, serious coating failure can also occur almost immediately.

The evidence is that even the highest quality finished leather coatings begin to degrade as soon as they are deployed. The process accelerates under severe conditions in aircraft, automobiles and heavy-use furnishings. The topcoat film integrity begins to fail allowing the top surface out-migration and transfer of the internal leather lubricants, i.e. tanning oils, onto clothing, windshields and trim.

You can easily see this film failure effect by performing an ASTM adhesion Scotch Tape test (without cross-hatching) on a three year old and seven year old Lexus in a given market such as Los Angeles. The three year old car will likely pass the test but the tape will probably lift many tiny flakes of failed topcoat film on the seven year-old automobile. In a milder climate, such as in Central Europe, the differential effect might not be noticeable for many more years. This is because the OEM coating in their milder climate does not suffer the ozone, heat and sulfur dioxide presenting in the LA Basin. It lasts longer.

Bottom line, high quality leather conditioners can penetrate failing finished leather surfaces under circumstance where they are most needed to replenish internal lubricants. However, their use is suggested and enabled by degraded or degrading leather topcoats. If it's not needed, don't use it. If the leather is stiffening in some areas the topcoat has likely failed and a proper conditioner is warranted. Combination cleaner conditioners such as ProFlex ALC can be very useful overall.

Dan M's second statement is also right on the money, in my opinion. That is, "These moisturizers are basically just dust collectors, that in turn hasten the demise of the leather upholstery's coatings." Leather chemists work very hard to avoid moisturizers as they can seriously interfere with leathers equilibrium moisture balance, i.e. about 8% to 12% by weight. They can also accelerate the coatings failure by hydrolysis or faster chemical ageing. What is wanted is internal lubrication without moisturization or dehydration. You have to be very careful about what chemical species you are leaving behind in the leather's internal structure or the topcoat film. That's why many natural products promoted for so-called leather moisturizers accelerate leather degradation or microbial attack. The same may be said for dust collection. A properly formulated conditioner has to have excellent release properties to avoid preferential soiling and collection of abrasive grits, i.e. dust.

Dan M closes with some discussion of PM Acetate and the relative merits of naphtha in stripping leather. PM Acetate does not work for Flex Proof for a variety of reasons and I personally prefer not to use it. It is a fairly slow evaporating solvent that might be fine in temperate locales. Because of its relatively low flash point and because it is hygroscopic (absorbs moisture) I would prefer to not use or recommend it in several climates such as the arid southwest. The other thing about PM Acetate is that it is somewhat non-fugitive. It stays behind a little longer than we would like and can break down into its acetic acid and glycol ether components particularly if it is sealed under a fresh finish coating. The way to avoid that is to allow the work piece to dry for several days before re-coating to allow the residual PM Acetate to completely leave the system.

Finally, Dan M put his finger right on the beauty and utility of naphtha and IPA when he noted it as a poor stripper for leather topcoats. That is exactly correct and the reason we like it so much as an adhesion promoting prep solvent. The idea is that we want a very poor solvent for the remaining "live" topcoat film. We do not want to touch it or remove it if it is adhering well to the leather. We also do not want to soften the existing film... What we're doing with the IPA/naphtha blend is dissolving and removing deposited oils and waxes that have accumulated on the leather surfaces and its remaining high quality film, before applying another restoration film coating over the surface. The IPA/naphtha flashes off quickly leaving a very clean high adhesion surface if we use it properly. Here is how. Thoroughly wet the surface with IPA/naphtha applied with a fresh very clean cloth. Use the wet cloth to lightly scrub the surface to pick up oil and wax as well as weak oxidized coating and pigments (including micro flakes). DO NOT LET THE SURFACE DRY but immediately remove the wet IPA/naphtha with a completely separate dry clean cloth. If you do not use this protocol the chances are very great that you will just be redepositing oils that will interfere with the adhesion of the subsequent re-dye. Thus, in Steve's post about the 2007 Audi (below) he was able to apply tanning oil to soften the rock hard leather but then remove those oils before recoloring the seat. He allowed himself a window of time to get rid of the surface oils long enough for the ProFlex Intermix color to cure on the surface and adhere. It would have been an adhesion disaster had he not removed the residual ALC conditioner with the IPA/naphtha... which was Hadley's old lesson. Many thanks! Comments are welcome to dan@flexproof.com

Leather Care - Rock Hard Leather

Email from Steve in Texas (25 years in the business):

Dan, update on 07 Audi A4 hard as a rock leather seat. Softened the leather w/ALC. Grain was smoothed out but is hardly noticeable compared to the warped condition at the start. Thank you for reminding me of the basic oil removal steps that I'd forgotten. And the job was something my new Audi dealership customer hadn't seen anywhere else. after I watch this repair for awhile, the pics are going on my website as service you can't find anywhere else in town.

Note from Dan -- This rock hard leather seat bottom was softened and cleaned with the ALC Leather Cleaner Conditioner. It's difficult to say what caused the damage but a flood situation or cooking with a hot recharging laptop is typical. In order to achieve the redye adhesion it was necessary to remove the top surface tanning oil left by the ALC. Toluene and/or lacquer thinners are a bad idea. In this case Steve used the tried and true method introduced by Hadley years ago. Steve used a 50/50 blend of 99% isopropyl alcohol (drug store) with VM&P naphtha (Ace Hardware).

I had a chance this morning to confirm all this with David in New York, who is using the ALC a lot for cleaning finished leathers. He reminded me of how Hadley used talk for hours about not using laquer thinner for prep when IPA and naphtha are so readily available and much more efficient to remove waxes, grease and oil. Many Thanks Steve and David.