Line & Surface Marking FAQ's

Refer to TDS, as it varies across products. Typically 5°C for solvent-based & 10°C for water-based and solvent-free products.

The drying & curing times we quote for our products are mostly based on an air temperature of 15°C. These times will approximately double for every 5°C drop in air temperature, cooler air can absorb less solvent, therefore lower temperatures will affect drying times.

Whilst we never recommend applying thermoplastic onto concrete, if you have to then use either UniPrime X450 [also known as FP Primer] which is applied using roller, brush or airless spray; or ProTack aerosol.

TrafficLine and MultiGrip are the recommended products to use. They are both single packs so you can open and use the tins multiple times, easy to apply by brush or roller and are available in smaller tins - 7kg and 5kg respectively. For maximum durability, use RoadLine Q285, again available in small sizes and brush applied.

The root cause is the change in viscosity, caused in turn by changes in temperature. If you look at the rate of change in viscosity v's temperature increase, you will find that the change rate is much faster or higher with water than it is with solvents. Therefore a change of say 5°C will cause a bigger change in viscosity in a water based acrylic than it will with a solvent based acrylic. The acrylic is essentially a solid and therefore it is only the liquid part of the paint that will be affected by viscosity, whether it is water or solvent based. There are several ways that you can combat this challenge with water-based. The first is to ensure that the paint is at the same temperature as the environment in which you are spraying and the simplest way to do that is to leave the tin of paint in the environment for 1 to 2 hours before you start setting it up in the machine. The second way is to maintain viscosity at an optimum spraying level by thinning the paint in cooler temperatures. The final part of the equation is intelligent use of spray tips and pressure settings but ultimately if the viscosity is too thick then spraying is always going to be a challenge. There are very simple tests for viscosity using viscosity cups, whereby you measure the amount of time that paint takes to empty out of the cup. If it takes too long and it means the paint is too thick and you simply keep thinning it until it has reached the optimum amount of time. It is, however, important to understand that you can only really do this when the bulk paint has reached a stable temperature in the environment in which you are spraying, otherwise as soon as you take it into another temperature environment the viscosity will gradually change and skew the set-up again as you start spraying. This is the main reason why customers say it started off spraying fine and then stopped, as it is due to the gradual adaptation of temperature within the paint causing the viscosity to change.

2 points to remember: First - use either 531 or 631 tip, and secondly remove the inline filter. Ensure your machine has a pump capacity with a minium of 3.9 litres per minute. Ensure you replace the inline filter when you have finished, after the machine is completely cleaned out.

Yes, we do have products and additives which offer good slip resistance when applied correctly to suitable substrates. Typically SRV45 or more is considered suitable for medium risk areas such as walkways, rising to SRV65 or more for high risk areas such as High Friction Surfacing.

Link to http://www.roads.org.uk/fonts

Suggested tips are often mentioned on the product Technical Data Sheet (TDS), or on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the application of that product.

These values are European values which are being adopted gradually in the UK. "P" values refer to Durability, whilst "S" is the Slip Resistance. All these explained on our Performance Data sheet.

Crushed glass is exactly what it says, so will continue crushing in use. If a slip resistance is required, this will decrease during use. Molochite is harder and will give a more sustained slip resitance but must be mixed into the paint, not scattered over. Be careful not to add too much molochite as it will clump up

Ensure thorough preparation of the floor and apply UniPrime X250 followed by ViaLine F210 with ClearSeal X260 to give the best resistance to forklift traffic. All these products are rapid curing single packs.