The new Stellair™ and Stellair ACE air spray guns developed by Graco achieved the Ergonomics Performance Certification.
Graco
has recently announced that launch of the new Stellair™ and Stellair ACE industrial air spray guns, that have obtained the Ergonomics Performance certification
issued by United States Ergonomics after extensive and advanced testing – proving that the manual pressure feed sprayers reduce fatigue potential and increase productivity for industrial painters.
The Minneapolis-based Graco Inc. is an international manufacturer of fluid handling equipment that produces and markets systems and technologies which move, measure, control, dispense and spray fluid and powder materials. Its Industrial division creates liquid finishing and advanced fluid dispense devices primarily for applying liquids on metals, wood and plastics, with a special emphasis on solutions that offer easy integration to paint monitoring and control systems.
“Painting is really hard work and my shoulder especially hurt at the end of the day. That experience drove home the need to champion a spray gun product line that coaters will ask for, because it adds to their wellbeing and makes the job of painting easier”, has stated Peter Linder, the vice-president of sales and product management for the Industrial division of Graco in North America and one of the executives who worked a shift in a coating booth to better understand the needs of industrial spray painters.
Although ergonomics has always been considered in previous designs, the company has now fully-recognised the importance of continual improvements by involving United States Ergonomics, a global consulting service and product testing company that researched and evaluated manual air spray gun ergonomics at three critical stages: design analysis and optimisation, design review and testing and ergonomic assessment.
Features of the Stellair and Stellair ACE spray guns
The Stellair air spray gun is composed by an aluminium case weighing 410 grammes: compared to similar equipment, it lessens muscle exertion by up to 18%. Moreover, it minimises hand pressure points – improving overall gun balance – and enhances hose flexibility.
Thanks to its durably unique carbon reinforced polymer construction, the Stellair ACE gun weighs only 209 grammes –up to 50% lighter than the most common manual pressure feed sprayers. Furthermore, it uses up to 25% less muscle effort than comparable solutions.
“Painters consistently rated the new Graco paint sprayers superior in weight, hand fit, feel, balance, trigger control and adjustability. Their feedback was important to the Ergonomics Performance Certification and we expect field trials in production paint shop applications to fulfil formal certification requirements,” has commented Kevin Costello, the president of United States Ergonomics.