WS-Primer Development Story

Roberto De Gregori - Engineering Insights

We recently had the opportunity to speak to the Lead Engineer of the WS-Primer Roberto De Gregori about Anest
Iwata’s latest product, the WS-Primer spray gun series.

Roberto, what made the WS-Primer project so special?

Well, many things actually. First and foremost the concept of a primer specific spray gun is not that well established on the market. As far as we know, we actually created the first-ever premium primer specific spray gun for the Car Refinishing market.

What did that mean specifically for you as an engineer?

The WS-Primer is the first spray gun designed entirely in Europe by Anest Iwata, which was almost like starting from scratch for the team. Unlike other products, there were no established standards or customer expectations for a primer-only gun. This allowed us to try out new ideas without having the pressure of meeting expectations.

For example, customers already had high expectations and a clear vision for the successor to the company's well known WS-400 spray gun range, as it was designed to improve on an earlier version. Because people knew the original WS-400 product line well, the team had to focus on the expected features, such as optimising it for waterborne paints and the addition of a digital pressure gauge. In other words, the WS-400 Series 2 was about refining something familiar, not creating something entirely new.

With the WS-Primer, however, the situation was different. There was no benchmark, so the engineering team was free to think out of the box.

How did the design team use this kind of freedom to come up with something new and exciting?

The list of new features includes aside of others, also a self-adjusting needle packing and a new anodisation finish. Both of these features make it much easier to clean and maintain the gun, which is particularly important in primer applications where materials are heavier and more difficult to handle. On basecoat or clearcoat guns, this feature wasn't as critical, so it made sense to save it for the WS-Primer.

But of course, aside of technical features and improvements, the gun had to work well. Which means it had to offer a
superior atomisation for primer materials as well.

I assume you are refering to the nozzle design of the WS-Primer?

The biggest technical challenge actually wasn't the nozzle... Anest Iwata is quite experienced and sophisticated in nozzle design. The real challenge was the air cap. It had to provide a smooth and even fan pattern that would work perfectly with the primer material, which is thicker and more demanding than other coatings.

And aside of this we needed to develop the gun as a high quality primer gun with premium features yet at an acceptable price point for the market.

This balance between performance, durability and price was a key part of the project, as in most markets customers are not willing to spend a lot of money on 'just' a primer gun.

Which part or feature of the new WS-Primer gun did you personally enjoy the most working on?

Ahh... that’s an easy question: The new finish of the gun.

What made working on it so special?

Traditionally, Anest Iwata uses different sorts of chrome plating on most of their guns. Only limited editions are given
an anodised finish. But the WS-Primer needed a super-tough and easy-to-clean surface treatment.

In the process of development we tried countless different surface treatments. And it actually was quite fun figuring our the specific properties of the different coatings and testing them extensively.

It is part of our promise to our customers to keep innovating and trying to produce highly durable products and the surface treatment is a crucial part for this. It directly influences durability, ease of care and robustness more than anything else on a spray gun.

 Why that matters is clear: We want our customers to be able to work more efficiently, faster and with greater security. And the new anodisation finish on the WS-Primer ticked all of these boxes. It ensures that the gun will last longer and remain easy to maintain, even when used with challenging primer materials.

So, why do you think the WS-Primer matters for spray painters?

For Anest Iwata it is very important to bring clear benefits to the painter, which really matter in the daily life and I think with the WS-Primer we achieved just that:

First of all the easier maintenance: The self-adjusting needle packing and durable finish help simplify cleaning and maintenance. It helps achieving better results: The carefully designed air cap and nozzle setups produce a smooth, uniform primer coat, resulting in less sanding and rework.

It offers cost-effective quality: Despite its high performance and quality, the WS-Primer remains competitively priced making it a very reasonable option compared to other solutions.

- Roberto, thank you for your time.