5. • Developed in 1940 for Bio-medical fields
• Auto industry borrowed the technology for body shops
Spectrophotometry
6. Key Components
• Portable reading device (Spectrophotometer)
• Software (Formula search and adjustment program)
• Dust-proof cradle designed for compact storage of the calibration
equipment and spectrophotometer
Equipment Requirements
Hardware: CPU with a minimum of 233 MHz, 64 MB RAM and 1 GB of
hard drive space.
Software: Windows®
95 operating system (minimum) and ColorNet®
software.
Spectrophotometer
Your car is you pride and joy and now someone has damaged it. Now what do you do?
When Henry Ford rolled the first cars off the assembly he was quoted as saying “you can get any color you like, as long as its black.” Body shops of today have to match the paint colors on not only the modern vehicle, but any or all colors you see.
As the vehicle manufacturers develop more colors and add different effects like metal flake or pearls, the paint suppliers have to develop colors to match. Traditionally, they would suppl the end user with cards or a color fan and the user is to take the chip from the car/fan and place it on the panel requiring paint. Some colors could have 5 variations, so this was not cost or time effective
Auto refinishers have computer technology available to help match colors
The science of Spectrophotometry is not new. Use of technology such as this is. Industry has learned how to adapt these technological advancements at a relatively low cost and in the process found new markets.
The paint shop will spray the mixed paint on a spray out card which is checked against the car to ensure proper color match.
With the match confirmed, the damaged panel is painted