How XLM Leveraged Prepainted Metal
The XLM Company needed to create a finished metal product – file cabinets -- with a beautiful surface that was tough enough to resist rust even in extreme conditions. Prepainted metal to the rescue. Here’s how they did it.
They started with a design that incorporated coil coated metal for both interior and exterior components. Press brake fabrication techniques were used to create the components of the frame and metal housing. Then, using Toggle Loc fastening, they assembled the frame.
The masterstroke was the way they used adhesives to bond the metal housing to the structural frame. Using double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape, they joined the frame and housing – both made of prepainted metal. This involved careful study of the strengths and weaknesses of bonding stress modes of the adhesives – strongest in situations of shear, compression and tension stress, weakest under peel and cleavage stress.
This project is a stellar example of integrating prepainted metal into both interior and exterior parts for a finished product that is rust resistant with a tougher, more beautiful finish. To most people it’s just a metal file cabinet, but to NCCA and XLM it’s a work of art.
