Hello Schaef
Here you go…Yes, and…There are others, and…um…I’m not sure yet.
So…Yes…there are others that MGF Thermoplastic applicators…or commonly called…a “walk-behind”, or a “hand-liner”.
I’ll tell you those in a minute.
Next…the big deal though is how can you supply that walk behind unit with hot, melted Thermoplastic = “Thermo”?
Think of it like this…how fast can you run out of paint in your striper and how fast can you then “re-load” it?
SO…the “Kettles” are your next exploration point…which are commonly called “Pre-Melters”.
Next…Paint…some of the big MFGs are SW…PPG = Pittsburgh Paint and Glass and Glidden. There are other smaller chains but…they’re regional and I may not know of them. Visit them all. I do. So does my competition. ( And…we worked together, yesterday! ) Next…in some towns SW is high. In other towns PPG is high. That said…be kinda careful which actual location you visit. In other words…every SW store is autonomous. So, they’ll sell you that paint…but it’s after they buy it from the other SW store, 8 miles away. Find the store that actually buys a truck load from their supplier.
Now…back to the beginning…do an online search for “Featherlite Hand Liners” = ASE Thermo Mark 2 Feather Lite. Next…do an online search for “Apollo Hand Liner”. AND…a company called PPP = Professional Pavement Products, may carry some too.
Next…the actual Thermo. I haven’t purchased any for a while…I’ll get back to you. It was out of Atlanta. But they then sold it…I think…to Lafarge. ( OR…the other way around… ) I’d start there.
Next…get your city’s specs. It may call for a Hydrocarbon type or an Alkyd type…= think of it as Water Based vs. Oil Based. They may even say…use block form not beads. That’s it though…it’s no too demanding…and…the Thermo MFG will know all this too…blah…blah…
Last…all that said…I “Thermo’d” for 5 years. ALL my work was “Off Road” = Hospital ring roads, Shopping Mall Entrances, College Campus private roads…and I was busy enough. That said…you don’t need to drop 60,000.00 just to see if it’s a cool idea. You can move in slowly, if you want. Buy a kettle. Thermo a Mall entrance = 2 directional arrows, a stop bar, a channelizing lane…then paint the remaining 17,000′ of striping in the parking lot. As you get familiar…move up or sell it. Oh…search for M-B Companies too. THey have a smaller “Pre-melter Trailer”. Again…keep your options open ended.
How’s that to get you started?
And…here’s some shameless promo…I give all this in my book with…how I priced it.
Let’s keep in touch.
Dan
