Many of us have profiles on LinkedIn, but how many of us participate in LinkedIn groups and conversations? As one of the moderators for our Paint & Coatings Industry Magazine LinkedIn group, I have the opportunity to filter through many posts on a daily basis. I try to delete any promotional items and the all-too-frequent market reports, and include a variety of interesting articles and questions for our 26,000+ members to enjoy and contribute to.

Currently, there are some interesting new articles in our group, such as the benefits of powder coatings over liquid coatings, information on a gel used for detecting lead paint, tips on professional paint application, exploring the myths of painting wet on wet, how priming can be as important as any other step in the coating process, and understanding coating specification language.

There are also several questions posed by formulators with specific problems. Some of these include:

• When do we use a water wash-type spray painting booth and when do we use a dry filter-type paint booth?
• What is the best fast-drying binder or mixture of binders to produce primer with excellent adhesion to a rubber surface to be applied by conventional spraying at room temperature?
• I’m trying to use semi-precious spheres of 35-40mm to use on an arcade-style joystick (having been drilled). This means the stones also have to take quite a beating from some players, which I doubt they will stand up to. Are there any coatings that can strengthen the overall structure of the stones – like a near-invisible cast for an unbroken bone that would like to stay unbroken?
• Is there any thickener for water-based solution with pH 13-14? I have tried hydroxyethyl and methyl cellulose, but when added to the solution the viscosity dropped. 

I encourage our readers to join our LinkedIn group if you have not already, and reach out to these fellow industry members around the world who seek your help. We have over 20,000 subscribers to our magazine, and with all of your combined years of experience, I’m sure there are answers out there for these people, and the others who have formulating challenges.

Of all the social media platforms, I feel that LinkedIn is the most beneficial to individuals and businesses. It provides networking opportunities, and can be a great source of information and help for our industry members. I have seen quite a bit of business being done in our group, such as requests for samples and follow-up phone calls or emails. Be sure to be a part of the conversation, and participate!