Water-Based Paint

The paint is the part of a wooden toy that is most often asked about and most often changed. It is also the part that most often invalidates an existing test report without anyone noticing.

Why water-based paint is the default on toys

It is not a marketing preference. It is what the limits, the production environment and the customer audit all push towards.

• Formulated to the limits. Toy coatings are specified against the migration limits rather than chosen from a general decorative paint range.
• Production environment. Replacing most of the solvent with water reduces the vapour on the line, which matters in a plant where people are painting all day.
• Odour and off-gassing. A water-based coating has less residual odour, which matters for a product that goes into a nursery or a playroom.
• Audit-friendly. The paint specification, the incoming batch record and the report sit together in the file, which is what an audit asks to see.

What the coating has to satisfy

The limits the coating has to meet

• Migration of elements. EN71-3 assesses how much of a defined list of elements can migrate out of the coating, which is the basis for the EU requirement.
• Lead in the coating. In the US the coating limit is assessed separately from the substrate, which is why the paint and the wood are tested as two things.
• Restricted substances. Certain substances are prohibited or limited in toys regardless of the migration result, so the formulation matters as much as the number.
• Printed ink counts too. A printed panel or a printed decoration is a coating, assessed on the same basis as a painted surface.

The market documents are set out on the EN71 and CPSIA pages.

How the coating is controlled in production

A report describes a coating applied in a particular way. Keeping production to that description is the whole job.

• Specification per item. The paint, the primer where one is used, and the number of coats are held per item rather than set on the line.
• Incoming batch records. Each delivery of paint is recorded, so a batch can be traced back if a question arises.
• Controlled drying. Water-based coatings need the right temperature and humidity to cure properly, which is why drying happens in a controlled area rather than in the open air.
• Coverage and thickness. Coating thickness is controlled, because an under-coated part is a quality problem and an over-coated one can change how the item fits.
• Adhesion checks. Where a species is known to be difficult to coat, surface preparation and adhesion are checked before the run rather than after.

Why a paint change restarts the file

• The report describes the coating. A different paint, ink, supplier or number of coats is a different coating, so the existing report no longer describes the product being shipped.
• Colour is not the issue. Matching the colour visually does not mean the formulation matches, and it is the formulation that was tested.
• Notify your buyer. A supplier change on a coated part is the single most common cause of a certificate that is no longer accurate, which is a problem for the importer rather than for the factory.
• Plan it into the schedule. Re-testing a coating takes time, so a paint change is best decided before a production run is committed rather than during one.

See rubberwood vs beech and plywood vs solid wood for the substrate side of the same file.

Related: EN71 for wooden toys · Plywood vs solid wood · Rubberwood vs beech · OEM wooden toys · Private label wooden toys · Wooden toy manufacturer · Request a quotation