Right Place for Painting Advise?

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zfriedbauer

zfriedbauer

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Hey there Body and Trim readers.

Im looking into painting my Duster and im curious if anyone has done this before and could offer any pointers. I have the paint gun, paint tank (goes to the gun no gravity feed) and a number of different sized compressors.

I want to paint the Duster Spinnaker White. it is currently a brown color from factory.

So any tips on getting off the paint, priming the car, painting the car. id like to learn about it some before i go for it. also, NO MACCO. Thanks in advance!
 
Make sure you have a good moisture filter, especially if the air tank is big and it's humid. I had issues with water coming out of the tank into the paint when I was painting my car.
 
Ever spray paint before? Read up on it as much as you can, get an idea on what works, and how to do it. If not, try to find the CHEAPEST PAINT you can, and practice, practice, then practice some more. And if you have a knack for it you could give it a try then. But first, read up on it. I worked in a paint lab for 12 years, and familiar with it, gravity fed, suction fed, electro-static, airless and with air assist, and pressure pot. Pressure pot is different than using a fed gun, (gravity or suction). Pressure pot is somewhat similar to airless and air assist electro-static. In one part only. And I will tell you I sure as hell am no professional. Good luck!
 
Using a moisture filter is a good idea. It is no substitute for good maintenance on the compressor's air tank. Most air tanks have a drain on them. After finishing for the day, it is a good idea to level the tank and leave the drain open. This lets condensation flow out. Remember to close the drain just before starting up again.

Get the cfm requirement of your spray gun and the output of the compressor. If the compressor can't keep up with the gun, it can be frustrating. Some of a deficit can be offset by good technique. A good even spray tends to lessen the demand on the air tank.
 
What gun, and what compressor do you have?

Air separators are a must.
Also use a separator on the inlet of the gun.
 
I forgot to mention, I'm in an Aviation mechanics program and painting is covered. We have a full time painter who trains us. Come to think of it I might be able to get some free Boeing white paint from the school... can't be much different....
 
Who makes it? Look online for the tech data sheet. It will give you a bunch of info. I worked for Akzo Nobel made aviation paint, Eclipse, and Aerodur. Eclipse, well it is very thin, and takes a long time to dry. Like up to 14 hours at 77*/50% RH. Aerodur is a little better, like two hours cure, but tricky to spray. ECL-G-10 for the Eclipse, 3001G1001 Aerodur. But he would definitely be someone to get tips from.
 
zfriedbauer said:
I forgot to mention, I'm in an Aviation mechanics program and painting is covered. We have a full time painter who trains us. Come to think of it I might be able to get some free Boeing white paint from the school... can't be much different....
Click to expand...
Not too different. Shop I once worked in shot aircraft with DuPont Imron. Excellent paint as long as one follows the instructions on the can and uses the appropriate ancillary chemicals. My painter told me that most get in trouble when they start juggling things so they can shoot when it's too cold/hot/damp.

Another piece of wisdom he passed on was to vent the paint booth. I built one in my garage using plastic sheeting like contractors use to cover material. Cover the floor, too. I taped boxes used for floor length mirrors together and cut small holes in the large rectangular side of the box. I connected the holey tube of boxes to a cut down box used for a dryer. Inside the dryer box, I put a couple of A/C filters and sealed them so that there was no way for air to get around them. At the open end of the dryer box, I secured a 36" shop fan with the air flowing away from the box.

This ventilation cut down on the paint fog and collateral damage from the spray. I was doing an under hood and a trunk at the time. When I took a break from the under hood, I changed the filters. It was amazing how much paint was in them. Even with all this precaution and using a mask, my nose hair was B3 colored for about a week. The paint booth converted back to a garage with no problems
 
A few thoughts. I've been painting cars for about 35 years with no training (just hard knocks). Practice your spray technique with primer. If you want a nice job, You'll need a few coats of primer with lots of block sanding. If you get to where you can spray the primer nicely, you will probably be OK with the paint, especially white. Also, invest in a set of Dura Block sanding blocks and some 220, 320, 400 grit dry PSA (sticky back) sand paper. Don't get excited to see how shiny it will be and spray the white too wet. You will quickly see what gravity does to a heavy coat of wet paint. You might also but the Painting DVD from Kevin Tetz. He has an entire series called Paintucation, but for about $35 you could get just the painting one. Good luck.
 
Hi,

Check out the Southern Polyuerathanes Inc. (SPI) web site http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/

The products have an excellent reputation and the product forum has a group of very knowledgeable, helpful folks. The owner of SPI is also very helpful and their tech. support line is available 7 days a week. SPI's products are every bit as good as the major paint producers at lower cost and with excellent support.

There is a lot of information on the internet about automotive painting and a lot of is just plain wrong. The SPI forum is about the only internet automotive paint forum I would take seriously.
 
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