Getting Into Spraying

[tmc_2]

Ok Guys i got some pics and some info on how i went.

For starters i used a cheap GMC electric compressor and a GRIP spray gun with a 1.4m and a 2m nozzle.

I bought the gun off ebay last week. Metal flakes bought off ebay too. Do a search for 'metal flake'

Cutting compound was bougth at autobahn cant think of the name of it right now. I havent cut and buffed it yet.

This is my first time spraying, only other attempts ive had where out of cans lol.

I did not trial paint anything with the gun and it shows in the job i have ended up with.

Things i did wrong.

-Could have spent a little more time preping and filling some of the un eveness of my fibreglass.

-I had 1L of cleat which was not enough. I ran out of clear as 2 coats where used applying the glitter. Because of the glitter the clear coat on top of that has to be thiker. I plan to add more clear another day.

-The Glitter settled in the bottom of the gun. Becasue it didnt stay suspended in the clear coat in the canister the gun sprayed out way too much glitter.

-i have not buffed or polished this yet as i still need to add more clear.

Over all this was a fairly good outcome considering how ameture i approached this. It was a great learning experience.

Pics as follows - keep in mind it needs more clear and to yet be buffed. The glitter helps cover up my mistakes to the average person.

I plan to get more pics as my work progresses.

Thanks for all the great advise from every one in this thread, especially Frogman

Edited March 6, 2007 by tmc_2

[tmc_2]

The end result looks 10 times better in person. Ive been gettgin lots of looks and people commenting positivley about the glitter.

Its not something u see every day.

The gun cost me $75 from ebay. You can get ones with only one size nozzle for about $40 that will prob do just as good a job.

oh and if u have 4L of acrylic paint make sure u dont just buy 4L of thinnners. Most of my ratios where 1part paint to 1-1.5 parts thinners.

You will also need thinners to keep your gun clean between each stage.

Flakes cost me $35 for 50Grams , i used half of that.

Another point where i went wrong- Whith the clear when i pressed the trigger the gun would drop a few droplets and then do the same again when i let go. Because of this i had to start the spraying before the bonnet and stop the spraying after the bonnet. It only dripped like this with my clear coat. I dont really know why?

Oh and try and be mindful of where you do it, i had lots of mist floating next door :S i put up a plastic screen and built a card board wall lmao.

True DIY GHETTO style paint job.

Edited March 6, 2007 by tmc_2

[fr0st]

Looks good

You can see in the pics how it still looks a little rough from the flake, should look mint by the time you finish. I need to start searching for equipment now I have a job to pay for it all

[tmc_2]

Yeah once i clear it over agian it will look good.

The good thing is when i get bored i can try soemthing diferent.

On embay i found a additive u add to clear that give is a blue perlecent tinge at the correct angles. Im just trying to think of a application so i can give it a try

Frost make sure u keep us update how ur going and post up some progress pics!

[Craved]

when you back off the trigger if you only go half way it will only spray air, pretty sure thats how end the stroke .. but maybe frogman could elaborate.

still looks pretty good especially for a first try, definately giving others and me a bit of confidence in DIY painting.

[tmc_2]

when you back off the trigger if you only go half way it will only spray air, pretty sure thats how end the stroke .. but maybe frogman could elaborate.

still looks pretty good especially for a first try, definately giving others and me a bit of confidence in DIY painting.

Hmm i might try that with the trigger and brush stroke next time.

Its defifnelty given me a bit of confidence too Craved. I figure if u dont mind stuffing up a few times and you take the advise of those before you it can all work out ok in the end.

Thanks again to all those who contributed to this thread

[frogman]

Good work for your first spraying effort thats a big flake... yeah you would need a big tip for that!!

All you will need to do now is rub it back nice & smooth with some 1200 wet, re clear it, rub it back & buff it up.

Yep, see, prep is the key, but its good that you have learnt early that you can always spend a little more time on preping stuff... still a pretty good effort & like ya said, the flakes will distract your eye anyway.

Gun drip sucks doesn't it! It happens when the needle doesn't seal properly against the tip. If it does it once, stop... nothing worse than getting a big drip in the middle of a panel.

Un plug the air line, take the air cap off & have a look at the hole on the end of the tip while pulling the trigger in & out. The paint should flow out easily & completley stop when you let the trigger out.

Check if there is a bit of clear that is drying over the hole or if there is a bit of crap stuck to it or something. Wind the fluid knob in & out & wipe the tip with a thinners rag & pull the trigger in & out a few more times. If it looks fine, but still drips, then there is probably something on the inside of the tip or on the end of the needle, it only takes a tiny little thing to stop it sealing.

You'll have to pull the gun down & clean it. Always pull the needle out before undoing the tip, & put the tip back on then the needle back in. A few tricks when cleaning... let the air cap & tip soak in thinners for a bit & put some vasoline on the needle where it goes through the gun (about half way down) for a nice smooth trigger & to keep the little rubber seals in good nic.

Put the gun back together & run some thinners thru it, hopefully it won't drip!

Starting your stroke with just air then flicking your wrist & letting the trigger 1/2 way out again just takes practice...

[tmc_2]

Thanks for the reply Frogman

WIll i really need to go over it with wet 1200? or will buffing it with cutting compound be ok? Im going ot re clear it next weekend

When i was cleaning the gun after, i noticed some clear had dried on the tip of the needle so that was causing it not to seal.

I can wait to have another go at it again! ive been thinking of painting my stock bonnet ive got lying around just for practice.

[frogman]

You'll get a better finish if you 1200 it before you re clear it. Putting more orange peel over orange peel can magnify it. Don't go crazy & rub thru everywhere, just get it as flat as you can.

You can put a little bit more thinners in the clear then too, to make it flow out more, the smoother you can lay the clear on, the easier it is to buff up ...& buffing sux

[tmc_2]

Cheers frogman

Here is a pic of my car today, i havent re-cleared it yet and i know i shouldnt be driving it. I am prepared to do the whole bonnet again if i mess it up tho.

Just thought i would share some better quality day pics of what it looks like on.

Edited March 10, 2007 by tmc_2

[Simon-S14]

Hey guys.. been reading this thread with interest and i have picked up a few things. However i too am about to respray my car and would like some general tips and advice. Ive done a few cars before and have a bit of my own equipment. However ive only done acrylic paints. This time around i want to do a proper two pack job in my shed. I don't have the luxury or the money to hire/get a booth and ive always done home jobs. Plus i live out in the middle of the country so the EPA isn't a worry for me

Now i went and bought some Dupont base coat, which doesnt need harder, but its an enamel based paint. Also got some Dupont 2K clear and hardener. all up i have 4L of colour and 4L of clear.

What i would like to know.. is when im ready to spray once the car is primed and rubbed back and then wiped down. Is there anything else i should know about before commencing spraying? Also with the Dupont base coat, the clear and hardener are the activator for the base, so they need to be applied pretty soon after. So does this mean i put the clear on pretty much straight away, even if the base is still a bit wet?

Ive never painted 2K paints before so i really have no idea.

Can someone recommend some breathing gear, what works and what not to get and where to get them from.

What can i do to minimize airborne contaminants?

cheers

Simon

[Pauly33GTS-t]

I got to say this looks great, I had confidence issues painting the interior let alone think about doing this stuff. Did you guys paint your own interior before even thinking about trying bodywork?

[tmc_2]

Hey Pauly,

Only painting experience ive had is painting my stock bonnet once with spray cans lol

I just tried to get what info i could of people and see what i could do when put into practice.

Really is a trial and error learning process to and extent.

try painting some old panels first and se ehow u go, might suprise ur self.

[Simon-S14]

someone wanna hel,p me with my questions

[fr0st]

I think I read somewhere that you need an independent air supply to breathe from for spraying 2pac paints because they contain isocyanate's. Pretty nasty stuff when you think about it. Google will probably turn up some more info.

Have you got any pics of your previous work?

I'm still a pay check away from having the money to start collecting gear

[Craved]

Simon,

from watching when my car was sprayed, there was no hardener in the 2K PPG paint i used, but they still allowed 15 -20 mins flash time between coats (in a booth) so i doubt you will need to get right into the clear straight away.

dont forget to Strain/filter the paint. and clean the gun between coats to make sure it doesnt fould up and ruin the job.

as for respirators, not sure, but you might wanna get a disposable overalls to stop the paint getting in your skin (its carconegenic sp?)

airborne contaminates mostly come from the painter - so the overalls will help reduce this, vaccuum the area your painting in after the car is in there and the plastic walls (you should use) are sealed once vacuumed you might wanna prepsol the car to clean anything that was stirred up.

No pro info there, just my ideas and observations.

Chris

[frogman]

If you can paint acrylic successfully, you can paint 2 pac.

If you have already done a bit of painting then you'll probably know this... but...Did you buy the base coat as a 'kit'(1 tin of colour + 1 tin of reducer)? Or do you just have 4 litres of the colour(not thinned out), make sure you have the correct reducer(thinners) for the base coat. Some brands use the same reducer for the base coat & for the clear, but some dont.

Make sure you mix everything to the correct ratio that it tells you on the side of the tin too, if you dont have a proper ratio stiring stick, get one.

First, its always a good idea to thoroughly wash the car (the day before) you paint it, including all around the inside of the doors, under the wheel arch lips... everywhere! Then get your air blower & get all the water & crap out from under the moulds etc.

Painting in the shed is ok, but they can be a bit dark, if you can get some more lights from somewhere, get them too! Putting up plastic disposable drop sheets on the walls is a good idea, just make sure they aint gonna fall onto the car! Also give the floor a hose down before you put the car in there. You can also carefully tip some water from a bucket around on the floor inbetween coats to keep the dust down if you want. Just be carefull of the airline being wet & not hitting the car with it.

Ventilation is also important, 2 pac takes a while to dry, so when you have a shed full of mist after you have finished spraying it can settle on the car while its drying. You wanna try to have some air movement in & out without letting to much dust in. Try using a fan to suck the air out a bit.

'Tack Rags' are a good thing... they are kinda like a kitchen 'chux' cloth but are sticky. After you have the car in the 'booth', masked up, blown off again, prepsoled(wax & grease remover, wipe on with 1 rag, wipe off with another) You use a Tack Rag to wipe down the car & masking paper just before you spray to get any last bits of dust. You can also wipe down the car(not the masking paper though) inbetween coats of basecoat & before you clear, after it has flashed off of course.

Wear disposable gloves, & a pair of disposable overalls are a good idea. The white 'paper' ones are fine but you get a bit sweaty, the blue 'silky' ones are tops & are washable so you can keep them for a while. Depends on how much you wanna spend.

You will need a 'particle/charcoal' mask. Sundstrom or 3M make good ones. Air fed masks(a.k.a respirators, that you see in smash repair shops) are only used when you have a proper filtration system on your air compressor, you cant breath the air straight from a compressor.

You are right, base coat doesnt need hardner. Its is purely & simply a colour (no protective additives in it, no gloss etc) But you do need to thin it out to what % it says on the side of the tin, with the right stuff. It should also tell you how long to leave it between coats. But generally you can see when its 'flashed off', it goes dull. By the time you have done a lap of the car & filled the gun up it should be ok.

The clear doesnt 'activate' the base coat though. It protects the base coat (by going hard) & makes it shiny. You also need to mix it properly with the right ratio of hardner & % of reducer.

Once you have cleaned out the gun, mixed the clear & tack raged the car,(10-15mins?) the base coat should be flashed off & ready to clear.

Spraying comes down to experience...& without a booth/heat you gotta go by what you can see. I would start with a light/medium coat of clear, just to get the feel of it. Once you have done a lap, top up the gun. Then do a nice coat. Wait for a few mins... stick ya finger on the masking paper & pull it off again, it should still be sticky, but not too wet, before you go for your last coat. Remember, 2 pac will continue to 'flow out', so be carefull about runs!

You should find all the gear you need at a smash repair supply shop, look them up in the yellow pages.

Goodluck

[Simon-S14]

awesome big thanks for the write up mate!

Couple of questions tho. I got all my stuff from a smash suppliers through my work (mechanical workshop) so it was all done over the phone. They sent me 4L of Dupont Centari 610 basecoat, 4L of Dupont Centari 120sx 2K clear and 2L of 120SX Activator.

no data sheets or anything, i called them up and they said they would send me a copy but im still waiting. Had a look on Dupont's website with no luck either.

The backs of the tin's are pretty useless.. but juding by the picture on the basecoat tin it says you need a ratio of 1 to 0.8 of basecoat to reducer. Does this sound about right?

I asked them to send me everything i would need, so pretty strange they didnt send me the reducer...

[frogman]

Umm.. yeah... you kinda need some reducer Is the basecoat already thinned out? Still need to thin out the clear though... usually need around 10-15%.

If you have 4lt of clear & 2lt of hardner, the ratio would be 2:1. Should say on the tin. So 2 parts of clear to 1 part hardner + 15%(?) reducer... 2lt of clear will need 1lt of hardner + ~350ml of reducer.

Yeah 0.8 would be about it, so 1 part base coat to 0.8 parts of reducer.... 1lt of basecoat would need 800ml of reducer.

Edited March 16, 2007 by frogman

[Simon-S14]

No the base coat isnt, at least thats not what the tin says!

Ive got activator to go with the clear coat, so that should be alright.

So i just need to get some thinners. Any reccommendations there?