Practicing spray painting…?

[steveo3002]

Hmmm, who knows how much filler/corrosion I’ll find when address the actual body panels. There are some imperfections that require addressing, the odd dent which I appreciate requires more knowledge for an amateur to rectify on top of learning to paint.

so bare metal a couple of panels and get them repaired , get them in epoxy with the rear side painted first , that will get some practice for you

what colour is it going to be?

 

[stuvy]

Ok, I guess that’s a sort of test to see how the skills are developing

yes mate

Iv worked with painters and even On a bad day they are ten times better than my best days

don’t be put off but prep is the key more than how much the gun cost etc

there aren’t any corner cutting to be had with paint and wait until you check on your fresh paint job that flowed like glass and find a friendly fly or spider has had a visit

 

[The Z'eer]

so bare metal a couple of panels and get them repaired , get them in epoxy with the rear side painted first , that will get some practice for you

what colour is it going to be?

The worst colour…black. To be specific it’ll be Super Black by Mipa, direct gloss.

I was planning on lechler for the primer on the bare steel.

 

[The Z'eer]

yes you need the correct hardener for the conditions

tech sheet will say required air and panel temps , as long as you can meet those requirements it should be okay..might cool down rapidly once you have the fans on ?

Ok, I’ll have to get hold of the tech sheets for all the required products, I should’ve begun this in late spring/summer.

 

[steveo3002]

yeah so with black its gonna be all about the prep work to make it look arrow straight

id suggest you be researching the prep side of things and block sanding

 

[The Z'eer]

yeah so with black its gonna be all about the prep work to make it look arrow straight

id suggest you be researching the prep side of things and block sanding

Yeah, I’ve been looking at that. I’m intending to purchase the sanding blocks imminently. I see there’s much technique to achieving the desired level and flat foundation for top coat. For a guide coat should I be using matte black via aerosol?

 

[The Z'eer]

yes mate

Iv worked with painters and even On a bad day they are ten times better than my best days

don’t be put off but prep is the key more than how much the gun cost etc

there aren’t any corner cutting to be had with paint and wait until you check on your fresh paint job that flowed like glass and find a friendly fly or spider has had a visit

a lot that can go wrong then, I’ll try and learn from the mistakes

 

[steveo3002]

Yeah, I’ve been looking at that. I’m intending to purchase the sanding blocks imminently. I see there’s much technique to achieving the desired level and flat foundation for top coat. For a guide coat should I be using matte black via aerosol?

yes its a skill to know how to get panels flat enough to look perfect in gloss black ..something that comes with practice/time

yes you can guide coat with rattle can black

 

[charlysays]

This time of year is getting pretty borderline for spray painting without heating even where I am which is considerably warmer than the central and northern bits of the UK. Most of the days which are warm enough are now too humid, like yesterday, and most of the days which aren't too humid (below 85%) are a bit cool.
If you're doing a panel or two at a time my vote would be to not use the booth ventilation whilst you're spraying. Heat the panels with some patio heaters (I got a couple of 2kw ones off ebay, one will easily heat something like a large door, bonnet etc), keep the paint in the house over night. Then just as you're about to spray get the paint from the house and mix it, switch off the heaters the second before you start spraying, shoot the paint, switch on the booth just to clear most of the overspray then get the heaters back on... but be careful that they don't get the panel to more than 25C or so until the flash time is over. Once it has flashed you can heat them up more to 40-50C or so to bake it quicker. I would avoid using the booth ventilation if the humidity outside is more than 85%. Modern paints are pretty tolerant of humidity compared to older stuff like Celly but still best to avoid a situation where you're cooling the room and panels down with damp air as it ventilates.
Another good tip is to get all your prep done the day before so all you have to do is wipe down with panel wipe, tack cloth, heat the panels then spray. That way you have the higher ambient temps for longest or longer to run the heaters.

 

[carbon]

It’s also possible to get guide coat as a powder

 

[brightspark]

wouldnt be practicing on the article your going to spray and having to wait to dry and sand back a gallon can is sufficient to test spray on

 

[charlysays]

a lot that can go wrong then, I’ll try and learn from the mistakes

It can, but most of the result is in the prep and following the correct process, as above guide coats will allow you to know whether the top coat is likely to look good enough without risking spraying it too hastily. If you get everything right but then get some orange peel or some runs or some dust or a fly in the paint then that can normally all be rectified with a wet sand and polish. Mirka shark tooth gets rid of runs really fast as well as dust/ insect nibs, leaving you to just level it a bit with wet and dry then compound back the gloss, although doing that without leaving some swirls on black is probably another story.
A big one is contaminated air though. I haven't had any airline related defects and I have 50ft of copper pipe with drop legs, separator, regulator, coalescing filter then another filter at the gun. The coalescing filter was a last minute addition as I didn't like the fact I was finding some water in the on gun filter. I surmised that the restricting effect of the regulator was cooling the air further causing condensation to go into the airline. Not found any water at all in the on gun filter since I fitted the coalescing filter. I used a Clarke 1/2" standard coalescing filter.

 

[The Z'eer]

This time of year is getting pretty borderline for spray painting without heating even where I am which is considerably warmer than the central and northern bits of the UK. Most of the days which are warm enough are now too humid, like yesterday, and most of the days which aren't too humid (below 85%) are a bit cool.
If you're doing a panel or two at a time my vote would be to not use the booth ventilation whilst you're spraying. Heat the panels with some patio heaters (I got a couple of 2kw ones off ebay, one will easily heat something like a large door, bonnet etc), keep the paint in the house over night. Then just as you're about to spray get the paint from the house and mix it, switch off the heaters the second before you start spraying, shoot the paint, switch on the booth just to clear most of the overspray then get the heaters back on... but be careful that they don't get the panel to more than 25C or so until the flash time is over. Once it has flashed you can heat them up more to 40-50C or so to bake it quicker. I would avoid using the booth ventilation if the humidity outside is more than 85%. Modern paints are pretty tolerant of humidity compared to older stuff like Celly but still best to avoid a situation where you're cooling the room and panels down with damp air as it ventilates.
Another good tip is to get all your prep done the day before so all you have to do is wipe down with panel wipe, tack cloth, heat the panels then spray. That way you have the higher ambient temps for longest or longer to run the heaters.

Indeed, I have an exterior and interior hygrometer, the exterior is constantly registering numbers of plus 70. So as you say using exterior air to directly ventilate is probably not such a great idea.

With respect to heating the panels, sadly I don't have any patio heaters and I'd prefer not lay out in this area since aside from what I'm doing they won't get much/any usage from the job they're designed to do. I'll heat the booth and workshop (part of the same building) prior to painting and keep both paint and panels in the house overnight (temperature doesn't fall below 19 celcius.

 

[The Z'eer]

It can, but most of the result is in the prep and following the correct process, as above guide coats will allow you to know whether the top coat is likely to look good enough without risking spraying it too hastily. If you get everything right but then get some orange peel or some runs or some dust or a fly in the paint then that can normally all be rectified with a wet sand and polish. Mirka shark tooth gets rid of runs really fast as well as dust/ insect nibs, leaving you to just level it a bit with wet and dry then compound back the gloss, although doing that without leaving some swirls on black is probably another story.
A big one is contaminated air though. I haven't had any airline related defects and I have 50ft of copper pipe with drop legs, separator, regulator, coalescing filter then another filter at the gun. The coalescing filter was a last minute addition as I didn't like the fact I was finding some water in the on gun filter. I surmised that the restricting effect of the regulator was cooling the air further causing condensation to go into the airline. Not found any water at all in the on gun filter since I fitted the coalescing filter. I used a Clarke 1/2" standard coalescing filter.

I'm using a single stage DeVilbiss moisture trap/regulator after several meters of dog legged copper pipe near the compressors. Just before the spray gun is a three stage Iwata filter/regulator with coalescent, I doubt very much that I'll see any moisture with that kit. Thanks for the heads up on the Mirka product, if any little insects care to bathe in the paint I'll know what to do. Do you normally find yourself colour sanding and polishing to finish the job?

 

[steveo3002]

i know youve spent alot on the shed a little something to warm panels would be a really nice thing to have , id still urge you to look around for something

 

[The Z'eer]

i know youve spent alot on the shed a little some to warm panels would be a really nice thing to have , id still urge you to look around for something

That's true, the total coat of the workshop/spray booth is 6K. Perhaps a couple of second hand lamps off eBay could be feasible.

 

[steveo3002]

yeah see a few more quid wont hurt....if you did paint on the colder side bad things happen and you would need to strip it all off

plus the faster you can dry it you are saving the potential for flys to settle on the wet paint

 

[Bullet2012]

Perhaps something like this

Car Paint Infrared Curing Lamp,1000W Car Body Spray Handheld Drying Infrared Heating Light Heater : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

Car Paint Infrared Curing Lamp,1000W Car Body Spray Handheld Drying Infrared Heating Light Heater : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[steveo3002]

id look for something on a stand so you can flick it on while mixing the paint and getting ready...and leave it on 20 mins after painting

 

[Bullet2012]

id look for something on a stand so you can flick it on while mixing the paint and getting ready...and leave it on 20 mins after painting

I agree, it’s reasonably simple to knock up a stand , especially if the OP is on a budget