Otee453
10-20-2021, 02:33 PM
So I didn’t listen to all those people who said a first timer can’t successfully paint a car. I went with black and used Southern Polyurethanes primers, base and their high solids Universal Clear. I sprayed in an inflatable paint booth.
I thought I would share some things I learned, that do not appear to be out there in YouTube videos and forums.
Inflatable Paint booth:
It works only ok. I put mine inside a large Rv port with full enclosed sides. This would be critical for anywhere that you have wind. It appeared that even in 10-15 mph winds, an inflatable booth would REALLY MOVE around. I don’t see how it would work outside very well in a place like Kansas where even during low wind seasons, you still get 10 mph wind gusts throughout the day. I purchased the 26" x 15". It was not big enough for the car and the doors, hood & trunk. I had to do the car one day and the parts the next day. Im not sure if that would work shooting metallics and such.
Air exhaust/ventilation is not very good. I even paid extra for a snazzy exhaust fan setup that attaches to one of the exhaust vents and theoretically pulls the overspray out. I tried all sorts of ways to improve this. Never found it, particularly and significantly when spraying clear. Ventilation was fine for primer, sealer and base. When the booth is being positively ventilated, it blows up like a tick on a hound. When you turn on the 12" blower fan, it'll suck all the air out and collapse it, even with the ventilation fan blowing in. I bought a $15 remote switch so I could turn the 12" suction fan on & off from within the booth. That worked well... turn it on when you start spraying clear and turn it off when most overspray is gone. Even with such a strong suction, it does not suck all the overspray out quickly.
154626154630
Spraying:
Slick Sand is a pain in the ***. Messy and lots of cleanup of your equipment. I sprayed the poly in my Rv port with rosin paper taped to the concrete floor and plastic on the walls, not in the inflatable booth. You do get some grainy overspray, but not much. If you spray poly in a garage, you will get grainy crap on the floor, so cover everything up. Have LOTS of gun cleaner or acetone and rubber gloves, etc... on hand with buckets for cleaning. It’s messy and you need to clean your gun often.The chap Titan gun with a 2.3 tip is widely used for poly, but its a hunk of junk compared to decent guns. But hey... its cheap and it works for something you are going to sand off anyway.
2k primer is easier and less messy. I sprayed this inside my inflatable booth for a test run when spraying base/clear. Throughout spraying poly and 2k, pay attention to your methodology of spraying or the order/ pattern of how you spray. This will be important when you get to clear coat. To explain further, think out where you start and plan to finish on the car. Will you spray from top to bottom or bottom to top? Back to rear, etc.... Also, where will you meet up with fresh spray? I chose to meet fresh spray on the tops of the cockpit where if I got some dryspray in clear, it will be in an easy place to buff out.
2k sealer & base (solid color, not metallic) was EASY! Don’t get too cocky like I did. I sprayed it so perfect I got a little cocky and got a little run on my hood. I fixed it, but still...ugh. Pay close attention again to your spraying technique. You will need it for clear.
Clear: the nut cutter. Wear a full tyvek suit, shoe covers and head sock, not only for the clear but also the sealer & base. I used old school Dr. J headband and wrist bands to soak up sweat and bought long cuff nitrile gloves (from Jegs or the 9mil from Harbor F.) so no sweat can drip out between my glove and cuff. PRACTICE ON TEST PANELS FIRST. Then, the moment of truth. HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I LEARNED on my own.... all the YouTube videos on settings for your spray gun are for professionals with professional booths with amazing ventilation. If you run your gun at 29 or 30 psi, you will have so much of an overspray cloud you will not be able to see. The most important thing for me when spraying clear was YOU HAVE TO SEE WHAT YOUR SPRAYING. Lighting is huge. When you think you have enough light, it probably still is insufficient. Strapping a little headlamp to your spraygun cup is almost worthless. It helps only a very little if at all, but I still recommend it. Dont buy the $60 GunBudd... for $12 you can buy a 2 pack headlamps from Amazon and zip tie them to your cups. YOU NEED LOTS OF LIGHT. I had a crap ton of lumens. So much that I figured I could light an entire section at Arrowhead stadium. Still wish I had more light.
Here is where I figured out NOT to set your gun up like YouTube says. When adjusting your gun, dial the pressure down to 20psi or less. Dial in your fluid so your shooting less fluid but getting good atomization and no dry spray. If you run your gun wide open with high pressures like all the youtubers show, you will have a cloud so thick that you will get lost inside your own booth. I found that at 19-20psi at the gun and 1-½ turns out from fully closed on my fluid knob with fan at 90% worked extremely well. This will make you move very slow, but you can see the wet areas which is crucial. I had a small bit of a cloud, but I could still see quite well. The overlap is crucial, but when you start paying attention to the "wet edge"... you will get overlap pretty easily. . Also, all the write ups and youtubers say, “follow the wet edge”. You will understand this when you start spraying the clear, with the proper settings on your gun and you can see what your spraying. Also, I had to keep my gun further from the panel with clear than I did with base and 2k’s.
All in all, I ended up with only 3 small tiny runs in the clear. 2 were under each tailight (easy fix where it won’t be easily seen) and another on the right side next to the side vent. 70% of the car came out almost like glass with very minor orange peel on the other areas. As planned, I did have a small strip of dry spray on the top of the car in the center where I met my spraying from each side. These are in easy areas to sand, compound and polish. I did get some nibs here and there, but again, fixable.
The exhilaration of seeing the final product for a first timer is indescribable. There is some mojo magic involved in spray gun setup and spraying, but I started understanding it all at a certain point. It all started clicking for me when I really started seeing the relationship between air pressure, fluid volume and fan size. More fluid requires more air. Less fluid = less air. Fan size also dictates fluid. Wider fan requires more fluid, Narrow fan requires less fluid. Hope this helps someone shorten the learning curve in the future.
I read every post I could on doing the bodywork and paint. I followed the formula used by the Jeff's and other pros (Rage Gold, Slick Sand, 2k Urethane Primer, 2k Sealer, Base & Clear). I also had a nearby pro who does these cars come out and look at my body work before I started shooting poly. Bart has been the greatest guy ever. He has talked me through it every step. Such a great guy and a new friend! I also found SPIUSERFORUM to be a good resource. I will warn you that the Southern Polyurethane people are epoxy primer fanatics and HATE poly primers, but still a great resource.
Now on to Wet sanding & polishing.
154629154631154632154633
I thought I would share some things I learned, that do not appear to be out there in YouTube videos and forums.
Inflatable Paint booth:
It works only ok. I put mine inside a large Rv port with full enclosed sides. This would be critical for anywhere that you have wind. It appeared that even in 10-15 mph winds, an inflatable booth would REALLY MOVE around. I don’t see how it would work outside very well in a place like Kansas where even during low wind seasons, you still get 10 mph wind gusts throughout the day. I purchased the 26" x 15". It was not big enough for the car and the doors, hood & trunk. I had to do the car one day and the parts the next day. Im not sure if that would work shooting metallics and such.
Air exhaust/ventilation is not very good. I even paid extra for a snazzy exhaust fan setup that attaches to one of the exhaust vents and theoretically pulls the overspray out. I tried all sorts of ways to improve this. Never found it, particularly and significantly when spraying clear. Ventilation was fine for primer, sealer and base. When the booth is being positively ventilated, it blows up like a tick on a hound. When you turn on the 12" blower fan, it'll suck all the air out and collapse it, even with the ventilation fan blowing in. I bought a $15 remote switch so I could turn the 12" suction fan on & off from within the booth. That worked well... turn it on when you start spraying clear and turn it off when most overspray is gone. Even with such a strong suction, it does not suck all the overspray out quickly.
154626154630
Spraying:
Slick Sand is a pain in the ***. Messy and lots of cleanup of your equipment. I sprayed the poly in my Rv port with rosin paper taped to the concrete floor and plastic on the walls, not in the inflatable booth. You do get some grainy overspray, but not much. If you spray poly in a garage, you will get grainy crap on the floor, so cover everything up. Have LOTS of gun cleaner or acetone and rubber gloves, etc... on hand with buckets for cleaning. It’s messy and you need to clean your gun often.The chap Titan gun with a 2.3 tip is widely used for poly, but its a hunk of junk compared to decent guns. But hey... its cheap and it works for something you are going to sand off anyway.
2k primer is easier and less messy. I sprayed this inside my inflatable booth for a test run when spraying base/clear. Throughout spraying poly and 2k, pay attention to your methodology of spraying or the order/ pattern of how you spray. This will be important when you get to clear coat. To explain further, think out where you start and plan to finish on the car. Will you spray from top to bottom or bottom to top? Back to rear, etc.... Also, where will you meet up with fresh spray? I chose to meet fresh spray on the tops of the cockpit where if I got some dryspray in clear, it will be in an easy place to buff out.
2k sealer & base (solid color, not metallic) was EASY! Don’t get too cocky like I did. I sprayed it so perfect I got a little cocky and got a little run on my hood. I fixed it, but still...ugh. Pay close attention again to your spraying technique. You will need it for clear.
Clear: the nut cutter. Wear a full tyvek suit, shoe covers and head sock, not only for the clear but also the sealer & base. I used old school Dr. J headband and wrist bands to soak up sweat and bought long cuff nitrile gloves (from Jegs or the 9mil from Harbor F.) so no sweat can drip out between my glove and cuff. PRACTICE ON TEST PANELS FIRST. Then, the moment of truth. HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I LEARNED on my own.... all the YouTube videos on settings for your spray gun are for professionals with professional booths with amazing ventilation. If you run your gun at 29 or 30 psi, you will have so much of an overspray cloud you will not be able to see. The most important thing for me when spraying clear was YOU HAVE TO SEE WHAT YOUR SPRAYING. Lighting is huge. When you think you have enough light, it probably still is insufficient. Strapping a little headlamp to your spraygun cup is almost worthless. It helps only a very little if at all, but I still recommend it. Dont buy the $60 GunBudd... for $12 you can buy a 2 pack headlamps from Amazon and zip tie them to your cups. YOU NEED LOTS OF LIGHT. I had a crap ton of lumens. So much that I figured I could light an entire section at Arrowhead stadium. Still wish I had more light.
Here is where I figured out NOT to set your gun up like YouTube says. When adjusting your gun, dial the pressure down to 20psi or less. Dial in your fluid so your shooting less fluid but getting good atomization and no dry spray. If you run your gun wide open with high pressures like all the youtubers show, you will have a cloud so thick that you will get lost inside your own booth. I found that at 19-20psi at the gun and 1-½ turns out from fully closed on my fluid knob with fan at 90% worked extremely well. This will make you move very slow, but you can see the wet areas which is crucial. I had a small bit of a cloud, but I could still see quite well. The overlap is crucial, but when you start paying attention to the "wet edge"... you will get overlap pretty easily. . Also, all the write ups and youtubers say, “follow the wet edge”. You will understand this when you start spraying the clear, with the proper settings on your gun and you can see what your spraying. Also, I had to keep my gun further from the panel with clear than I did with base and 2k’s.
All in all, I ended up with only 3 small tiny runs in the clear. 2 were under each tailight (easy fix where it won’t be easily seen) and another on the right side next to the side vent. 70% of the car came out almost like glass with very minor orange peel on the other areas. As planned, I did have a small strip of dry spray on the top of the car in the center where I met my spraying from each side. These are in easy areas to sand, compound and polish. I did get some nibs here and there, but again, fixable.
The exhilaration of seeing the final product for a first timer is indescribable. There is some mojo magic involved in spray gun setup and spraying, but I started understanding it all at a certain point. It all started clicking for me when I really started seeing the relationship between air pressure, fluid volume and fan size. More fluid requires more air. Less fluid = less air. Fan size also dictates fluid. Wider fan requires more fluid, Narrow fan requires less fluid. Hope this helps someone shorten the learning curve in the future.
I read every post I could on doing the bodywork and paint. I followed the formula used by the Jeff's and other pros (Rage Gold, Slick Sand, 2k Urethane Primer, 2k Sealer, Base & Clear). I also had a nearby pro who does these cars come out and look at my body work before I started shooting poly. Bart has been the greatest guy ever. He has talked me through it every step. Such a great guy and a new friend! I also found SPIUSERFORUM to be a good resource. I will warn you that the Southern Polyurethane people are epoxy primer fanatics and HATE poly primers, but still a great resource.
Now on to Wet sanding & polishing.
154629154631154632154633