The Spray Painting Thread

[Sigmeister]

This is all quailty info guys. Keep it coming.

Ok, after reading through here is my plan for the weekend.

Get chemical paint stripper
Roughen up the underside of the boot with scotchbrite or similar
sand\grind the edge of the bootlid to remove paint
Apply paint stripper to bootlid
Cover in gladwrap

OK, so how long do I leave the pint stipper on for on the bootlid before I can try scrape it off?

Then after, wax\grease remover
Apply primer?

Also got myself a poxy cheapo gun as suggested:


I hope it does the trick for primer.

[twentyEight]

How much was it?

The only thing I don't like about that gun (apart from the the fact the fan control is on the side, rather than above the flow control) is that it doesn't have a pressure control...

It seems to have a hole there for it though, so maybe it just hasn't been put in or something... (In front of the air inlet)

[Sigmeister]

Oh, it has a pressure control. It came with it. i just hadn't put it on yet. I also grabbed a moisture trap. Didn't know if tis was nessesary or not.
Gun was $110.

[ian]

the pressure can be controlled by the regulator on the compressor
i realy strongly advise against paint stripping
1 it takes about 4 times the time and effort
2 there is danger of residue effecting your job , then you have to start all over again
3 paint stripper will effect any filler that is in the boot lid
4 use an isolator sealer high fill and you will get the same result in 1/4 of the time
i have been painting stuff for 45 years and i know the heartache that chemical paint stripping can cause
if it was a total resto, that you planned to spend a lot of effort getting it to a concourse finish i just may agree with your plan on that
but for your every day driver ? the onlly comparison that i can think of is someone replacing their whole roof to fix a cracked tile
good luck which ever way you go
cheers
ian

[twentyEight]

Sigmeister, moisture traps are always a good idea... But, still empty out the moisture from the compressor daily... (Open the tap at the bottom of the tank until no moisture comes out)

Ian, you really should have full control available on hand at all times whilst spraying, the pressure on the compressor is best used for regulating overall pressure...

[ian]

yep true
but when i read the thread i thought that it did not come with one , as not all do
not a bad looking gun for the price
i would suggest that spraying a practice panel would be good
ian

[timbosaurus]

Yeah, that's a nice looking gun!

edit: I guess I've changed my mind about surface prep. In this situation you are probably best off doing as Ian has suggested and giving the surface a sand with a long sanding block. (must be long, otherwise you will make the surface wavey) Use quite course sandpaper for the first blocking too (maybe 150 grit?) but as soon as you hit bare metal in any places... stop! There is no point sanding once you have hit metal. You will just make low spots in other areas.

I changed my mind because, no offence, it's a commodore bootlid. They are very common and not really worth bare metalling (unless you want to for some weird kinda fun )

And Ian's been doing it much longer than i've been alive, so that experience has to mean something

[o_man_ra23]

yeah, ian, you shouldnt show your age like that

Nice looking gun for the price... my primer gun is a $40 supercrap suction item... pretty woeful item, but it sends primer from the tank to the surface, so it does what its meant to.

Long block is a must, Good advice Timbo on when you hit metal. If you hit metal and have a bad high spot, you may want to consider sticking a bit of timber behind it and giving it a few love taps... but dont go overboard with this, or you will end up worse than you started.

[SillyCarS]

hey sigmeister

where abouts in sa are you? id really like to help/watch/learn

[Sigmeister]

OK. I made a start with the stipping as suggested. I got a few items to get me started.

Some paint Stripper:

Some Primer:

And a sanding block....thingo:


Then I made a start.
OK Safety first!!


I sanded the edges gently as suggested. I used the paint remover nice and slow to not heat up the panel and it worked a treat:


Then I applied the stipper with a brush. As it was my first time I just did what the directions said and painted it on and covered it for 15-20 mintes.
I believe my downfall was not putting it on thick enough in some areas.



I started scraping it off and noticed that some areas didn't come off as easily as others.


After much scraping I am at this point:


I am wondering, can I apply more stipper to the areas that didn't come off so easily, or should I just sand those off?

[LeeRoy]

You can do either. When using stripped on my friends doors we had to load up the stripper a few times cause there was about 5 coats of paint on them. Sanding is another option too and both will bring it back to a paintable surface.

[Sigmeister]

NOTE: Paint stipping is a messy job. Paint and goop gets everywhere. Make sure you wear some gloves and try not to get stripper on you skin. It burns.

[timbosaurus]

Man.... That's a nice looking sanding-block-thingo. I gotta get me one of them!

So far, so good. Paint stripper actually takes a bit of practice to use consistantly! Sometimes it just bubbles straight away and the paint just falls off. Sometimes it just turns the paint to goo, and you have to scrap, apply, scrape apply. It seems to vary with paint type, temperature, and application thickness.

Sorry, I forgot to warn you it burns

I would use another layer of stripper on the paint, leave if for a while (you can leave it as long as you want, as long as it does't go hard) and try to scrape it off. It really should bubble and take no effort to scrape off.

Once that is done, wash it down THOUROUGHLY with water to get rid of all the stripper, and dry it very well to stop it from oxidising. Wipe it down with diluted rust convertor, leave for 5 mins, then wipe it down with thinners to clean it. You should then have a perfectly clean, dry, shiny sheet of metal. You are now ready to fix and dents and apply primer. Make sure you clean the panel with prepwash and a tack rag before painting/priming, to make sure there are no remains of oil from ur hands, and the tack rag gets rid of any static that would attract dust.

Thats all i can think of now

timbo

[MWP]

Sigmeister, dont get/use the paint/filler from your local car shop like that Motospray stuff.

That Motospray filler is probably dodgy and there is a good chance itll shrink/crack over time. Also the paint you end up using might not work with it properly.
Since your also going back to metal, you should use an etch-primer first.

Go to a proper car paint shop and buy what they recommend for use with the paint they will sell you.
Im using Epotec 2pak filler-primer with Protec 604/606 paint.

Getting the good stuff isnt much more expensive either... for example, 4L of the Epotec filler-primer is only ~$45.
Cheaper than the Motospray stuff youve bought there, and MUCH better quality.
Epotec primer is also good on bare metal, no etch-primer needed.

[HRV-00S]

MWP is right it isn't the best stuff to use. The first car I painted was with Motospray and jet black of all colors, it looked good at first but after a couple of months the paint started to crack and literally fell off. This was after an initial wash with prepsol, sanded back to bare metal, more prepsol, tack rag, primer sealer, sand, prepsol, tack rag, paint, sand, prepsol, tack rag, clear, sand, polish and wax. It really was a lot of work for something that looked like it was done with a rattle can in 10mins.


The next was done the same but with Pro-Tech 2pac, You'll notice the difference after spraying with cheap paints, there worlds apart.


IMHO I think the rubber and foam sanding blocks are a lot easier to use and come in various sizes. I use a long rubber block for flat panels and a small foam block for the tight spots. You should also get so measuring/mixing pots with lids and use paint filters/strainers when transferring to the gun for painting, helps stop blockages.
I learnt most of this the hard way