The Spray Painting Thread

["Z" UTE]

After re-reading some stuff.. Would it make more sense for nikki to go down before the hifill primer?

Yes you would attempt to fill all the lows before applying hifill. Spray hifill, spray guide coat, sand with 240/320 on long board, then find other spots that require nikki, fill sand and prime those areas, re-apply guidee coat as well and give final sand. Hopefully at this points all the lows are gone and all the highs are knocked back. This is the crucial time, miss something here and apply colour, you will hate yourself.

Owen, finish spraying, clean guns and pots, then remove masking, that is about the time frame. You will have to take care not to drag any paper or tape across your lovely new paint. So yes the paint has flashed off but the cure process is only just beginning.

cheers Chuck.

[o_man_ra23]

Thanks Chuck, that's the info I was chasing.

[1JZ-Rolla]

As I progress, i'm finding a new appreciation for the work of panelbeaters/sprayers, and a good understanding of why its never cheap for a good job

Quick question, if I wanted to paint both the inside and outside of the front guards (need to seal up the insides as I don't run any plastic splash guards), would I be best to paint the outside or inside first? How much trouble am I likely to have with overspray curling around the edge of the panel to the other side?

Cheers

["Z" UTE]

Phil, probably best to do the inside first, as any overspray onto that is unimportant compared to getting the new exterior covered in overspray. Drop by and rumage through my left over paint supplies if you need something to do the inside of the guards.

cheers Chuck.

[TurboRA28]

The guys at the vg autopaint day recommends automotive enamel for something size of coaster at home. Also said the protek iso free 2k is just as bad for you, basically replaced one poison for another and should only be used in booth vented mask etc.
Opinions?

["Z" UTE]

Joel, I suppose the advantage with enamel is that it takes so damn long to dry, so you could paint the entire bus in one day. Watching the dust settling into the enamel and the bugs doing the backstroke might put me off a bit.

The enamel will flash off a lot slower than acrylic and 2K. The enamel skins up, and remains soft underneath, this will cause pulling of the paint, developing hair line fractures in the surface that will eventually lead to crows feet, when painted in direct sunlight.

Iso free simply means there are no Isocyanates in the paint, yep what else did they put in there.

Outdoors with mask on, and make sure you do it when all the kiddies are in school, so long as your house dont back onto a school. Best time of the day for outdoors painting is about 9:00am to 2:00, least wind and fewer bugs.

cheers Chuck.

[o_man_ra23]

For the purposes of painting 1 or 2 vehicles, the quantity of toxins you will ingest if you use a decent mask will be minimal. Prolonged exposure will likely lead to the carcinogens taking hold of your lungs, so this approach is not recommended for people painting regularly. I am not sure how well an active charcoal filter will remove the carcinogens of iso-free, but I do know they are pretty well useless on free organic isocyanates.

As for painting 2k outside, the biggest 2 worries are overspray on your neighbours, and bugs in your paint. Acrylic dries really quick, so overspray becomes nothing more than powdery dust once it crosses the fenceline, and bugs have to get on there pretty well as you are spraying.

[TurboRA28]

So I finished up some repairs around the front of the coaster today and had a go at priming them in 2k hi fill.
The gun was being spastic though and was more like a machine gun. No constant flow of paint it was like pulsing. Paint, no paint, paint. Tried different air pressures and flow settings but nothing made it better.
Was using a 2.5 mm setup. The breather didn't appear blocked.
Any ideas?

[o_man_ra23]

Do you have a filter in the bottom of the pot on the gun?? If so, I couldn't get the high fill go through mine, and it would carry on like you are describing.

[TurboRA28]

Yes I have one of those in there.

[o_man_ra23]

Give it a go without and see how you do.

[TurboRA28]

Cool thanks will try tomorrow.

Also after priming I can see some areas that need attention. What grade paper am I best to use to sand the primer back for more nikki?

When I get gun setup right I want to go over it all with another coat. What grade paper for the good areas just to allow 2nd primer coat?

["Z" UTE]

Joel toss that little filter out when spraying hifill, it does not have the flow rate for the amount of solids in the hifill.

Your normal filtering through the dunces cap filter into the gun pot will be more than sufficient.


EDIT, 320 grade paper will work great in both instances

cheers Chuck.

[ian]

you can always reduce the hifill a little
as it settles a bit better and you dont have to block it out so much

[TurboRA28]

Thanks all, tried today without the filter bit and worked a treat. This time around the finish over the repairs looks pretty good but wont know until I guide coat it and start sanding. I forgot to mask up the front wheel! Can I use some thinners on the tyre you reckon?

I did get some runs in the hifill primer though. Is this just because I suck? I tried turning the fluid down but then it was sandy, but then added more fluid and got a nice finish but with some big runs.
Also at one stage after refilling the gun with more primer it was spraying out like chunks of primer and made a mess of the finish. This seemed to go away though and then ran nice for the rest of the job. Would hate for that to happen with the colour.

So far I have primed the front and around the door frame.

Just to get this correct.. I now block back with a big sanding board and can I confirm what grades I start and finish with when blocking back the hifill? Do I have to prime again, or can I put colour straight over the blocked back hifill? Assuming I don't go back to metal/nikki anywhere.

Some pics so far..