Painters, what guns/paint

[CJ]

Hey, if you need a vehicle to help "practice" on, I would like to paint this pick-up bed trailer I bought. I would do any prep, and will pay for the paint. The front and inside are all rhino-lined, I just need the two sides and back of the tailgate.

I might take you up on that. Nice trailer - I'm in the market for one as well to pull behind my jeep (just like in the pic). If you don't mind, what did you end up paying?

[Chili]

I might take you up on that. Nice trailer - I'm in the market for one as well to pull behind my jeep (just like in the pic). If you don't mind, what did you end up paying?

$700. A little on the high side for what it is but he threw in 2 Jerry cans. Has a locking tool box bolted inside and the homemade racks (he used for Kayaks). Plenty of tie downs as well. I love the trailer but want to flip the leaf springs above the axle for some more height. I would like to put 33's under it to match the Bronco.

Rather than the spring flip I may just buy a new 3500 pound trailer axle for it. I have priced them out and should be able to get what I need for less than $200 for perches, springs and axle. I can get the new axle in the 5x5.5 pattern to match the bronco too.

Here it is behind the Bronco:

[Chili]

And I just picked up these to mount an Axe and Shovel on the front:

[sdun]

Is it a split tip 400? What fluid tip?

I got an Iwata w-400 ill sell cheap. I used it for about two months then bought the iwata lph-400. I also use a devilbiss plus for base and that new devilbiss tekna gun. For primer I use that new 3m plastic gun with the disposable ends

[Mark Preus]

Is it a split tip 400? What fluid tip?

Im pretty sure. It cost me I think around 600 without a cup. I think its got a 1.3 tip in it. Ill have to look tomorrow at work

[CJ]

If you wouldn't mind, let me run through a typical paint process and let me know if I'm doing it wrong.

Bleed all water/condensation from air tank. Scuff existing paint and remove any paint with adhesion problems. Shoot with a medium build primer. Wetsand to get any sanding marks out. Thin base paint to spec, adjust HVLP gun to cigar like pattern, shoot vehicle in long passes until covered. Slightly increase flow on gun, thin clear to spec, shoot vehicle with gun slightly closer to panels in long sweeping passes with slight overlap. Additional coats when clear is still tacky. Allow to air dry for a week, wetsand any orange peel.

Is that a reasonable strategy for success? Do I need to invest in an inline drier/condensation collector? Inline air filter? Any other suggestions?

can someone clarify this for me?

[projectPONY]

can someone clarify this for me?

Before you even think about mixing your base you need to get your air supply ready in terms of purity and adequacy. While I'm sure many painters have done an entire car with a 20gal compressor, I'm even more sure it makes for a long tedious job. IMO, a 60gal with good cfm capabilities is a must at the very least. You need to make sure air is as dry as possible also. I'm assuming you're gonna be shooting at home, so the best thing you can do is to run about 20-25ft of hose from the compressor, up the wall, across the ceiling, and back down the opposite wall. Here you should have a press. regulator, water trap, and air filter at the very least. Now you might be ready to prep the car. This system is also a good way of keeping a lot of moisture out of your air tools and I'll stress that this is a budget minded method of purifying/drying the compressed air. There is a lot better ways to do it but this is a basic way to do it for someone who does this as a hobby.

[CJ]

Before you even think about mixing your base you need to get your air supply ready in terms of purity and adequacy. While I'm sure many painters have done an entire car with a 20gal compressor, I'm even more sure it makes for a long tedious job. IMO, a 60gal with good cfm capabilities is a must at the very least. You need to make sure air is as dry as possible also. I'm assuming you're gonna be shooting at home, so the best thing you can do is to run about 20-25ft of hose from the compressor, up the wall, across the ceiling, and back down the opposite wall. Here you should have a press. regulator, water trap, and air filter at the very least. Now you might be ready to prep the car. This system is also a good way of keeping a lot of moisture out of your air tools and I'll stress that this is a budget minded method of purifying/drying the compressed air. There is a lot better ways to do it but this is a basic way to do it for someone who does this as a hobby.

Good advice on running the line. So, a separate regulator mounted on the wall after the run, a water trap, and an air filter - any specific kind of air filter? I think I'll do this with PVC to keep it cheap and easy on me. I have a 33 gallon compressor, but I'm only shooting panels here, not a full car. It's rated good CFM for air sanders, so an HVLP should be no problem. I'm sure I will be completely fine.

[projectPONY]

Good advice on running the line. So, a separate regulator mounted on the wall after the run, a water trap, and an air filter - any specific kind of air filter? I think I'll do this with PVC to keep it cheap and easy on me. I have a 33 gallon compressor, but I'm only shooting panels here, not a full car. It's rated good CFM for air sanders, so an HVLP should be no problem. I'm sure I will be completely fine.

I say stay away from PVC but that is totally up to you. while a lot of people use it without any problems I have seen some come apart. HF sells Goodyear air hose real cheap. a 20ft hose will get the job done and last time I got one it was only about $15. as far as filters and regulators, I run Norgren, but they are not cheap by any means. as a matter of fact, really good filters and regulators are not gonna be cheap. I used some from HF for a long time and they seemed to work ok. if it makes you feel better, I don't see why you couldn't run two right next to each other.

I'm in the process of plumbing my blast cabinet and I'm doing it totally on the cheap. I ran an air line from compressor to the opposite wall via the ceiling, through a HF desiccant filter. from there in runs into a regulator and a water/oil separator then to the cabinet.

[CJ]

I say stay away from PVC but that is totally up to you. while a lot of people use it without any problems I have seen some come apart. HF sells Goodyear air hose real cheap. a 20ft hose will get the job done and last time I got one it was only about $15. as far as filters and regulators, I run Norgren, but they are not cheap by any means. as a matter of fact, really good filters and regulators are not gonna be cheap. I used some from HF for a long time and they seemed to work ok. if it makes you feel better, I don't see why you couldn't run two right next to each other.

I'm in the process of plumbing my blast cabinet and I'm doing it totally on the cheap. I ran an air line from compressor to the opposite wall via the ceiling, through a HF desiccant filter. from there in runs into a regulator and a water/oil separator then to the cabinet.

I'll do that. HF all the way baby! Is my painting/sanding process correct?

[projectPONY]

I'll do that. HF all the way baby! Is my painting/sanding process correct?

Shoot me some pics so I can look at what your working on.

camoreno302@sbcglobal.net

[CJ]

Shoot me some pics so I can look at what your working on.

camoreno302@sbcglobal.net

No need to e-mail, I have them hosted on my server.



I'm going to be repairing the crease on the hood you can see there, and also I'm replacing both front fenders and doing a hi-line fender modification - so that will be a color change on the front fenders.



Here you can see the hood isn't the same color green, and the patch where the paint has flaked off. This concerned me because obviously there was a problem with adhesion (big surprise w/ dodge). I can clearly see the bare steel under the paint, and it looks like it was sanded with an air sander..it may have been repainted I just don't know. So because of that I plan on really sanding the shit out of that area to make sure I have it under control and it won't spread. I didn't see any filler on the hood. The driver door is also not the same green color, and it looks horrible. Also, the windshield frame is bare steel which is rusting. I also have a lightbar that mounts to the windshield frame that I'll be painting.

All in all it's small stuff. The biggest being the hood. I'm not too concerned about blending and matching, so I'll be doing these off the jeep. It can't possibly match worse than the paint I have now. Primarily I want to get the rust under control in the hood and the windshield frame - and get the color the same on all my parts.

[projectPONY]

From what I can tell you don't have anything too major there. The most important would be controlling the rust. Personally, if you have an adhesion problem on that spot of the hood, the adhesion problem is on the entire hood. Save yourself the trouble and strip the whole thing. If no bodywork needs to be done on the hood apply some etch primer followed by some urathane primer. Block it with some 400-600 (I like 600) and its ready to shoot.

[mikeb]

BTW, you'd be surprised what the HF special can do. I've owned to of them for about 8 or 9 years and they still work fine. they come standard with a 1.4 needle and tip.

Indeed. I painted my daughter's car with a couple of HF $60 guns and they did alright. My $200 eastwood gun is a POS in comparison.

Ditto the comments about the quality and quantity of shop air. I have a 60 gallon compressor and it's been more than adequate.

We used PPG basecoat/clearcoat for this project.

[CJ]

I need cheaper paint, damnit.

How much paint would you say I need for a color change on a pair of new fenders, the hood, grill, driver door, windshield frame, and a small light bar? It might sound like a lot, but take a look at the picture first, most of those parts have little surface area.