From vanagon@lenti Fri May 26 12:55:30 1995 Received: from haraldes.med.umn.edu by lenti.med.umn.edu; Fri, 26 May 95 12:55:30 CDT Date: Fri, 26 May 95 12:55:24 CDT Received: from (localhost) by haraldes.med.umn.edu; Fri, 26 May 95 12:55:24 CDT Message-Id: <9505261753.AA10349@decws3.coe.wvu.edu> Errors-To: gsker@lenti Reply-To: vanagon@lenti Originator: vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu Sender: vanagon@lenti Precedence: bulk From: ja@decws3.coe.wvu.edu (John Anderson) To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Newbie paint questions. X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Status: RO X-Status: D A couple of days ago somebody asked what it takes to set up a basic set of equipment to paint a Bus, well I've painted a few, done panel repair and painting on a Vanagon, Jetta, Rabbit, Buick Skylark, etc. so although nowhere near a pro, I thought I'd give a stab at a fairly complete answer. 1. Compressor, of greatest importance, especially if you ever intend to sandblast or run a big air tool, not so importan if you just need to run a spray gun, consider only a 3hp or greater, you need 6-10 cfm AT 90 PSI, 10-15 cfm at 40 psi, leaning toward the greater numbers with a 20-50 gallon tank. Sears prices have been attractive recently but best deals probably at warehouse places like SAMS club who sell SANBORN or Campbell-Hausfield, expect $300-$500 for a fairly good quality home compressor. Oiless jobs with teflon rings were in vogue a few years ago but some people went back to older style, might mean the oiless don't last, might not, I don't know. oiless sure is nice for painting. 2. Filter/Control Unit, this is very important for painting, water will be your worst enemy, drain the tank often and buy a good quality water filter, often come with a regulator on them, and I don't mean one of the cheap littler jobs, pro quality with a trap between 1 pt and 1 qt size, generic probably $30 Sharpe maybe $50 or so, check your local paint supply shop, prices can be good sometimes. 3. Hoses, I prefer Goodyear Orange (red) Pliovic, 50ft a must, will set you back $20-$25, black hoses always seem less flexible and more prone to crack but it could just be me. 4. Small at the gun regulator, convenient to set pressure at the gun, as there is significant pressure loss in a hose. Around $15. 5. Spray Guns, well I personally think there is nothing wrong with the better quality budget guns if you keep em clean, parts to rebuild could be tough though but for occasional use worth the savings IMHO, still a low end Sharpe or DeVilbiss would be a good choice and probably around $100-$150 with 1 qt. teflon lined cup. Now I would still get a cheapo $25-$35 ripoff from Whitney or Harbor Freight for primer, well worth it especially if you shoot epoxy primer and leave it in too long. Personaly I have two $50-$65 range knock offs and they spray perfectly well, one was top of the line Whitney the other top of the line Harbor Freight a few years back, I would rather go this way and buy a primer gun than get a pro gun but choose your own way, a $50-$60 gun at a discount club would be the same quality as would be Sears top of the line and might be worth considering for convenience. Now I've never used these new HVLP gun's but I am skeptical myself as HVLP should require great volumes of low pressure air, the real one's are the turbine systems (another good choice actually if all you want to do is paint $350-$500 for low end one from adds in Hemmings), still the HVLP ones are only $90-$100 from harbor freight with a 2qt remote cup one $110 or so, so might be worth looking into, if anyone has experience with these please post. Remote cup gun's are convenient but limit your hose length, still are great particularly on a bus to shoot under the drain rails and rockers, as are for than matter the gravity feed or small 8oz cup touch up guns, again a nice thing to buy a cheapo knock off for $25 or so. Any way you go, clean IMMEDIATELY after use and it will last, get bulk acryllic laquer thinner, often sold by the paint places as gun cleaner for $5-$10 a gallon. 6. repirator, OF PRIME IMPORTANCE, at least a quality AO Safety model with elements for paint, pesticide, radon daugters, etc, the big elements, with activated charcoal, not merely filter. Cheack your paint shop they might have good one's for not much more than the $35 or so you would blow at a hardware store. I note THESE WILL STILL NOT PROTECT YOU FROM ISOCYNATE HARDENERS IN CATALYZED ENAMELS AND URETHANES, spray these at your own risk in totaly ventilated areas, a positive pressure system is the only safe way on these. 7. Paint, I prefer PPG, this is just me, and I've heard bad stories on corrado-l from others about Dupont and R-M, but all these better than cheaper parts store paint, go to a real automotive paint supplier, stick with one system all the way through, to the origional poster, if that primer has been sitting outside in weather, it will absorb water and might be a problem, at least sand wet with 320 wash well, let dry a few days, clean well with degreaser and the shoot a primer sealer and you might just be OK. PPG epoxy etching primer a good choice, followed by Acryliseal, then your top coat. For home use Acryilic laquer is optimal for quick dry times, but is not very resilient and will lift anything but older laquer if not properly sealed, and still might lift then. Acrylic enamel with urethan catalyst (hardener) can be used and even clearcoated with urethane for maximum durability, this is as far as I would go at home, get some good books, ask your paint supplier lots o questions, most have charts listing compatible systems within their line and plan well. The most important thing is cleanliness of the origional surface, degrease once, then again, then again and you will have good luck, do less you might not. Shooting in a garage is a good choice but only with great ventilation, ie leave the door open, plus overspray will go everywher, get some real thin plastic sheet from a garden supply store, a roll say 20ft wide of real thin stuff, and make a tent inside hanging it with firring strips tacked to the joists. Clean floor of dust well, with water before starting, spraying down the floor and driveway outside might not be a bad idea immediately before painting in fact. Oh and doing the top of a Bus aint easy, two heavy step ladders with a big 2x14 plank between em as a short scaffold is a great idea. Anyway hope this little primer has been of some use to somebody, if anyone has further questions, email me personally, I'll try to help. John ja@coe.wvu.edu '71 Westy Virginia, '90 Corrado G60