Brandon Blakley
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Worked mobile in the Seattle area for almost 3 years; year round successfully. Used PPG base and clear. Kinda expensive but it work great for the application without any added drama. If you have any questions I probably have the answer.
Welcome, pretty new myself
I have always prepped with 800 getting as much of the old yellowing milky finish off. I have done a few sets on my personal cars and never had issues. I achieve the desired tint, and spray 2 coats of clear over the tint. If and when it chips it doesn’t chip the tint.
Usually charge 150 for up to 300 for full set
maybe I am being to particular about my color matches? Went to the color adjustment class. It was very intuitive. I had instant success. However there are some traits with this system that are annoying more than anything. Usually reds never match the side tone, always to yellow..
I agree with strawberry. A painters positioned is earned. One thing that I can say is if you care about your work and you care about doing a honest quality job, the rest will take care of itself. Another important bit is good shops run well as a team. What I mean by that, make friends avoid people who are the center of drama, they are cancerous! do a little more than the next guy. Center yourself around good people.
you will see a difference in a guy who is in the trade for a paycheck, rather than the guy who is in it for the career and passion. This trade really needs good people.
Best of luck
don’t have any experience with Limco or Lesonal. However another thing you may consider being new is the ease of use. du Pont base is a bastard to fix any nibs or such. PPG is expensive not as much as some of the European paint, and very user friendly. Matrix is a cheaper version of PPG that offers the same characteristics and saving some money.
Like Ben mentioned some paint lines have a 3 stage formula and some have a 2 stage. Finding a 2 stage formula would be of great value to your wallet and skill level.
Best of luck
Yeah I lost my F’n job because I was over meticulous. Our shop was a 215-230K shop in sales a month. I had a re shoot rate of less the 5%, GP on paint was roughly 35-38%, industry standard is 20-25%. The corporation wanted 50%.
a painter sprays to a T the way paint line says, in this case Nexa Autocolor, they have a very specific way of doing things. You follow it Things turn out beautiful.
So I and my paint crew got pulled aside to write up an “action plan” on how not to “trip on our dicks” need I mention cycle times in the paint shop were 2 days sometimes 1 on the obvious sometimes 3 on the really big stuff. They asked what I could do different? I responded nothing. Didn’t know we had an issue. We had a bogyman that we sent back work 2-3 times almost every job because mud work was horrible, and turn around and have to reprime or paint would fix and back flag. Parts was always an issue, and the use of keystone bumpers on almost every job. We would grind down casting lines and end up priming a new bumper. How does this save money.
I would say that half my paint jobs were no buffs, a few were spot nibbed and a rare occasion a “buff it to save it”
So my manager at the time preaches quality. We need to set the example in the industry and be the leaders in quality blah blah blah. Just to contradict yourself by your actions. REALLY
about a month later I got canned. I felt good about standing up for what I knew was right. It’s a very cut throat trade. Can’t really say I like it. But I like painting.
I have dedicated clear a base guns, not looking for an all purpose gun. I had been using a Tekna a rep let me borrow for a few weeks. I was very happy with it. The PPG rep told me about the LPH440 and I was doing some research on what SATA offered. Just wanted to know if there was something perhaps better than the tekna.
Thanks for the input guys
I would worry about adhesion of solvent base on water base. Not saying a person couldn’t however… If you have based in water use the water cleaner and gold scotch brite and get busy. Seems messy not all that bad.
First thing comes to my mind is if your baking in a down draft the flat panels will tend to run 20-40 degrees hotter than the sides. If you don’t let it flash all that hot air will skin over on the flat panels first trapping tail solvents. Should maybe let it purge for a few???
I spray nexxa autocolor. Usually wait 15min before clear to let as much or the water evaporate, 2 full coats clear, 5 min purge @ 100 and then a full bake.
A modge podge of products is always a reason for question of itself. All painters do it, myself included!!
It’s the air hose?
Learned this trick, little reluctant to give it out. It’s really not a secret. Roll up an old playboy magazine. Add a couple layers of tape “length wise” Dude this block is the shit. Round curves reverse curves. Most used block I have. The little foam blocks are useful too more so with primer because they are so soft.
It takes a little while to break it in.
PPG trainers focus on this point directly. To get to the point they have shaded sealers and ground colors to remedy this issue.
Use the beloved Toyota 3r3 code. 13 coats of just base to achieve hiding. 4 coats with correct shade of sealer and ground color PPG says to use. :deadhorse
For the majority of paint jobs I average 2 coverage coats and 2 control coats. Most colors.
PPG trainers focus on this point directly. To get to the point they have shaded sealers and ground colors to remedy this issue.
Use the beloved Toyota 3r3 code. 13 coats of just base to achieve hiding. 4 coats with correct shade of sealer and ground color PPG says to use.
For the majority of paint jobs I average 2 coverage coats and 2 control coats. Most colors.
it’s all in the TECHNIQUE. Air pressure should always be the same. I clear with a Sata 4000 the inlet is always at 39 to get 10psi at the cap. I clear a Audi or a Mazda with the same pressure. Gun distance can help but you gotta move quick! And the RP’s are hosers!
Keep away from your adjacent panel, on lighter colors mostly silvers. The DBC500 like all wetbed products will darken the panel.
Spray wetbed 6″ from next panel. Your first coat of clear will overlap this by 3″ and clear entire panel with 2nd coat.
The clearer the clear the more depth and the darker the panel will be. This is especially true with waterborne wet beds.
Spray a med wet coat as you would with base.
Another benefit of a wet bed is the panel turns to a semi gloss shine the same as the base coat. It is much easier to see your blends.