Craig Coburn
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At the risk of being a buzz-kill, it’s easy to do it cheap – what Bobwires is saying is that it isn’t easy to do a quality job cheap. I’ve painted a few cars in my garage and continue to do so – it’s not easy and you’ll polish every job. I have drapes that I hang and a 9000 cfm fan to handle the fog. I use furnace filters and toss them out after each job. I need more light and have recently completed a complete air cooler to ensure dry air.
I’ve got a natural gas garage heater mounted to the ceiling and it is outside of the drapes. I’ve not had an issue (no explosions :unsure: so far). In the winter (I’m in Canada) – I turn the heat way up and then kill the furnace while I paint. As soon as I’m done and the booth is clear I turn the heat back on. It’s not perfect, but it works.
This is one I did in the winter…it’s pretty pure white and is from a recent model Mercedes.
[IMG]http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab189/grpA_240/Motorcycle_Jade/clear-8.jpg[/IMG]
Ya, and when it’s baked on for a week…what a mess. I need a larger garage.
[quote=”Jayson M” post=21240]Sikkens rally black or utech 200 urethane mixed with 100% flatening agent,2 laps around the car and you are done vs 2-3 coats of base plus 2 coats of flat clear…work smart not hard :weights[/quote]
I use UTech 2000 for painting the scientific instruments that I make…its awesome. I shoot 2 coats of epoxy (black) then the UTech 2000 as Jayson has described. It’s NIGHT – which is what I need. Durable too.
That looks awesome…thanks for posting the walk around.
:pcorn: Paying attention to this one…I have to polish nibs out of everything I paint unless it’s something that I don’t care about and it turns out fine :whistle: . What polishing system is the “best”? I’m using Norton Liquid Ice right now and find that it has some oils or something in it that makes me think it’s time to move on to the next stage of polishing only to find out later that I’ve got to do it again as the gloss washed off :huh: . I’m using 3M (purple bottle) for final finishing on dark colours.
[quote=”ARTSPRAY” post=20653]your guage is a guide only and even if it is out [but consistantly out] it is still only a guide ,think of it this way,you can have a reading in PSI PSIG BAR or MCG ie My Chinese Guage ,the guage doesnt change the physical pressure coming through only the format it reads it in so if your guage reads 30 whilst mine reads 28 whether yours is the acurate one or mine is then it matters not a jot as long as we both know where our paint/gun works best ,it has more to do with the ability to set up a gun correctly than working off predetermined pressures especialy as spraying conditions can vary from hour to hour therefore corrections have to be made from hour to hour day to day week to week and season to season along with corrections for materials etc etc etc ,this is where experiance trumps recomendations ,Sata recomend 2.5 BAR/36PSI triggered ,i have never used one that high and so it follows [acording to Sata] everyone here so far is wrong with recomedations around the 2.1 BAR figure
the only way you can be certain of your guage readings is to have it calibrated against a known acurate guage ,but all said and done that doesnt mean your gun will atomise any better or worse based soley on how acurate or not your guage may be
if the speedo on my car is out by + 20% it doesnt mean i am going any faster !
Paul[/quote]
Thanks Paul – I get the point, there is no gaurantee that the gauge is properly calibrated. Without the required experience (which I’m getting very slowly) it’s hard to get a real grip on making this “easy”. I think I’m getting pretty lucky as I’ve only had one corn cob job 😡 (that red with the Iwata) and the UTec polished so well that my buddy was looking at his car saying we (meaning me) should paint the entire car. It’s a Volvo 740…take it to the junk yard and get something less ugly was my answer :rofl . He’s got another car he has to work on – but that’s how well it worked :rock . I’ve got another fluid tip coming for the Iwata as it’s still a great gun and I don’t know how I would do small stuff with the SATA. That would take a lot more skill than I have.
Given that much of this stuff seems to be a rythm thing with the right setup I need to keep very detailed notes on what I’ve done because I don’t pull the trigger often enough. Your confidence can fade really fast when things change like paint systems, air flow, gun selection and others that I’ve swapped around lately. It’s time to settle in on a single setup and stop changing the tools to account for my inexperience. I’m pretty well setup right now – if I get this gauge thing fixed then I am the only variable left. I like it better that way!
[quote=”Jayson M” post=20647]You can spray utech 4.0 clear at about 28psi with a 1.3rp,it is not a high solid clear,but a medium solid and it dries quick, so you will be ok.Your set up looks great but I would ditch the princess auto digital gauge and get something better like a devilbiss digital,offshore has them behind the counter.You might want to look into a large cage fan or a 16-18 tubeaxil fan if you can afford it.Let us know how it works out.Also if you find the 4.0 clear a little on the fast side you can put in about 5-10% slow reducer.4.0 will be a great garage clear,I always sprayed it with a 1.4.[/quote]
That’s the current plan – try to get either a furnace squirell cage or a large barell fan and see what happens. I’ll have to work something out for the winter…I’ve only got about 1/2 a kit left of the 4.0 but everything has turned out really well with it so far. Gotta get some better lights this summer as well.
I recently bought a General air filter for the rafter area of my garage. It was hard to control the dust while woodworking in the garage and you end up with dust everywhere. It filters with two filters down to 3 microns and works like a charm. It’s keeping the dust in the garage down…may work for you while you get a complete solution worked out. Moves about 800 CFM and has a remote control.
Thanks for the tips guys. Here we go…a few pictures to help with the words.
Here’s the regulator – so I set the pressure here with the trigger pulled.
[IMG]http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab189/grpA_240/Painting/IMGP0370.jpg[/IMG]This is the completed expander/cooler network.
[IMG]http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab189/grpA_240/Painting/IMGP0371.jpg[/IMG]This is the adapter I made. Hydraulic fitting with a 1/8″ NPT nipple.
[IMG]http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab189/grpA_240/Painting/IMGP0373.jpg[/IMG]Here’s the cheap gauge…I monitor the pressure with this gauge not the gauge on the air dryer. That way I’m measuring pressure at the gun. I’ll dial up the pressure (spraying the UTech 4.0 clear) and see how that works. A little more trigger time and I’ll have it down…gotta get a furnace fan or something in the garage to get the fog out. The box fans are not cutting it.
I was running it pretty much wide open…so maybe I’ll back it off a turn or so to see how that works. I’m pretty sure my system is fine for volume as I’m running 3/4″ copper from the compressor (a two stage 60 gal 5hp unit) and have a 3/8″ hose with high flow connectors. This will all be me learning how to spray with this gun – and learning how to spray period. Every job is comming out better as I continue to improve my inside environment and air distribution.
Sandblasting is the way to go…once done I’d get it powder coated. There’s a powder coater near me that has the blasting facilities on site and it’s not all that expensive.
It’s been a long week – but I think the work on my garage booth has paid off. As I was waiting for my SATA 3000 RP to show up in the mail, I got to work on the air supply. I added another 24′ of 3/4″ copper tubing to my network ending in about 20′ of 1′ copper in a maze to a drip leg and a water trap. From the compressor to the spray gun connection (about 60′ of line) I measured only 10 lbs of pressure drop. In the quest for increased flow I got 50′ of new 3/8″ line with high flow fittings. I also changed out the small 1/4″ ball valve at the regulator for a 3/8″ unit. I then took the digital regulator (cheapo model from Princess Auto) that I had on my gun whip and tossed it in the garbage (I took the gauge off it first) – then welded up a new connector that uses only the gauge. I’m now setting the pressure using the wall regulator and using this gauge to test the pressure at the gun.
Whew! Now for the fun part. The RP arrived and needed a really good cleaning. I replaced a bunch of seals that were either warn or missing. The new air supply makes (I think) a huge difference, but the RP was just NUTS…I’m really glad I didn’t get the 1.4! I had a touch-up job to do on a buddies car (off to a car show next week) and I had to paint the rear fender lips and spray a replacement cowl. This is the same car that I tried the U-Tech 3.5 out on…and had all the trouble. Well, I’ve got to say the RP is a monster. The job came out very well and with the fluid backed out all the way then back in a 1/2 turn and the pressure at 28 psi, I was painting at a rate that I haven’t moved at since the 80’s.
No time to think – just a rhythm, pull the trigger and MOVE…watch the wet edge and overlap. Got a stupid grin on my face…this gun rocks :rock . Thanks to Jayson for the suggestion.
Sounds like a good solution to me Andy – I’m working on a 1″ copper pipe cooler myself right now. I’ve got about 30′ of 3/4″ copper running into this (adding one more turn tomorrow), then it dumps down into a “T” then to a water trap.
[IMG]http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab189/grpA_240/copper_pipe_cooler.jpg[/IMG]
Weld them up – they will warp but control the warping with quenching the area. Jump around when filling with weld and use the backing plate (I use a piece of 3/4 copper tube that I’ve flattened on one end for a heat sink/backer). If you can get to the back side, then you can hand shrink/stretch as required and get it smoothed out. I’ve also had a lot of luck with a shrinking disk over the years – slow but it works.