james caruso
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[b]ding wrote:[/b]
[quote] too many people have a friend thats really good with a spray can and their happy with that :unsure:[/quote]:rofl we definately have plenty of them here too!! there isn’t a big custom scene here either. for me to do enough work i definately have to be nationwide. actually i have a set of harley tins here i am painting for a guy in australia. to date that is the farthest i have gone. the internet made the world a whole lot small. looks at us here, shooting the $hit from all over the place!!
thats unbelieveable really. when it comes to stuff like that i have a real respect for you collision guys.
i have recently made a couple changes in my booth that made a big difference. one i started using that white booth paper on the floor which is awesome. makes cleanup a snap too then you just roll out some new stuff and its like you just painted the floor again. #2 a booth coating from evercoat called tacky coat. its white, you spray it on and its stays a bit slimy on the walls. after a week you should see the crap that is stuck to the walls. thats all $hit that could have ended up in my paint. anyway. once i started with both of those it cut my dust nibs by 50-70%. the rest i’m sure comes from me, the hose or not tacking well enough.
hey guys thanks for all your input!!
bloverby, that is right. there is a huge shop that opened a year ago down the street. they use all premium ppg line. ppg gives them 25% discount plus the jobber gives them another 25% so they are paying 1/2 price for all the paint. now the owner who i know said to break even they have to bill $70g each month. he said he has no problem doing it to date but it is a big stress and nut each month. me, i keep my overhead low, use premium base but save alot of money using spi clears and primers. the spi stuff makes a huge difference for me since in custom work you are using way more clear then color. paying $300 or more for a gallon of clear would make things real hard when every small job has 15-20 coats of clear which usually amounts to a gallon or more. its real hard for me to compare what i do different that a collision shop. its much easier for me to “wow” a customer and have them tell and show all their friends. for you guys, some woman dents her car, you fix it, its the same color and looks like it did before. she ain’t so excited she need to run on out to show everyone what an awesome job you did. not downplaying collision work at all, its an art all its own but its just different and i think its harder for you guys to get your name out there as “the place to goto”. i do agree with nick though. one thing that i have learned is to diversify a little. i know many custom painters and all they do is paint custom bikes and harleys or other guys just paint sportbikes. most are out of business right now or very slow and do it part time. i get into alot of different markets so when one slows down or even all of them, everything balances out. i try to push the sportbike market, harley and custom market, classic car and hotrod market and even the casino sign market. this year the casino stuff has just about stopped and the bikes have dropped slightly but i expanded and got my name out there more in the restoration field so now i probably have enough cars to last me the next 2 years or so. everything just fills in the gaps of the others and keeps me and my 2 guys working steady. besides having a good reputation and keeping the overhead as low as possible i think this is the most important part of creating a more stable business.
the gchain around the axle thing or grounding to the ground of an outlet or anything of that nature is a myth and does not work. while it sounds like it will, it has been tested with absolutely no difference either way. nothing shows static charge like spraying white through an airbrush onto a black panel. you can literally see the static field on the panel as the fine white overspray will stick in crazy patterns. the waterbased cleaners are helpful but the big thing is humidity. humidity kills static. bring the humidity of your booth up. if your in a low humidity area, wet the booth floor down. this will help bigtime but it does work better in the summer than winter since the water evaps slower.
let me tell you indasa 400 and up sucks as well :rofl :rofl norton has always been good 600 and under and 3m good for 600 and over but now norton has got their dry ice and finishing film and they are now better than 3m in the finer grits so i find that norton is now pretty strong with a good product across the board.
jimmo, the red line is their economy paper. i thought i would see what people thought of it. i know alot of companies, paint especially, like to make 1 product and just change the label. knowing 3m i thought it possible they took the gold made it red and dropped the price and called it a chepaer grade. something like they did with the green tape and made it yellow. i do agree with finer grits. 400 to me seems the cut off line. alot of companies have trouble with that grit and above. i think i will just stick with norton.
you know i dont remember. i thought it was the same company that i put the link of above. it was a booth coating though. i really dont think you want to put something on a car that you have to peel off then you will have to deal with overspray and everything else. i think you would be asking for trouble with anything that does not just rinse off. the peelable stuff will not pressure wash off by any means. its a tough deal and actually sticks pretty good thats why its still on the walls of my old booth.
i believe the retail price on the afs stuff i use was about 800 a drum as well but i bought it on a blowout from my warehouse and i think i paid 400 for it. stone, i have tried this stuff on the floor and its too delicate. it scratches off to easily. in my old shop i tried the booth coating that you pull off before, on the walls not floor. that was a big mistake. i go back to use that booth once in a while if i get jammed up…its still on the walls and it ain’t comming off. anywhere its on too thin and you pick it off in little pieces. that stuff is expensive and extremely labor intensive to remove compared to the wash off kind. the white booth paper is the best thing for floors. rips right up, roll some new stuff down, tape the seams and your done…..brand new white floor!! i have also tried the stuff from evercoat on the walls. i really like it you just cant tough the walls because i leaves them slimy. it leaves a tacky film that catches dust, bugs and anything else. i have noticed a difference in how clean my jobs come out when i use it. that stuff rinses away as well. i just have to remember not to put it on the door! :lol1
looks like an eaton???
on the booth walls i just spray the stuff. like i said this product is blue and looks just like dawn dish soap. actually i swear thats what it is. anyway with my booth being white i dont want to turn the walls a blue color so i thin the stuff out 50/50 with water and spray a thin wet coat on with my lph400. that sprays it thin enough where its basically transparent. i go right over the glass on the lights and everything. you cant even tell its on there but washes off great. takes me about 15 minutes to do the whole booth but saves a ton of labor cleaning it and the walls always look brand new. between that and the white booth paper for the floor that i started using the booth always looks brand new and is super bright all the time.
i have the stuff from AFS. company i used to get my booth filters from. put a link below. it reminds me of dawn dish soap. even smells like it. i would use it as a booth coating. i reduce it 50% with water and after we clean the booth and the walls are dry i spray a coat on. it dries and when we wash the booth out everything just melts off the walls leaving it bright white again. works really well. i have a 55 gal drum of it here. i figured it out and at the rate i use it that will last me aprox 12 years. :lol1
http://www.afcfilters.com/pc/index.html
thats it!!! that was the exact story i heard from someone else here at a shop. i thought the were full of $hit. :rofl
i have heard that about the $100 bill toner. this sonds like complete bs but i was told that if you have a repair to do you need to contact basf, a rep will show up at your shop with the paint, you use what you need then when your done they take the rest away with them because your not allowed to have it. this is not for the regualr extreme colors just that ford color code.