From: J. Lee (milveh@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Aug 22 2002 - 12:05:55 PDT
(For Wes and anyone else who wants to kick in some ideas) .
I have been shooting everything from flat to acrylic enamel 33% @ 35-40 lbs.
using a fan pattern of about 10 inches at 20-25" distance and my results are
just marginal, seems a little dry, not quite the gloss I wanted and it
doesn't want to flash in like I had hoped. The flat paint comes out near
perfect, especially the military mixes that use acetone as a thinner.
Surplus City sells that stuff and I think its great!
No complaints with flat, save for a little extra overspray dust and that
cleans up fine with steel wool. I'm trying to get a better paint job on the
gloss enamel, with maybe small tweaks, from either thinner, hardener, air or
whatever. First negative is I use a medium priced gun, Milwaukee MPS-18
with pot Anyway, for the next job I was thinking of cutting back on thinner
(25%) and upping pressure to 50 lbs and maybe making a tighter pattern?
The compressor can only handle 8.5 SCFM @ 40 lbs., 20 gallon tank. This
means I can't make a good complete run (35-40 seconds) without running out
of air and then it takes some time to recover before I can make another run
at pressure.
Any suggestions how I could obtain better results or improve the compressor
performance without spending a fortune?
I have heard there is a way to ground the vehicle to attract the atomized
charged particles of paint and minimize the dust and overspray, giving much
better results with more paint where you want it... would this be hard to
rig up?
Thanks in advance for any tips.
________________________________________________________________________
Part two: Now my suggestions for fixing paint blemishes, which I have had
lots of practice doing.
Flat paint runs: Catch it quick and use your air to "gently" reverse the
drip until it takes hold, then let it set up or if you can turn the item
upside down and let it run backwards to level. Most cases this is good
enough, but if its still ugly, then use a small wood block and about
800-1000 grit wet and dry paper, bring it as close to level as you can and
spot it over with a touch-in spray gun using a very thin mix. If its still
visible, repeat the process one more time.
You should consider getting one of these touch up guns if you plan on
painting one or two rigs a year. Good for getting into small places too.
If you have some overspray you didn't make it thin enough... but ok, use
some steel wool and knock it down, just don't buff it out or you will soon
have semi-gloss.
Gloss paint runs/sags: If you have the same problem with gloss, its
basically the same procedure except the last part is called color sanding
and then you rub it out with fine grit rubbing compound and polish to
finish. Chances are you won't even need to respray 90% of the small runs or
sags. Contrary to popular rumor, you can buff out orange peel on enamel,
almost like lacquer... if you have enough paint on it and IF you don't get
carried away and peel up the soft paint.
The trick on doing a proper job fixing a run or overspray is to go slow, go
easy and then know when to quit. Key words ....light - touch - go - slow.
Keep em rollin,
Jack
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