Glassing and Painting techniques

[Terryscustom]

Yea, I should have been more specific.....by hammer it on I don't mean thick coats. Base dries so fast you can re-coat almost as fast as you go around a large object like a plane. Also you can de-mask and tape over dried base very rapidly.

 

[tylerzx9r]

Agreed on the paint guns, I also use Sata, and Iwata. Terry says "hammer it on" but in reality he probably is not doing so given the equipment he has, however you shouldn't hammer anything on. It does take some practice on different things, (shapes, and vertical, horizontal surfaces) so you can get a feel for what your seeing as the material lays down! As far as a Video to watch, or a place to go to get the best info on this stuff is irrelevant, I only say that because you will find to many opinions on what is right or wrong. I say take advice from an experienced person, and fallow the guidelines of a P Sheet (Product Sheet) for how to use that particular product. If you follow the guidelines there, you cannot screw up to bad! Then use the advice you get as a back pocket trick for assistance. I have been in this industry for 22 years, sprayed a lot of different materials, lacquer, solvent, and water based product. All from several manufacturers, I have been using Spies Hecker products for the last 8 years, and it is my OPINION that they are the best out there! there is a sister company for Spies called Standox if you are in an area like California, NY, NJ, which are aslo very superb!

 

[Jetpainter]

Looking at Terry's photo above made me think of a very important tip. The black plastic filter on the gun on the left is very important. It's the last defense against air line contaminants. And do yourself a favor and buy the DeVilbiss brand filter. You will see orange ones made by Motor Guard. Do yourself a favor and stay away from those, they break. If you've ever had one of those break while your painting you would hate them as bad as I do.

 

[Terryscustom]

Good point, I do have an air-line dryer so I'm able to get most contamination out but I sometimes use my small gun at home sometimes.

Sorry I used the term hammer on

 

[Pistolera]

Awesome, awesome, awesome....GREAT info....keep the tips coming! I'm printing all these out later and filing them.

As for cost...excluding the air compressor (already have that) What's a ballpark cost figure for a newbie: decent all-around gun for giant scale airplane work, tips, filters, respirator, water trap...and anything else?

My new shop/garage will have radiant heated floors and I can easily setup a plastic spray booth/fan/filter when needed.

 

[Jetpainter]

Good point, I do have an air-line dryer so I'm able to get most contamination out but I sometimes use my small gun at home sometimes.

Sorry I used the term hammer on

Since Terry brought up dryer's let me add something. A dryer/filter should be a minimum of 25' away from your compressor. The reason behind that is the temperature differential between the air coming out of the compressor and the rooms temperature can cause condensation in the air line. You want the temperature to equalize before entering the dryer. If you don't have room for them to be that far apart you can run the line down the wall then double back to the dryer.

 

[Dooinit]

I think those ball filters that go on the end of the guns are garbage. Spend about $300 on a decent debilbis wall unit.

 

[Terryscustom]

I made my booth but it was mainly for airbrushing. I do need a larger fan though, I mostly made it for small items so it works great for base but shooting clear get's a lot of fog in the air. I normally heat the shop up to about 80 degrees so I can spray and then open the window with a large fan blowing out on the opposite side of the shop. If you are going to spray clear in a home garage you would likely want to remove anything within about a 10-15 foot radius that you don't want a little bit of a hazy film applied to. You also need a fan that does not have the motor in the airway or fan specified for fume evacuation. On my small paint booth I use a fan that is basically a squirrel cage fan but the motor is outside the fan unit.

 

[Capt.Roll]

.....................I have a supplied air respirator, but not needed for home use

Probably true. However if you are spraying any paint/clear coat/primer you should at least be using a dual-cartridge respirator; one that removes both VOC's and particulate.

+1 on the humidity.........also make sure you have a basic moisture separator and filter for your compressed air supply.

 

[Jetpainter]

I think those ball filters that go on the end of the guns are garbage. Spend about $300 on a decent debilbis wall unit.

I've had the inside of an air hose come apart and put crap in the air, so I run the DeVilbiss filter at the gun as well as a RTI wall mounted unit.