Martin Cooper wrote:
> Frank I know from previous emails, that you and your son paint your own
> cars. If I may ask what type of equipment are you using and what would you
> recommend.
Martin
I use a cheap $99 Craftsman gun for primer and sealers.
I tried it a few times with the final color only to have my son respray
the car with his SATA gun (about $600)
I painted the big Healey using the SATA gun, what a difference a good
spray gun makes. The healey is black and everyone who sees it, can't
believe it's a garage paint job. And for my first complete paint job
without my son, I am happy.
A decent spray gun will work, just give it lots of coats so you can
color sand any orangepeel or dry patterns out.
I use a 3M filtered mask, no fresh air pumped in type of respirator.
I am hoping the solvents in the paint and thinners will disolve the
years of tar in my lungs from smoking ;) But you really can't smell
anything with the 3M filter (about $25 once, and you can buy replacement
filters)
I use a fan in the window to exhaust the paint cloud while spraying.
Wet the floor an hour before spraying to minimize dust. Leaf blower to
the walls and shelves just before I wet the floor too.
Dust is inevitable, but it wet sands out. Bugs will kill your paint job
and bugs like the smell of new paint, they will land in it, flap around,
and die stuck in the new paint. Bugs don't sand out that well so de-bug
before you spray.
For the paint, name brands are so much better than the cheaper off
brands. PPG, Dupont, etc. Use the complete system recommended by the
brand. Primers, sealers, hardeners, thinners. Do not mix brands.
Cheap lacquer thinner for clean up is fine, just don't use it to thin
any paint.
I prefer single stage urethane paints, spray it tonight, sand it
tomorrow afternoon. WHEN (not if) you get a chip or scratch, it is
easily touched up and sanded out.
Base/clear is nice but is very hard to touch up.
This can be argued back and forth but I see my son's cars a year after
paint and I can see where he *tried* to touch it up. I already touched
up the Healey and my Sprite, Only I know where those touch ups are.
--
Frank
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