My painting project (not for purists)

[Sleepyhead97]

Regular car problems happen even when not driving it .

Went to start car but battery was completely dead. Put a charger on it for30 mins. No start

Checked voltage at battery, measly 2 volts.

Battery was completely dry, no acid. Added distilled water and trickle charged for 16 hours. Has 13v now. Not sure if it will keep but I think it will.

[Sleepyhead97]

Been a while since I posted so I figured Ill update you on the progress so far. I have been messing with my paint gun and trying to see how well it actually paints. So far I painted the old bumper with Rustoleum Gloss Black, and it looks "okay". Better than I expected since I started just throwing it on there with the gun and adjusting settings ETC on the fly. But this has taught me that I have more progress to make as far as setting up my equpiment. I have learned I need more VOLUME out of my compressor, and the bottleneck is the airhose fittings and couplers. I will make a trip to HF tomorrow and pick up 3/8" automotive fittings/couplers. I believe this will contribute significantly to this paints success.

Secondly, it is very difficult to find a regular that is worth a darn! I reached out to my brother who does DIY painting and he said he has had the same issues finding a good regulator. At this point, Ill also try the 3/8" regular from HF or!! I might stop by Lowes and try their Kobalt brand. Leaning that way since its only $10 more...

As far as sanding ETC on the car... Turns out, I sanded it too fine as the T-REX Epoxy Sealer states to sand it at 180-220 grit. I will be sanding it to 180 since I already have that grit on hand. On the bumpers & kicker panels Ill be using a adhesion promoter so I wont need to sand those areas.After I had the sunroof stripped of paint, it flash rusted in a few spots so Ill prep that again the DAY OF painting... which should be done sometime this month with any luck...

Here is a picture of the paint on the old bumper and a random sign I had in my shed. This is with 1/4 airhose fitting, in direct sunlight on a 100deg day. Also, my phone camera sucks, and my fingers are in every Photo hahah.

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I Dexter'ed my garage.
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[Sleepyhead97]

Gun seems smother and more consistant with 3/8 fittings. Bought a new rubber hose 25' Diablo brand (Harbor freight 14 bux on sale.)

I bought a 5 dollar LOL regulator from HF as well.. Honestly it's working well. I may try to prime with it and see how it performs.

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[flynfrog]

I would recommend doing a panel at a time with that compressor. Take them off the car and you can put them horizontal and be less likely to get runs. The metallic might not match perfect. But trying to do the whole car with that compressor will be a challenge. The problem inst your fittings or regulator its that the compressor cant and wont be able to keep up. You can get a small reg that mounts near the gun so you take the air resivor that is your hose out of the equation. Remember you set the air pressure with the gun running not static. Funny story my battery took a crap this week too. I would also get that fan out of your booth its going to stir up dust and is an explosion hazard. You can wet the floor A LITTLE to keep the dust down you dont want enough that you splash it up on your paint it should just be damp. Keep up the good fight

[Sleepyhead97]

I would recommend doing a panel at a time with that compressor. Take them off the car and you can put them horizontal and be less likely to get runs. The metallic might not match perfect. But trying to do the whole car with that compressor will be a challenge. The problem inst your fittings or regulator its that the compressor cant and wont be able to keep up. You can get a small reg that mounts near the gun so you take the air resivor that is your hose out of the equation. Remember you set the air pressure with the gun running not static. Funny story my battery took a crap this week too. I would also get that fan out of your booth its going to stir up dust and is an explosion hazard. You can wet the floor A LITTLE to keep the dust down you dont want enough that you splash it up on your paint it should just be damp. Keep up the good fight

Thanks for sticking with me! Appreciate all your feedback.
I would love to have a larger compressor but ATM. just using what i have. If it 100% cant hang I'll bite the bullet and get one. I know its a weak link in this chain. I have a few more practice runs to try.

I was planning on having the fan just outside the bay door and it will draw air out. Do you think that would be hazardous? I know I need air flow as this urethane paint is particularly dangerous with the isocyanates.. Air flow is probably even more important than a mask is what i am reading. Though a mask is still required, but almost every health safety source is saying a hood and fresh air mask is the only safe bet lol. Very impractical.

[flynfrog]

you want to avoid drawing paint fumes through the motor of that fan. Ideally you would have something with a TEFC motor on it so that you dont splode. Not saying I haven't used old furnace fans before but It was a pretty bad idea. You will want to be drawing in fresh air and have some where for it to go not just stir it around. Some box fans blowing through furnace filters into your boot with a vent out the other side will limit fumes through the motors and give you fresh air not stirred air. You will want to run them for a while before you start to paint to let the dust get stirred up and blown out.

Looks like you are in Texas. Now is not great weather for paint high heat and humidity are not fun. I would try to paint early in the morning when its as cool as can be. You are correct on the dangers or Isocynate curatives. They also saturate your sense of smell quickly so you don't notice they are still there.

I think you can make the compressor work but like I said just do a couple panels at a time. This will give the compressor a chance. Spray a fender let to pump back up do the next one ect. Also painting with them horizontal is way easier than vertical if you haven't painted much. You will get less runs.

For a regulator get something like https://www.amazon.com/16573-Accuspr...0AJRVRZM1F9JBE

Then you can run your big regulator higher then fine adjust at the gun with this one.


Keep up the good work. We all started somewhere.

[Sleepyhead97]

Got it. Push air into booth. Do not pull air out cuz BOOM. Ac filters and let dust settle before paint. I'm fortunate of my garage setup. Is a huge double bay door garage. It has a full room built as a part of it. That room has an exterior door and interior door into garage (my booth).

I think this is perfectly safe

[flynfrog]

you will want some light coming in from the sides too. It will be hard to see what you are doing down low and up the sides of the car. A 4ft florescent on a stand will help a ton.

[Sleepyhead97]

you will want some light coming in from the sides too. It will be hard to see what you are doing down low and up the sides of the car. A 4ft florescent on a stand will help a ton.

I have a dual halogen light stand. Is that too hot for room? I have a florescent light fixture I can rig into a stand aswell.

[E34Driv3r]

I have a dual halogen light stand. Is that too hot for room? I have a florescent light fixture I can rig into a stand aswell.

I suppose it depends on what exactly you have, but generally, hot lamps can cause the paint particles to dry in mid air and that leads to poor adhesion and a poor texture on the surface. You could maybe just get LED bulbs for them as a quick remedy.
Ideally, you want all your lighting to be of the same colour temperature also.

[flynfrog]

I have a dual halogen light stand. Is that too hot for room? I have a florescent light fixture I can rig into a stand aswell.

I used one when I started painting I couldn't figure out why I would get random runs in the middle of panels turned out to be the lights. I would go LED or florescent. You will be amazed how bad what you think is good light is when you are trying to paint the bottom of a door.

[Sleepyhead97]

I got the reducer and the 3M inline regulator.

Havent messed with making light stand and probably won't.

Did an airflow test in garage with burned paper and air flow works best pushing into garage as opposed to pulling anyways.

My sunroof is bare metal now and it flash rusts very quickly. I am not sure how to handle it. I have grinded surface rust off, treated with straight vinegar, cleaned with acetone and it has a slight sheen of rust. Im thinking that is metal particles and I need to clean better. If this is the case what cleaning agent is recommended?

I havent done much else because my home ac unit bit the dust so its been hot AF. Just got that replaced today

[flynfrog]

Stop putting vinegar on stuff that wont help your rust but will mess up paint adhesion. Id just leave it until you are ready to throw down primer. Then scuff it degrease and spray. The wax and grease remover stuff is nice but I have used IPA and distilled water more than once.

[Sleepyhead97]

I'll do that then. Thank you

[Sleepyhead97]

The plan is to spray the car this weekend. My garage isn't that big so I'll have to spray the bumpers the side panels and the sunroof in the morning and then pull the car in and spray that after. This means I'll have to get up pretty early to make this happen.

The directions on the epoxy primer state that no scuffing is necessary if painted within18 hours. I'm planning on spraying it all at once since I have a slow reducer, and temps outside max at 98 on Saturday. I'll also have two window ac units working in the other room.

My hope is the primer lays down flat and I dont have runs (high hopes) so I can spray it with out much rework.

I'll use a good camera to take befores and afters.

[E34Driv3r]

You'll need to flat the primer anyway so don't worry so much about runs. Obviously it's best if you can avoid them altogether but it's not the end of the world since you will (should) be flatting it.

The most important part to lay down well is the base coat since it's going down on nice flat primer and won't be flat sanded itself. The finishing lacquer will also be flatted so you can always recover from runs in that too.

Generally the primer goes down well when mixed right and isn't too prone to running unless you're being really heavy with it so its usually a stage you'll get through easily enough as a learner if you're careful. It's a good idea to dampen the floor/walls if possible to keep the dust down too.

[Sleepyhead97]

Plan is to reduce epoxy primer to max the PDS recommends and hope it lays flat.

paint I am using is single stage metallic acrylic urethane. Apparently one of the most difficult types of paint to spray lol

[consti2tion]

Have you tried dry fitting the fog lights and filler pieces on that front bumper? I bought one of those ebay bumper covers myself and the fitment leaves a lot to be desired. I still haven't gotten around to making the filler pieces fit.

[Sleepyhead97]

Have you tried dry fitting the fog lights and filler pieces on that front bumper? I bought one of those ebay bumper covers myself and the fitment leaves a lot to be desired. I still haven't gotten around to making the filler pieces fit.

I have not but the bumper did fit nicely back on the car and to me that's the main thing

[Sleepyhead97]

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Clear coat has to go....

I'll be sanding by hand like a maniac.
I really need an interface pad and 120 grit....

Got half door done with 150 grit and 2x2 block. I'll count this as a workout in willpower and upperbody

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[JThomp33]

You could pickup a cheap random orbital sander to give those fingers a rest.

[Sleepyhead97]

You could pickup a cheap random orbital sander to give those fingers a rest.

I actually have one but I cannot get it to cut the clear. I will try again since you mentioned it. Last night I picked up craftsman hook and loop 180 grit mesh sanding paper for random orb sander and I have a sander as well. Nothing cuts like that block and these hands.... Its a real b

[JThomp33]

You could also use a paint stripping compound to remove the clear coat.

[Sleepyhead97]

You could also use a paint stripping compound to remove the clear coat.

I want to avoid going to metal but believe me I thought about it

[Tristan36]

be careful sanding with low grit you end up with low spots you wont see until you put clear down. if the clear coat is peeling take a power washer to it first then hit it with 220 on a 2x12 or 2x6 block make sure to do long strokes so that the panel stays nice and flat. Peeling clear coat does not need to be taken down below paint just get the clear off and prime.