I Know SQUAT About Spraying Automotive Paint.

[Dan in Pasadena]

....but, I have a 60 gallon upright compressor, 2-for-$99 HVLPs spray guns - which I assume are little better than a Harbor Freight gun. And I have a cartridge type breathing mask.

So the question is: Should I try spraying epoxy primer (recommended product?) on my entire truck myself? It's in pieces and I am having it blasted by a local blaster recommended by a member here that is also on the tri five car website.

I have very little knowledge, so I'm dangerous! I know to use all products from the same manufacturer, to filter the paint and to use a water separator and another at the gun. Do I want to do this or will I make a mess and waste money and time?

Should I take the blasted pieces to a local painter and have him spray it?

[fredos59]

Do it.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ha ha, Fredo! I love the encouragement. Of course the thing is I'll have to spray it fast after it comes back from the blaster before any flash rust can start. Blaster said the final roughness will be equivaltent to sanding with 220. I ASSUME(?) I wouldn't need to roughen it up further? I've read on the HAMB to leave an 80 grit finish on bare metal before priming.

What's the consensus of the brain trust here?

[Ozzy2013]

Just read up on it and you will be fine its actually fun after you learn how to spray.

[Sim6]

I think it depends on whether or not your willing to except the outcome if it's far from perfect and do you have the funds available to spend. I think it's worth doing yourself. If you do this one, the next one will be even better if there is one. That's how people get good at doing things. I say do it.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Sim6

I think it depends on whether or not your willing to except the outcome if it's far from perfect and do you have the funds available to spend. I think it's worth doing yourself. If you do this one, the next one will be even better if there is one. That's how people get good at doing things. I say do it.

Oddly, I have more money than time right now. In my entire life it's always been the other way around. I can't afford to have a derelict truck in my driveway (detached garage behind house) blocking my access to the garage indefinitely. There's no water in California lakes right now but there should be(?) next summer and I have a boat I'll want to use.

I could take it to a painter and have him deal with the relatively minor rust (yes, there's always more than you think). But I never think anyone will be as conscienscous as I will be with my own truck. If I blast it in pieces, I'll KNOW I've gotten the rust off it. If I repair the cancer, I'll KNOW I cut it out and welded in new metal. But having it done would save me months of hard work....not to mention $$$.

[Donaldo]

Dan, be sure to put a water separator close to the compressor tank - give yourself enough room to reach in and bleed off any accumulated moisture. If you have in inline lubricator, remove that and make sure you hoses are not oiled. You want clean dry air for spraying.

Our local paint supply is D'Angelos, there are a couple near you, check with them, they are usually helpful, have been to me. Some products may not be available over the counter, thanks to CA. Prop. 65. And that can vary by county.

Don

[Joe Pass]

Why don't you see if you can work along with the body shop and or painter. You could save on the labor doing the dirty work and build up some confidence in your skills. I think if you have a good experience you would try it on your own on other parts of your truck...Just a thought

[Richs'55]

Originally Posted by Joe Pass

Why don't you see if you can work along with the body shop and or painter. You could save on the labor doing the dirty work and build up some confidence in your skills. I think if you have a good experience you would try it on your own on other parts of your truck...Just a thought

This is what I did a few years back. I stopped at the Auto/paint shop and asked who they would recommend to "help" me paint the current project I was working on. Hadn't painted in years and things have changed a lot.
They recommended a guy and he came to my shop, used my compressor set up with his spray guns. Taught me a lot about sealer, paint, spraying, flash times, and even the wet sanding and polishing job. He did most of the painting but I did the grunt work and sanding.
He ended up asking for only $500 for the work, but I gave him $700. Best money ever spent as I learned so much more than just having him do the job.

[1project2many]

Dan, be sure to put a water separator close to the compressor tank

This is good advice but with no water in the lakes I wonder how much moisture there is in the air out there.

Hey, Dan... You might want to practice first before you hit your panels. You can always spray the back side so runs, sags, dry areas don't affect the exterior. There are a bunch of rules and tricks that are important to know and some of it is hard to get without someone there. But if you start spraying now you'll be able to come up with questions and post pictures if you want forum help.

[Donaldo]

This is good advice but with no water in the lakes I wonder how much moisture there is in the air out there.

Rain fills lakes and reservoirs, compressed humidity ruins paint jobs.

[e015475]

I painted my blasted cab, fenders, hood etc in my driveway with a setup similar to yours. I put two HF moving dollies under the cab to move it around on the driveway. To paint the bottom I simply tipped the cab onto the firewall and painted the bottom. Used my garbage can as a sawhorse to paint the hood and fenders Took me an afternoon to get everything done. Wear a respirator. Take of your glasses or use goggles.

It took less time than it would have to get the trailer, load the cab and parts and schlep them to the painter and back. Now I have a gun and some extra epoxy for all the misc parts I'll need to blast and protect

The epoxy I used was from these guys- was to my door in about three days

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/

Complete kit, sprays easily- I ordered a gallon of material - great product.

I wouldn't worry too much about paint imperfections, like runs and such - your primary goal is to get the metal protected

[mr48chev]

75 % of good paint work is the prep work and doing each step right.

That includes wiping down and cleaning the metal with the right cleaner or "pre cleaner" and doing the prep before spraying the first coat of primer.

More of it is using that sanding block and long board they way they should be used to get the panels perfectly smooth. We have some local guys who can handle a spray gun as good as anyone anywhere but they can't get away from the blooming DA sander and have no idea of what a longboard is. Their otherwise perfect paint is a series of dips and marks from the DA sander down the side of a car. I went out and looked at this truck and took photos of it for someone who is on the 67/72 part of the board who bought the truck for his dad. It had a new driver/work truck quality paint job on it that with one more day of sanding and blocking could have been up in the very nice driver quality paint jobs. The truck is great looking from 50 ft but shows the DA marks from 8 ft.

The spray work was pretty decent though, no runs no orange peal and no jail bars.

[1project2many]

Rain fills lakes and reservoirs, compressed humidity ruins paint jobs.

Hey... thanks for the lesson! I live in the northeast where we deal with very high levels of humidity and a lot of rain. I really asked because I'm wondering about the humidity level in dry and sunny CA. I've seen pictures of guys leaving stripped metal outside for a week without huge levels of rust developing. Out here it rusts overnight. And if it's that dry normally, is it any dryer now that there's a drought?

[Dan in Pasadena]

This is the kind of experience I was hoping to hear about.

I agree I'd start by painting the underside of the cab and the inside of the fenders. Get my runs and ugly stuff there because I'll likely spray a textured undercoat afterward, so runs won't matter. Then hopefully I'll do better on the parts that show! I assume some kind of metal prep wipe down is necessary before actual spraying. If I buy from a place like Southern Polyurethanes I'll ask them what wipe-down prep is compatible with their epoxy primer.

No one commented on needing to sand with 80 grit after blasting. Is that necessary or will spraying directly on the as-blasted condition adhere fine?

As for the comments about using a longboard, etc. I don't intend to spray final paint so that'll be something I press the painter about but I won't do it.

Originally Posted by e015475

I painted my blasted cab, fenders, hood etc in my driveway with a setup similar to yours. I put two HF moving dollies under the cab to move it around on the driveway. To paint the bottom I simply tipped the cab onto the firewall and painted the bottom. Used my garbage can as a sawhorse to paint the hood and fenders Took me an afternoon to get everything done. Wear a respirator. Take of your glasses or use goggles.

It took less time than it would have to get the trailer, load the cab and parts and schlep them to the painter and back. Now I have a gun and some extra epoxy for all the misc parts I'll need to blast and protect

The epoxy I used was from these guys- was to my door in about three days

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/

Complete kit, sprays easily- I ordered a gallon of material - great product.

I wouldn't worry too much about paint imperfections, like runs and such - your primary goal is to get the metal protected

[e015475]

I had my cab blasted with a ground glass media. Except for a bit of dust, it was ready to shoot when i hauled it home from the blaster. The 'tooth' was perfect for paint adhesion

My personal recommendation is that you do the same and take advantage of the relatively dry air in Pasadena. Putting anything on the surface that changes the chemical composition of the raw steel is asking for trouble. The only exception to this is if it gets some surface rust between when you blast it and when you can prime it.

If you can't get to it for a significant period of time, I'd ask your blaster to prime it for you rather than dragging it home and letting it set then treating it with chemical to clean the rust prior to painting or haul it from the blaster straight to the painter

I'd also stay away from any acid etch primers and go with a straight epoxy like the Southern Poly

Spraying the inside of the fenders to get the knack of laying down a reasonable coat is what I did too.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by e015475

....The 'tooth' was perfect for paint adhesion...

Exactly what I was hoping to hear. Thanks

Originally Posted by e015475

....My personal recommendation is that you do the same and take advantage of the relatively dry air in Pasadena. Putting anything on the surface that changes the chemical composition of the raw steel is asking for trouble. The only exception to this is if it gets some surface rust between when you blast it and when you can prime it....

So you're saying if I get to it immediately - and I would, I'd take the next day or two off work to spray it - to just blow off remaining dust and do NOTHING to wipe down the metal? Not Metal Prep, acetone, lacquer thinner, nothing?

Originally Posted by e015475

....If you can't get to it for a significant period of time, I'd ask your blaster to prime it for you rather than dragging it home and letting it set then treating it with chemical to clean the rust prior to painting or haul it from the blaster straight to the painter

The blaster does powder coating but not paint. They don't offer it. I know not to touch the metal with bare hands, I'll use gloves. But then I figured I'd still have to wipe the whole thing down with something.

I'd also stay away from any acid etch primers and go with a straight epoxy like the Southern Poly. Like I said, I know nothing about automotive paint so I know nothing about primers either. I figured someone would recommend a specific primer ala Southern Polyurethanes above but I have gone to their site to see what they offer yet.

Originally Posted by e015475

....Spraying the inside of the fenders to get the knack of laying down a reasonable coat is what I did too.

Talking with a co-worker that does some painting on the side with an auto painter buddy (reader's eyes are rolling! lol) his buddy claims if the gun is setup up right to give me a uniform 8" spray pattern and if I spray from about 12" with no wrist action I should get decent results even with minimal experience. I'm hoping this is true and I can carry it off. The only thing to do at this point is to get a quote from a painter I know on spraying the epoxy vs. just doing it myself.

[Kim57]

Lots of good info here.
The SPI stuff is real nice for the home hobbyist.
Good price and good customer service.
Kim

[tinydb84]

Wipe it down with a wax and grease remover. You will be amazed how much stuff comes off "clean" metal. Then you can wipe it down with a tack rag to be safe.

If you paint right after blast then you wont need to do anything else to the metal. No sanding, metal prep, etc.

SPI is a good epoxy. I have shot a lot of Kirker. It is cheap, has been around forever, and sprays really well. The down side is that it doesn't have any UV resistance so you cant leave it in the sun or drive it in primer (unless you plan on reshooting the primer). Eastwood is relabeled Kirker.

When I actually go to shoot stuff I will do a practice pass of the whole panel with the gun spraying air only. That way I can see if I am going to run into space issues, hose issues, and if you missed any dust (or kick up any dust) you will know before you ruin the paint.

Definitely paint the inside of everything first. You will be surprised how much curves and what not will affect runs and sags in the paint.

I am still an amateur though. I took a paint class but it ended up getting cancelled a few weeks in so I only got the basics. Hopefully the more experienced will chime in.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Lots of good info here.
The SPI stuff is real nice for the home hobbyist.
Good price and good customer service.
Kim

Thanks Kim, means a lot coming from you since your truck came out so great!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Good info, thanks. Especially the "try-out" with air only. I'll be doing this on the driveway in my backyard (detached garage). My neighbors are cool...so far. I'll let them know my plan and try to limit it to one maybe two days max. I'll paint the undersides of everything first. What about drying time after spraying -= for example - the underside of the dash, then spraying the entire inside of the cab? Will paint that is starting to "go off" wrinkle the new paint I'm laying down?

Originally Posted by tinydb84

Wipe it down with a wax and grease remover. You will be amazed how much stuff comes off "clean" metal. Then you can wipe it down with a tack rag to be safe.

If you paint right after blast then you wont need to do anything else to the metal. No sanding, metal prep, etc.

SPI is a good epoxy. I have shot a lot of Kirker. It is cheap, has been around forever, and sprays really well. The down side is that it doesn't have any UV resistance so you cant leave it in the sun or drive it in primer (unless you plan on reshooting the primer). Eastwood is relabeled Kirker.

When I actually go to shoot stuff I will do a practice pass of the whole panel with the gun spraying air only. That way I can see if I am going to run into space issues, hose issues, and if you missed any dust (or kick up any dust) you will know before you ruin the paint.

Definitely paint the inside of everything first. You will be surprised how much curves and what not will affect runs and sags in the paint.

I am still an amateur though. I took a paint class but it ended up getting cancelled a few weeks in so I only got the basics. Hopefully the more experienced will chime in.

[Donaldo]

""I'm wondering about the humidity level in dry and sunny CA. ""

I'm right on the coast - can see the big salty pond down the hill... Drought in dry Ca., yes. Marine layer and 100% drippy wet fog at times, yeah !! Seems like it's either cold, windy or foggy, or 4 hrs in between.

water blue water everywhere, and not a drop to drink........

[e015475]

Metal prep contains phosphoric acid and some degreaser and maybe a little zinc

You just abraded away the surface with sand/glass and exposed the steel to the atmosphere. Why would you contaminate it with a chemical when it is already perfectly clean from the abrasive you just shot at it? The key is to minimize the oxidation of the surface once the blasting is complete

The other problem you'll find is that the 'tooth' of the surface will make it very hard to wipe with a rag with solvent or metal prep on it (acetone, lacquer thinner, whatever) Any rag or paper you wipe across the surface will leave a trail of lint that the 'tooth' scrapped off. You'll have a mess of lint on the surface. My experience is to blow it off thoroughly with air before painting and only handle the surface with rubber gloves on and paint it with epoxy as quickly as possible.

If you're dead set to clean the metal, you'll have to sand it first to take the high 'tits' of the sandblasted profile before you can wipe it with a rag.

You might have guessed - I'm a 'tit' man myself

[1958Warrior]

I read somewhere if it was soda blasted it will have to be cleaned prior to coating as the soda leave a film that actualy keeps it from flash rusting.

check out the paint and body forum on this site also for some good info.

also check out :
http://www.layitlow.com/forums/23-pa...garage-45.html

lot of inspiration and Info/How to for diy paint jobs( check out #893 & #895 fellow member )

[1958Warrior]

also, Did the pressure switch do the trick on the compressor? or was there other issues?