Sam Harris
Supporting Member
Lol. Yeah that’s a consideration.
Paint Prep / Body Work Tips
- Thread starter Matthew Jeschke
- Start date
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HiHoeSilver
Away!
I think the short lesson of this is, body guys are paid well to do this work because it's exceedingly complicated. What I've learned is you may get lucky trying to spray the paint on your own but a bunch of things have to align perfectly to do that. Stayed up till 2 AM researching my current issues and it's just the tip of the iceberg. Long story short (will elaborate below), I'm going to have to hire a professional to either (1) visit my house and spray the car in my garage or (2) tow the truck to a paint shop.
Let me elaborate, on my ONE issue I know of at this point, the temperature. The paints are all speced to spray a certain temperatures. It's 70 F at the PEAK of the day, 50F towards end and 30's at night. Not all the paints have specs for the lower temperatures. The color paint can be reduced such that you can spray at 55F, however, the sealer doesn't say anything about that. And the clear doesn't have any spec on temp either (only that if you want a fast cure to do at 140F). When talking with friends who have more experience in this, they say they won't paint below 70F. But I know it can be done (perhaps with diminished results), however, no specs explain how.
Then the spray gun has three settings: input regulator, feed, and spray tip. I watched HOURS of Youtube on how to setup the spray gun. I practiced with every mix, and scrap paint prior to all this as well. However, when I go to spray and it sprays like crap I'm not sure if it's poor atomization due to temperature or due to spray gun settings... or something even stuck in the gun, or bad dryer / filter on line. I just don't have experience to tell those issues apart when looking at how paint lays.
Every time I take another step I have 50 more questions. I think the short of this. If you EVER plan to do this, hire a paint professional do help you at your house or in their shop. And that is, somebody who ACTIVELY paints cars. You want to see some of their work IN PERSON. You can MORE than do body work, that part is time consuming but pretty simple. However, the spraying which only takes a couple hours is EXCEEDINGLY complicated. It's advanced chemistry coupled with art and fineness.
Additionally, the shops have paint booths. Most of which are climate controlled, and have filters to pull junk out of air as well as overspray. They have control over SO many more variables in the shops so they can do a much better paint job. In my opinion that's worth $500, maybe even $1000 to lay down your paint in one. They even rent them out to hobbyist sometimes which is another option. I just cannot drive my truck because it's disassembledThey have one for $30/hr at the paint store.
Somebody up there is looking out for me.... I'm super lucky as the guy who sold me the paint called to ask how my job was coming along. He's offered to come to my house when he has time and help me out. I'll just continue prepping truck until he can make it out to spray.
Despite the setbacks, this sounds promising, Matthew. Hopefully his visit will yield some answers on your setup that you can share here, as well as some paint laid!
Sam Harris
Supporting Member
Damn straight!
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Matthew Jeschke
Full Access Member
Yet another blunder. The weather got really good today. I thought maybe I'll try JUST one door. I'm done. Never again. I am talking with the guy from the paint shop and he's walking me through it step by step. I tried to apply sealer coat, for my black truck.
First coat I got a little thin (better to go thin I think then too much). Second coat I new I needed more. However, I couldn't quite see where it was going on. I applied WAY too much paint. I bought new lighting for my garage but it wasn't enough light to see the black going over black.
Then I went to clean my gun, I realized I had a okay pattern but likely my problem was compounded by the fact that my regulator was set to 5 PSI for the gun. It should have been at around 20PSI.
I told the guy at the paint store (if you're in Tucson his name is Dan @ KC Auto) that I would just hire him to spray the truck. He's super nice and helpful. I'll probably post up how I setup my garage here so he knows what equipment is here already when he comes.
FYI ~ My goal is for this to be a forever truck. I seldom get rid of vehicles. I want to rebuild a HD 6.0 / LQ4 and 4L65E. I've never built a tranny but a SBC is a MILLION times easier than refinishing this truck lol I could have built a dozen or more motors in the time I've put into this paint job.
First coat I got a little thin (better to go thin I think then too much). Second coat I new I needed more. However, I couldn't quite see where it was going on. I applied WAY too much paint. I bought new lighting for my garage but it wasn't enough light to see the black going over black.
Then I went to clean my gun, I realized I had a okay pattern but likely my problem was compounded by the fact that my regulator was set to 5 PSI for the gun. It should have been at around 20PSI.
I told the guy at the paint store (if you're in Tucson his name is Dan @ KC Auto) that I would just hire him to spray the truck. He's super nice and helpful. I'll probably post up how I setup my garage here so he knows what equipment is here already when he comes.
FYI ~ My goal is for this to be a forever truck. I seldom get rid of vehicles. I want to rebuild a HD 6.0 / LQ4 and 4L65E. I've never built a tranny but a SBC is a MILLION times easier than refinishing this truck lol I could have built a dozen or more motors in the time I've put into this paint job.
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Matthew Jeschke
Full Access Member
Sorry my reply didn't make it up... You cannot use a Propane or heater with a flame for a couple reasons:
(1) I'm personally afraid of paint flashing off (catching fire and exploding the garage).
(2) exhaust from combustion could mess with chemicals in paint.
somebody elsewhere also suggested an electric heater, but the floor must be wet so i deemed that too dangerous.
I asked another body shop guy and he said the paint booths have specialty heaters for these reasons.
Best setup prob would be a heated floor in a shop.
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Matthew Jeschke
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Okay, so I may need to retract some of my comments about this being virtually impossible. I stopped by the paint store, KC Auto in Tucson, and spoke with Dan. Quick selfless plug, if you are in Tucson area make sure to get your paint there. They are that awesome.
Dan probably spent an hour with me. I brought my spray gun in. He looked it over and we test sprayed it. It was clear to see, my gun is defective. He even got runs with it and poor coverage at ends of fan pattern. So a big part of my problem all along was a defective gun.
My plan is to prep the body as best as I can. Then I'm going to hire him and or paint shop guy here in my town. They'll come with a nicer gun and we'll shoot the truck together. It'll easily pay for itself as I don't want to buy a cheapo gun just to get this one job done. And pro guns are easily $800 and up.
Backstory, I saw a Devilbiss GTI Pro for sale on craigslist. I rushed out and had the guy demo it quick with lacquer thinner in it, no color, (lesson learned have them shoot a fan pattern w/ color so you can see how well it works. He just sprayed into thin air). I really didn't know much about guns other than the Devilbiss GTI Pro is like a entry level professional gun and somewhat spendy.
When I got ready to spray last week I tore down the gun and cleaned it. It was VERY dirty and internals were in rough shape. I also learned gun was a GTI 620g which isn't the Pro, it's much cheaper. ~ $400. Plus it comes with several spray tips. He only gave me one of the tips. Long story short I got ripped off and sold a defective spray gun. Possible 90% of my frustration was about the spray gun.
Dan probably spent an hour with me. I brought my spray gun in. He looked it over and we test sprayed it. It was clear to see, my gun is defective. He even got runs with it and poor coverage at ends of fan pattern. So a big part of my problem all along was a defective gun.
My plan is to prep the body as best as I can. Then I'm going to hire him and or paint shop guy here in my town. They'll come with a nicer gun and we'll shoot the truck together. It'll easily pay for itself as I don't want to buy a cheapo gun just to get this one job done. And pro guns are easily $800 and up.
Backstory, I saw a Devilbiss GTI Pro for sale on craigslist. I rushed out and had the guy demo it quick with lacquer thinner in it, no color, (lesson learned have them shoot a fan pattern w/ color so you can see how well it works. He just sprayed into thin air). I really didn't know much about guns other than the Devilbiss GTI Pro is like a entry level professional gun and somewhat spendy.
When I got ready to spray last week I tore down the gun and cleaned it. It was VERY dirty and internals were in rough shape. I also learned gun was a GTI 620g which isn't the Pro, it's much cheaper. ~ $400. Plus it comes with several spray tips. He only gave me one of the tips. Long story short I got ripped off and sold a defective spray gun. Possible 90% of my frustration was about the spray gun.
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Sam Harris
Supporting Member
Damn. That’s too bad. I hate dishonesty. I’m really glad you found that was the problem though! That’s HUGE! Carry on.. we’re all waiting somewhat patiently.. [emoji16][emoji106]
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Matthew Jeschke
Full Access Member
thanks for the kudos. am upset at guy for selling me the gun. but is par for the course in used world so I am bot loosing sleep iver it though altho I gave him 115$ and have about that again in parts for the gun :/
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HiHoeSilver
Away!
You're living and learning, Matthew. Such is the game. Did you read @Sevenevez thread when he painted the Denali in his garage? He had some guns he liked. It's in the build thread in my signature.
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Matthew Jeschke
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I stripped my hood again and reworked the door again. I think the best method to knock down the epoxy I messed up with is:
Course / brown 3M scuff pads. Razor blade tool for cleaning flat top stove and if necessary paint stripper.
I cleaned the DeVilbiss very very thoroughly. I think the Air Cap was plugged although the gun still has issues. I got it working a bit better as it's somewhat able to spray High Build Primer. FYI ~ You want a 2.0 or larger tip for that stuff. I have a 1.8mm
Then I bought the Harbor Freight Spectrum Black Widow 1.3mm spray gun. It's their top shelf gun. My assessment wasn't fair in the video below. I realized later that there's a pressure adjustment on the gun itself. That pressure adjustment wasn't open. I had proper pressure at gun / regulator but inside gun that was knocking down my pressure and paint wasn't atomizing correctly.
Right now the door I messed up and hood have high build primer on them so I can sand out and hide the defects that were created in my process.
Course / brown 3M scuff pads. Razor blade tool for cleaning flat top stove and if necessary paint stripper.
I cleaned the DeVilbiss very very thoroughly. I think the Air Cap was plugged although the gun still has issues. I got it working a bit better as it's somewhat able to spray High Build Primer. FYI ~ You want a 2.0 or larger tip for that stuff. I have a 1.8mm
Then I bought the Harbor Freight Spectrum Black Widow 1.3mm spray gun. It's their top shelf gun. My assessment wasn't fair in the video below. I realized later that there's a pressure adjustment on the gun itself. That pressure adjustment wasn't open. I had proper pressure at gun / regulator but inside gun that was knocking down my pressure and paint wasn't atomizing correctly.
Right now the door I messed up and hood have high build primer on them so I can sand out and hide the defects that were created in my process.
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