Still have my timing light and dwell meter in the bottom drawer of my box. I couldn't even guy the last time I used them.
Car Painters, I Need Your Expertise
- Thread starter wizbangdoodle
- Start date
I was laying in bed last night about midnight, looking at my phone and shopping Amazon. Found a timing light that will work, ordered it, and it was delivered about 6:45 this morning.
There is a guy on IG that is a really great, self taught painter. He even works in Mystichrome which is really hard to do.
I think he tried to sell his 03 sonic blue dream car on here recently. I'll see if I can get a username for you, he could give you some tips.
I think he tried to sell his 03 sonic blue dream car on here recently. I'll see if I can get a username for you, he could give you some tips.
Any of you guys ever regret painting? Like, you got done with your first job and said, that sucks, I don't want to do that ever again.
I've got someone that is trying to talk me out of painting. Saying I'll not be satisfied with the results etc etc.
I'm just looking to expand my skill set and I think painting would be a great thing to be able to do.
I've got someone that is trying to talk me out of painting. Saying I'll not be satisfied with the results etc etc.
I'm just looking to expand my skill set and I think painting would be a great thing to be able to do.
I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned it yet. Getting a salvage yard hood or fender, sand it, prime it, paint it for practice.
That will show you what it takes to get good pre-paint surface. Also will allow you to practice post-paint work like wetsanding & buffing. Just a thought.
That will show you what it takes to get good pre-paint surface. Also will allow you to practice post-paint work like wetsanding & buffing. Just a thought.
I wouldn't listen to them. It isn't going to be easy the first time or the times after that. It is a skill for sure. Like @COOL COBRA said, get a junk panel and lay down some base and clear and practice on it. Sand it down and restart again if you need. You always have to prepare for flaws to occur but many flaws can be fixed. You just have to have proper expectations of what van occur and how to deal with it.
The practice idea is good. If you, stand it up because you need to be more careful on side panels that the flat areas due to runs and sags.
I don't regret painting my 65 one bit. Every time I go in the garage and see what I accomplished I'm very proud.
As mentioned, it wasn't easy, mistakes were made but overall it came out GREAT in the end.
Now, with that said, I am in NO hurry to get back into another build project. I enjoy doing little projects on my 57 Thunderbird, but to do a tear down or paint job is not something I want to do right now.
Sand, sanding and more sanding is no fun. Body filler and shaping and sanding some more is no fun. That's the hard part that takes a lot of patience and manual labor but has to be done right. Now once all that's done spraying primer, color and clear is fun. Then once the spraying is done, guess what?, time for more sanding LMAO!!! (Man my arms and finger tips are sore just thinking about all that sanding I did
LOL and I did use a DA sander as well)So, as mentioned, I do not regret it and I would do it again, just not now LOL.....
Lastly, don't listen to people who say don't do it. I say "just do it." Just understand the pros and cons before going in, practice on a body panel and decide for yourself if you want to proceed.....
I love the naysayers. They are pure motivation for me. They are usually the ones who can't or won't attempt what you can or will.
I sent this picture and a few others to one of said naysayers when I told them I was painting my engine bay. Not perfect but better then it was. What did I get back? Crickets.
Don't listen, do what you want and take it as a learning experience.
This person's opinion held no sway with me. He worked in a body shop for a hot minute more than 20 years ago, so he's got it all figured out. "You'll spend $2500 just on equipment!" Exactly my point, spend that and I can paint as many cars as I want, instead of paying $5-10k per paint job.
Now for some questions. I have some rust to take care of. I've looked at Eastwood's rust products, but I'm not sure what I should get. They have rust remover, rust converter and rust encapsulator. Any opinions? Anyone use their products? Any other brands I should be looking at?
Now for some questions. I have some rust to take care of. I've looked at Eastwood's rust products, but I'm not sure what I should get. They have rust remover, rust converter and rust encapsulator. Any opinions? Anyone use their products? Any other brands I should be looking at?
I'm out on that one, no real heavy rust here unless the thing was from up north somewhere. If there is any, it's just surface that'll sand off and you take care of with a primer/filler.
Probably more like $15-20k for that truck. We did a body resto on one of those for a customer and it was $18k all said and done. Turned out great though.
I don't remember the brands that we used. I feel like a lot of the body repair products were 3M, and I do remember that we had rust converter on the shelf. Should be a type of Zinc coating that turns the rust back and stops ot from spreading. If you don't get an answer from anyone on here I would say this is something Wesco could help you with.
Yep, that's it right there. Once you buy the equipment you have it and can use it as often as you want. And if you don't need it you could always sell it and get most, if not all, of your money back.
Sorry, I also cannot help on the rust issue. Any rust that was on my 65 was either cut out and replaced with fresh metal or I used a wire wheel and got it all off and down to clean bare metal. I then used body filler and epoxy primer to go over the bare metal areas.
I've been down a rabbit hole on paint booths. Buying a proper one is just not in the budget. They run about $25k and I don't think I'll paint enough to make that pay off. Watched many, many DIY paint booth videos and came away with a loose plan. Most of the ones I saw had guys just build a frame and drape clear plastic over it somehow. Add some fans and filters and voila, paint booth.
Anyone do something similar? When you guys painted, what was your setup?
Anyone do something similar? When you guys painted, what was your setup?
I just covered everything with plastic. I have a big fan to suck the vapor out.
And you had no problem with cleanliness or crud in your paint?
Some of these guys are building elaborate filter and fan walls, while others put a fan on one side and a single filter on the other and called it good. How much airflow do you need? And there seemed to be some disagreement in some of the videos I watched as to the direction of airflow. How does a professional paint booth work. I've heard the term downdraft.
I have 15' ceilings and the width is 14', shouldn't I be able to make a temp booth in that size area?
Never used one. I've always done it in my garage. As mentioned, cover everything, open garage window and shut the garage door to rest on the fan. I have an industrial maybe 3' round fan to suck the crap out. Never really had dust issues, but it's not like I did it all the time.
Most shops have a downdraft or an updraft system which just means that the suction fan and filters are either mounted in the floor or in the ceiling and the paint vapor is drawn down or up. It's damn expensive of course to install these, but if you haven't seen it yet, there is a mobile blow up paint booth that was created. Think like a bounce house in how the fan keeps it inflated and it is designed to give you proper airflow. I saw it at SEMA years ago so not sure who developed it or the cost, but it may be an affordable way to take care of that aspect of the setup.
Yeah, after all my body work was done I cleaned my garage floor really well. The car was already off the ground and on 4 jack stands. So, I brought the hose in and rinsed the floor down.
My 2 car garage is "normal" size. So, I hung plastic from 3 of the 4 walls to the floor (left the garage doors bare). I then placed plastic over the entire floor (cut out around the jack stands). I ran plastic from the bottom of my car (pinch welds) to the plastic on the floor and taped all around so no over spray could get under the car or in to my nicely painted engine bay.
I raised one garage door about 4 inches for inlet air. The other door I raised high enough that 3 box fans fit between the door and floor. I ran all 3 box fans on there max setting to use as an exhaust to pull all the over spray/mist out of the garage.
Once it was done I just pulled all the plastic out and then after about a week of baking in my garage (normal heat as it get's hot here in TX LOL) I began to cut and buff. There was some trash in the paint (i.e. dust particles), but those come out easy in the cutting process.
I didn't get all fancy with building wooden frames or using filters and all that. Just enough to keep over spray off my garage floor and walls and to keep dust down to a minimum while walking around the car to spray and having some type of fan system to keep the air flowing. I did use a paint suit and respirator as well.
And you have already seen my results.....
Here is a review of an inflatable paint booth as mentioned above. I decided not to go this route. First I did not have an area big enough to put something of this size and second I felt the cost wasn't worth it since I would not be painting other cars.
My 2 car garage is "normal" size. So, I hung plastic from 3 of the 4 walls to the floor (left the garage doors bare). I then placed plastic over the entire floor (cut out around the jack stands). I ran plastic from the bottom of my car (pinch welds) to the plastic on the floor and taped all around so no over spray could get under the car or in to my nicely painted engine bay.
I raised one garage door about 4 inches for inlet air. The other door I raised high enough that 3 box fans fit between the door and floor. I ran all 3 box fans on there max setting to use as an exhaust to pull all the over spray/mist out of the garage.
Once it was done I just pulled all the plastic out and then after about a week of baking in my garage (normal heat as it get's hot here in TX LOL) I began to cut and buff. There was some trash in the paint (i.e. dust particles), but those come out easy in the cutting process.
I didn't get all fancy with building wooden frames or using filters and all that. Just enough to keep over spray off my garage floor and walls and to keep dust down to a minimum while walking around the car to spray and having some type of fan system to keep the air flowing. I did use a paint suit and respirator as well.
And you have already seen my results.....
Here is a review of an inflatable paint booth as mentioned above. I decided not to go this route. First I did not have an area big enough to put something of this size and second I felt the cost wasn't worth it since I would not be painting other cars.
How much is that thing Glenn? I don't have time to watch it.
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