Suggestions for home paint job

[62stepside longbox]

Hey does anyone have any suggestions on what kind of gun setup I should use. Don't want to spend much $. gravity feed guns? Someone who has actually tried it before and knows how good it turns out.
Thanks

[TJ's Chevy]

Well....here's the deal...How good do you want your paint job to turn out? lol Painting is NO simple task...if you have absolutely No experience...then practice on something other than your truck or you'll get frustrated fast. I started with rattle can....mastered that...then went to the gun. I have an Eastwood HVLP Concours gun with the changeable tips. Gun cost me $289 or something to that nature I believe. Sprays OK. Best set at 25-30 PSI and you have to master the distance from the metal and speed you spray at. To close..you get orange peal...to far...you get a rough sand paper look....right in the happy medium...if comes out perfect. There's no gun and paint that's just "Go and Spray", you'll want to buy at Least that gun and some Good paint. Here's what you'll need:
Eastwood Concours HVLP gun: http://www.eastwood.com/ew-concours-...metal-cup.html
This isn't the Best out there...The best are those $500-900 ones. lol Check out their sight. I have had good luck with them so far.

[Chevy Fleetside]

If you want more input, try posting in the Body and Paint Forum.

[oem4me]

Some cheapie swap meet gravity feed guns ($30-ish) are actually not bad and will do fine for the job. Get an adequate compressor, because no matter the quality of the gun, if you are starved for air you'll be hating life. Waiting for the puny tank to fill with a hood half painted is a joke.
Naturally, primer comes before paint, and you'll get some gun time doing that. Good thing is primer gets sanded flat, so go ahead and make mistakes then.
Follow directions carefully when mixing/thinning/reducing your material so you are spraying at the proper consistency, and play with air pressure for best results. Also, try Youtube for how to vids.
There is way too much "feel" about this process that makes it hard to put into words, and I think some people kinda have the touch, and others don't. The mere fact you are wanting to give it a go, is a good sign. Good luck and have fun!

[Steve66]

I've painted enough in my life to wear guns out and I'll say this. Some people "get it" and some don't. It's kind of like welding. A good painter can do a good job with a Harbor Freight special and a bad painter will be bad no matter what he's using. You'll need an adequate supply of air because you simply CAN'T stop and wait for the compressor. Rigging up a spraybooth in a garage or shed isn't too hard but don't even think about trying it outside. That's OK for farm implements but you won't be happy with how your truck turns out. I've always liked Devillbiss stuff but there are a lot of other good guns out there. You want HVLP. An old conventional siphon feed will make so much more overspray you won't believe it. A good paint job is a magic mix of paint viscosity, air pressure, spray distance and the talent of whoever is holding the gun. Along with the knowledge of how to deal with heat and humidity. Like the above poster stated, It's almost impossible to explain because so much of it is "feel". An afternoon spent with an experienced person will do you more good than the rest of your life on the internet. But don't let that stop you. We all start somewhere. You'll learn a lot practicing spraying primer and then you'll learn more when you find out that spraying paint is a whole lot harder.

[Turtleman]

I'll have to agree with what Steve66 said... I've been coating/painting since 1967.... find a Old refrigerator first and get some gun time first... It's NOT hard to do.. its how you cut your material and apply that material.. the blowing is n't bad,, its the prep that sucks..

[PGSigns]

I learned to paint in the mid 70's and the one thing I remember the most was what we were told over and over. The paint will only be as good as the prep. Take some time to learn what goes on under the paint and that will do as much for your finished job as the paint it self.
Jimmy

[franken]

The gun is the last part in the air system. As mentioned, you need a good compressor, cooling system, filter, regulator and water separator, and air lines too.
Modern paint systems, the combination of paint, reducer and hardener are expensive. I think its the reducer that has isocyanates, which as the name implies aren't good for you. Now you need an air system so you don't get poisoned when painting, and a ventilation system.

[Steve66]

"The key to a good paint job is a good prep job". That's what they told us in my Air Force tech school almost 30 years ago and it's still true today.

Here's a tip or two. My compressor puts out 20 cfm of free air at 90 psi which is pretty good for a home compressor. To deal with moisture in the lines this is what I do. I don't have any filters or air dryers but I ran hydraulic hose from the compressor straight up about 6 feet, across about 10 feet and then back down another 6 to the regulator. When I paint I open the valve at the bottom of the tank just a crack to let it bleed any moisture. I also open the valve at the regulator just a crack to bleed a little air and I also throw my air hose up over the rafters. The idea is that moisture will stay at the lowest point in the hose and not travel all the way to the gun. I guess it works because I live in Missouri and it gets plenty humid here and I don't have any issues with water in the line. Another thing with the paint application is this; it's hard to explain but while I'm painting I'm watching the reflection of the wet paint. When it's right it looks like a mirror, not just wet. It's kind of like welding. You watch the puddle not the arc. It's definitely a skill that's hard to explain over the web. Practicing on an old refrigerator or some other large appliance is a great idea. You'll learn a lot. If you talk to your local body shop and can take a car hood home for practice you will learn an awful lot before you start for real.

Just some random thoughts. Take it for what you think it's worth.

[Micmac]

I have not tried this, but I am seriously contemplating truing the inside of my bed in this fashion. The guys who have posted have more experience in their lil finger than I do, but I find this site interesting. I offer only for informational purposes.

http://rolledon.forummotion.com

[62stepside longbox]

Wire wheeled 1/4" thick of bondo off of my pass front fender to find the worst body work I've seen. I knew it was bad but not this bad. Instead of cutting the bad part out and patching it, the guy put the patch panel over the fender skin and brazed it on and sloped as much bondo as possible on. I bought a corner patch but the new panel only go's up so far so I will have to cut out part of my old fender and use it on the new(to me) fender with the new patch. When done, i think I'll call it the Franken-fender

[AcampoDave]

Frankenfenders are pretty common I'm afraid. I know I've made a couple of them. I was pretty happy with the results too. (Of course, I tend to set the bar a bit on the low side anyway. ) Hang in there, it's for a good cause.

[Gooker928]

I just painted my truck in my garage. It helps if the truck is disassembled so you can concentrate on one panel at a time. It took me a year to complete my truck and I'm well satisfied with the results. prep work is everything! It's simple enough to sand and respray a panel that turned out bad but bad prep work WILL show.. You will never get a show quality job in a garage no matter what but you can get great results. The problem with garage painting is DUST.

[AcampoDave]

I've even painted in the open air on a calm day and was satisfied with the results. I live in a rural neighborhood though, so nobody complained. Like Gooker, I did a fair amount of disassembly and piece by piece too.

[LT1 Burb]

I live in a subdivision and paint early in the morning, I filter the air in and out and dust isn't a problem.