How To Use A Spray Gun To Paint A Car

Learning to get the paint from a gun onto a surface without it sagging, running or being too dry is not a skill, it is an art and an art that can but be perfected by practice, practice, practice. Even after numerous practice sessions you all the same may not be able to acquire the touch. Your showtime paint job will non be a pretty sight, and your second or third jobs probably won't exist honour winners, either. If you stick with it, you'll probably become very good at buffing, because you'll have a lot of imperfections to attempt to set. But stick with information technology. Remember that the early cars had their paint practical by brush and were sanded and rubbed out, and then it tin can exist done.

Spraying can be skilful on odd shapes such as bike frames and tool boxes — well-nigh anything in your store or garage that needs a new coat of paint. Paint annihilation that gives you spray fourth dimension and an opportunity to work on your skills. Once the give-and-take is out that you are a painter, all your friends will want yous to exercise a spot chore of complete pigment job for them. Subsequently y'all do a couple of prissy pigment jobs, in that location will be no shortage or work coming in for you to practise on. Oh aye, and make them purchase the paint.

Equipment is obviously a cardinal component in paint work and y'all volition want have a good-quality gun to shoot a expert-quality paint job in a timely style. That is not to say you lot tin't become good results with an inexpensive gun, only it will take longer if you figure in the time it takes to fix a few runs and rub out a few dry spots. So the gun outcome boils down to simple economics: What you lot relieve on a gun will cost you in quality and extra fourth dimension. Heck, yous could pigment with a castor and so spend many, many hours sanding and rubbing the paint to a flawless finish and not have spent a dime on a gun. Or, y'all could buy a good quality gun, take the time to learn how to use it well, and then spray a coat or pigment that is good the start fourth dimension and does not demand hours of sanding, rubbing and affect-up.

HVLP Guns

There are all kinds of gadgets that will spray paint. In that location are pressure level pots, gravity-feed guns, siphon guns, depression- and loftier-force per unit area guns, big guns, small-scale guns downwardly and many different varieties of air brushes. What nosotros volition focus on here is the HVLP Gravity Spray gun. The HVLP only stands for "High Volume Low Pressure." The HVLP gun has gained popularity in the final 20 some years and was designed to keep the majority of the pigment on the car and not in the air while utilizing the to the lowest degree corporeality of air to perform this task. In the beginning there was quite a learning curve as we all grumbled and complained most the guns and how we liked the old ones that really put out the paint. Well, the gun manufacturers listened and kept redesigning the guns to the point that they are today, and either they are better now, or nosotros finally learned how to use them. Today, you lot can now lay downwards a pretty decent paint job with only 10 to xx psi, something unheard of twenty-some years ago.

Handling the Gun

The typical spray gun has a few knobs that can exist turned in or out to increment or decrease this or that, giving the painter an unlimited number of options over air pressure level, paint book, period, ratio of paint to air and amount of trigger pull. Some of the guns, like the SATA, are even digital (as far as the air pressure is concerned). Guns are fabricated from aluminum, magnesium and fifty-fifty plastic, simply nearly of the designs are basically the aforementioned. Control of the paint flow does not stop at the gun. You lot volition also accept controls at the air compressor and water traps likewise equally pipes and elbows along the way. Merely one 90-caste elbow volition affect the final pressure level a pocket-size corporeality, and so if y'all have a bunch of them in the line along the mode, it could make a huge departure in the gun's performance. Don't work with old hoses, either. I take seen a flap of rubber on the within of a hose block the air supply and crusade a few painters to scratch their heads.

If y'all look at the typical spray gun, you will notice the highest and most rearward portion of the gun has a small knob that can be turned in or out. This controls the spray blueprint. The pattern can go from an elongated oval to a round pattern and back by simply turning the knob.

Below that is a fluid command knob that controls the amount of paint that exits the nozzle past determining the corporeality of trigger pull you have — the further you pull the trigger, the more fluid you go out the nozzle. It is really just a way of mechanically stopping yous from pulling the trigger too far.

Now if you look down near the bottom of the handle where the air line hooks upwardly, you should (meliorate) accept an air pressure regulator with a knob to control the amount of air pressure you have coming into the gun. Many states limit this amount of air pressure to 10 psi (over this force per unit area I guess they assume air kills people, or something), so commencement with 10 psi. In one case you have paint in the gun, pull the trigger slowly as you slowly turn the air regulator in. What you are looking for is how depression you tin become the incoming air pressure and notwithstanding achieve full atomization of the pigment. This will exist the air force per unit area setting to use for that type of paint.

It may all seem unproblematic, merely between the three controls you have many unlike settings. Pay attention and brand notes on the settings and then you can keep things straight as yous switch brands and types of pigment. Remember, most of the paint companies print the desired setting on the can or in the paperwork that accompanies that product.

Patterns are the consequences of the settings: good settings = adept patterns, bad settings = bad patterns, and patterns are what make a proficient paint job. A good pattern is elongated and even and consistent, laying down the proper thickness of paint throughout the entire pattern. Non more on 1 finish or the other, merely the same thickness through the full length of the pattern. A well-designed spray gun operates somewhat like a carburetor that is set to go the perfect atomization for the perfect burn. Unless you lot actually know what you lot are doing, don't start re-drilling your gun's nozzle to get more paint out of the gun. The manufacturers have different nozzles available for unlike paints. Check with them if you need a special tip for a special job.

Spray patterns can be inverse and I often practise modify them, depending on what I am painting. I may bring the fan width downwardly (turning the top knob in) for a bike frame and so I practice not waste paint, just this means I am putting out much more paint in that smaller area, so I will take to cutting downwards and so I will turn my control knob in a few turns to limit the paint volume.

I also rotate my tip (cap of the gun) when I paint a vertical surface such equally the A, B or C pillars of the cars. I don't like to tilt my gun when I paint, I would rather rotate the tip or cap instead of the whole gun. When spraying a typical pattern downward the side of the car you will demand to start at the tiptop and spray a single pattern down the side of the car with the middle of the spray blueprint at the tiptop border of the auto's elevation border. This way, when you overlap the next successive pattern you lot will wind upwards with exactly ii coats on the entire side of the automobile. If you would outset with the top of the first spray pattern at the top of the motorcar and proceed to overlap the next glaze l per centum of the commencement pattern and each pattern afterwards that, your first spray pattern would only have a single coat at the tiptop 50 percent and double coats the residual of the way down the side of the car.

The most important attribute of spraying technique is to exist able to see the paint lay down as you spray. If y'all tin't see how the particles atomize and lay down, it's like shooting in the dark. Learn to read the paint and become used to the look and feel of the paint as information technology hits the motorcar'south surface. Does information technology look dry or runny? Is information technology shiny, or ho-hum and flat looking? Does it expect constant from one panel to the next, or is it dissimilar from ane to the next? Tin can you lot tell where you lot started the pattern and where you lot stopped, or is the paint seamless as it should exist?

You will only learn by doing. No amount of reading will give you lot the feel, and you will only learn by making mistakes. When I was starting out, I had no preparation and had to acquire on the inexpensive using a gun with a small-scale clunky compressor without a filter system. I learned in a bustle how to diagnose and repair paint mistakes. I could spot a problem earlier it happened, but could practise little to prevent it. At present, of grade, nosotros have the best equipment and a few years nether our belts, but nevertheless take some problems as nosotros switch brands from time to time. I still, on occasion, see the look of panic on Brian'due south face when a particular paint he is using doesn't react the same as a previous paint did with the same pressure and conditions. He e'er gets a handle on it and finishes the job, and when I ask him "How did it get with the new paint?" he always answers "Nifty, no trouble!" Yeah, sure. Even the experts have problems, they but take the experience to overcome them.

Proper HVLP gun technique is the last thing on most new painter's minds, only information technology's the nearly important affair to learn in the first, something that takes a lot of do to principal. Ideally, y'all want to keep the gun half dozen inches from the surface of what you are spraying, and the gun must stay perpendicular to the entire surface equally you motility it along at a consequent rate of travel. Now, this may audio simple, but endeavor it — information technology'due south tougher than information technology sounds. Combine this with the gun having to exist shut off at the cease of each stroke and started upward (pulling the trigger) every bit the stroke reverses back downwards the panel, and you'll discover there is some real coordination involved.

I take found that the best style to practise is to get very slowly with an empty gun and just air paint a car to get the experience of the gun and the movement. Every so ofttimes cease and measure how far off the surface you are. If you lot most touch the surface with the nozzle of the gun, y'all would have created some major runs. Information technology shouldn't take long to get the idea and soon yous will be ready to load up a gun and endeavour information technology with paint. I like to practise on odd-shaped objects such as tubing, and things that are round, such as barrels. Practicing on a flat surface is pretty easy. Practicing on a curved surface volition accelerate the learning curve.

Spot Repairs

Many painters volition tell you that performing a spot repair is more difficult than spraying a complete automobile. While a complete job may involve more labor, there are sure aspects of spot painting that can only be fully appreciated by an experienced refinisher.

Painting a complete machine is certainly non without its share of potential pitfalls and problems but, for the most office, these are predictable and easier to avoid than those associated with spot painting. Unfortunately, the variables of spot painting are so numerous that we couldn't possibly cover every situation in detail. Nevertheless, in one case you understand the basic procedures involved with spot painting, you'll be more able to handle whatever job might come your way.

This analogy provides an example of how the private layers of material are applied in a spot repair. Inexperienced painters oft cease upward painting the whole side of a car because they can't go the right blend. As with all paint processes, practice makes perfect.

An like shooting fish in a barrel spot repair usually consists of repainting a solid not-metallic color on a late-model car. A solid colour on a late-model automobile can usually be matched with accurateness, or tin can exist purchased as a "mill pack" premix. Another like shooting fish in a barrel spot repair is a console that must be repainted. A valance, forepart fender or any section of a auto that can exist masked off separately from the remaining car body eliminates the demand for blending. The blend of a spot repair and the match of the colour are the ii critical factors of a spot repair.

Certain colors are more difficult to match than others and as you proceeds more feel with unlike types of repairs, you'll discover out what colors are hard to match and which ones are easy. I've establish that metallics in general are always more difficult to match than solids because the variables are greater. Not merely are there more than toners in the formula that the paint mixer must accurately measure, simply the awarding of a metallic involves making sure that the pigment particles lay down exactly like the existing pigment does. This ways that your spraying technique and air force per unit area at the gun are extremely disquisitional. For example, a lower force per unit area tends to darken a metal, while a higher pressure lightens the tone.

In the accompanying illustration, you lot can see the left rear quarter console of a machine. The rear quarter panel nigh e'er involves blending, due to the fact that in that location is no make clean break-off signal where it tin exist masked off. Most quarter panels are part of the colonnade and roof department of a car, unless information technology is a convertible model. And so, if a very small expanse of a quarter-panel must exist repainted, the goal should be to confine the repair to the smallest area possible without having to paint additional sections of the motorcar unnecessarily.

Perhaps the easiest way to describe how to perform a spot repair with minimal confusion is that each coat of fabric is applied in overlapping layers. This begins with the repair itself. Because paint must exist spotted in, it is important to keep the working area of the repair to a minimum. Allowing your bodywork to spread out volition increase the area that must be repainted. Keep in mind that painting all the way upwardly to the edge of a panel volition require an absolutely perfect color match. The objective is to avert this past allowing yourself a large blending area to compensate for whatsoever pocket-size differences between the new paint and the existing finish. For a small paring in a quarter panel, yous would perform the dent repair followed by the primer coats and block sanding, again making sure to keep your work surface area to a minimum. When the area is prepare to begin painting, you lot can then apply the color until full coverage is achieved, then you can gradually blend the pigment awarding away from the repair and into the existing paint. Once the color is successfully applied, you can add together the clearcoat if necessary, followed by a blending solvent to cut the dry spray at the blend. Once it's cured, you lot can buff and glaze equally normal.

The Nitty-gritty of Sandpaper

What is the significant of grit when it pertains to sandpaper, Grasshopper? An old wiseman once asked, so Grasshopper looked information technology up on the Cyberspace and, being the smart grasshopper he was, he non merely found the reply inside minutes, merely establish the reply to exist wrong! (True, the Net is just as accurate equally the input of the dumbest donor). The Sandpaper 101 Web site (yes, there is a Spider web site on sandpaper) stated that the grit is measure past "how many grains of sand will fit into a ane inch square." What it should have said is the number of grains of sand that fit on a 1-inch line, non in a 1 inch foursquare. Let me explicate: If you lot lay down large grains of sand on a line that is one inch long there would be, more or less, 16 grains of sand for xvi grit paper if you lot filled a 1-inch square with these large grains of sand you would have about 256 grains of sand. Further, if you laid down iii,000 grains of sand on a line for 3,000-grit sandpaper and then filled a square with the minor grains of sand y'all would have 9,000,000 grains of sand in 1-foursquare inch of sandpaper. Have y'all always heard of 9-million grit paper?

Sandpaper grit is a linear measurement, not an area measurement. If you doubtfulness me, go out and measure your sandpaper grains, but start with the 3,000-grit paper — anyone tin can measure the 16-grit paper. Study back to me next year.

Rating Sandpaper

Sandpaper is rated as follows:
36-dust is considered fibroid-grit newspaper and is used for removing dead birds and stripping paint from the surface of a automobile. It can be used during bodywork to rough out the body filler subsequently using a grinder or cheese grader.

80-120-dust is chosen medium-grit paper and is the next stage in removing the scratches that were put in by the 40-sixty dust paper. This paper will start giving you the shape for the finish panel.
180-grit is used before the first coat of primer. Primer volition fill in the scratches from 180.

280-320 grit is considered extra fine and is commonly a "moisture or dry" newspaper, but should merely be used moisture. This is used to have the initial primer down for the 2nd coat of primer.
360-600 grit is be used just before the base of operations coat is applied. This will be your last risk to catch any imperfections in the paint.

Editor's Note: Please be aware that sanding and spray painting should exist undertaken with keen care for personal safety and protection of the surroundings. Today'south paints, primers and fillers can be very dangerous, even deadly. Always wearable a respirator and proper skin protection to avoid contact. When possible, rent a spray booth and the necessary equipment to get the job done safely.

This story was excerpted from the volume "Eddie Paul'due south Paint & Bodywork Handbook". To check out a copy, click hither.

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