Any DIY Painters out there?

[caspianwendell]

Spraying is the easy and fun part. Its the rest of the body work that is the hard part. Sanding, sanding, and more sanding.

and more sanding, sanding, sanding

 

[Austin Vert]

Spraying is the easy and fun part. Its the rest of the body work that is the hard part. Sanding, sanding, and more sanding.

Mez,

I would challenge what you say about spraying.The whole spraying process is not easy at all to achieve a pro finish, and as for the rest of the trade, it's not easy for so so many reasons.

Greg (Professional Automotive Tradesman Spraypainter for 37 years non stop, and still painting 40 hours per week) (Four year apprenticeship served in initial training(apprentice of the year in my State for two years running) plus many ongoing courses and diplomas with various paint companies over the years. Run my own business, and have been active manager and foreman and teacher over the years as well.)

 

[71_resurrection]

I will have an attached garage, so this is probably never going to happen because I have a baby and NO paint job would ever be worth the risk of harming him in any way. So I may just leave it as is for 10 more years until I can afford a real paint job...

 

[Totalled]

Make a temp booth in the yard or driveway.

Make friends with someone with a shop or detached garage.

Look into renting booth time at a body shop or tech school.

 

[Qcode351mach]

I will have an attached garage, so this is probably never going to happen because I have a baby and NO paint job would ever be worth the risk of harming him in any way. So I may just leave it as is for 10 more years until I can afford a real paint job...

The real money for a paint job is in the body work..Prep...materials...wet sanding polishing..All stuff YOU can do right in the driveway...I have done many a car in the driveway including painting..A simple frame made of pvc tubing wrapped with 6-8 mil plastic works well.http://www.mycoupe.ca/modules/wordpress/?p=553.The killer is planing working around weather..I routinely paint/ spray parts outside..I just finished up a batch of parts this week all done outside..I'm also in the middle of doing the engine compartment of my green 72 outside on the driveway..I will be spraying it there too..The only thing I will do is set up a 10x10 pop up shade shelter over it..Where there's a will there's a way..You can do all the body work..edging(painting the jambs undersides) at home then see if there's a local trade school who will let you rent booth time or better yet do the paint. Heres some pics of the parts I did this week, look at the quality of the finish

 

[Austin Vert]

I will have an attached garage, so this is probably never going to happen because I have a baby and NO paint job would ever be worth the risk of harming him in any way. So I may just leave it as is for 10 more years until I can afford a real paint job...

The real money for a paint job is in the body work..Prep...materials...wet sanding polishing..All stuff YOU can do right in the driveway...I have done many a car in the driveway including painting..A simple frame made of pvc tubing wrapped with 6-8 mil plastic works well.http://www.mycoupe.ca/modules/wordpress/?p=553.The killer is planing working around weather..I routinely paint/ spray parts outside..I just finished up a batch of parts this week all done outside..I'm also in the middle of doing the engine compartment of my green 72 outside on the driveway..I will be spraying it there too..The only thing I will do is set up a 10x10 pop up shade shelter over it..Where there's a will there's a way..You can do all the body work..edging(painting the jambs undersides) at home then see if there's a local trade school who will let you rent booth time or better yet do the paint. Heres some pics of the parts I did this week, look at the quality of the finish

Oh really????????????

Greg

 

[Qcode351mach]

Oh really????????????

Greg

Sure..strictly from a percentage of work labor cost..when was the last time you spent months laying down paint on a straight up color ? vs stripping, sanding, metal work, filler work, priming, blocking.:whistling:

 

[Austin Vert]

Oh really????????????

Greg

Sure..strictly from a percentage of work labor cost..when was the last time you spent months laying down paint on a straight up color ? vs stripping, sanding, metal work, filler work, priming, blocking.:whistling:

Forget the back yard, you gotta go pro Q!!

Greg

 

[caspianwendell]

Oh really????????????

Greg

Sure..strictly from a percentage of work labor cost..when was the last time you spent months laying down paint on a straight up color ? vs stripping, sanding, metal work, filler work, priming, blocking.:whistling:

Forget the back yard, you gotta go pro Q!!

Greg

One of the best paint jobs I ever did was outside. A friend of mine's kid did the body work, all they wanted me to do was shoot it. When I got there it was in a really nasty barn so we pulled it outside, I wiped it down, tacked it, and shot it...still find it hard to believe how good this kid was at bodywork...no cutting or buffing was even needed. The kid wrecked it like a month later and totaled it out :-/

 

[Austin Vert]

Sure..strictly from a percentage of work labor cost..when was the last time you spent months laying down paint on a straight up color ? vs stripping, sanding, metal work, filler work, priming, blocking.:whistling:

Forget the back yard, you gotta go pro Q!!

Greg

One of the best paint jobs I ever did was outside. A friend of mine's kid did the body work, all they wanted me to do was shoot it. When I got there it was in a really nasty barn so we pulled it outside, I wiped it down, tacked it, and shot it...still find it hard to believe how good this kid was at bodywork...no cutting or buffing was even needed. The kid wrecked it like a month later and totaled it out :-/

Legendary!!

They used to call me the hottest gun in the west.

That was until i stopped leaving my spraygun in the booth on bake cycle!!lollerz

Greg

 

[Obsidian11]

Oh really????????????

Greg

Sure..strictly from a percentage of work labor cost..when was the last time you spent months laying down paint on a straight up color ? vs stripping, sanding, metal work, filler work, priming, blocking.:whistling:

Forget the back yard, you gotta go pro Q!!

Greg

Not trying to get into a pissing contest here, but I completely agree with Q on this one. Where there's a will there's a way. I currently work for a national company that does a variety of reconditioning services to car dealerships. I make a living painting bumpers and repairing alloy wheels. The bumpers get painted outside, sometimes in gravel parking lots, on the cars. Hack you say??? Perhaps to a certain degree, but I have to say, most of them come out quite presentable with no sanding and buffing. The dealers are happy with them because they look a hell of a lot better then they did with scrapes on them, and quite honestly for what I get paid, I'd spray iced tea on the bumpers if that's what they told me to do.

Bottom line, if you wanna paint your car outside, go for it! If it gets dirt in in it, put a few extra coats of clear on it, then sand and buff it. For a real nice show car you're gonna sand and buff it anyway, even if you used a booth.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Austin Vert]

Sure..strictly from a percentage of work labor cost..when was the last time you spent months laying down paint on a straight up color ? vs stripping, sanding, metal work, filler work, priming, blocking.:whistling:

Forget the back yard, you gotta go pro Q!!

Greg

Not trying to get into a pissing contest here, but I completely agree with Q on this one. Where there's a will there's a way. I currently work for a national company that does a variety of reconditioning services to car dealerships. I make a living painting bumpers and repairing alloy wheels. The bumpers get painted outside, sometimes in gravel parking lots, on the cars. Hack you say??? Perhaps to a certain degree, but I have to say, most of them come out quite presentable with no sanding and buffing. The dealers are happy with them because they look a hell of a lot better then they did with scrapes on them, and quite honestly for what I get paid, I'd spray iced tea on the bumpers if that's what they told me to do.

Bottom line, if you wanna paint your car outside, go for it! If it gets dirt in in it, put a few extra coats of clear on it, then sand and buff it. For a real nice show car you're gonna sand and buff it anyway, even if you used a booth.

Just my 2 cents.

I'll pretend you didn't say all that Obsidian.

Greg

 

[Don65Stang]

The real money for a paint job is in the body work..Prep...materials...wet sanding polishing..All stuff YOU can do right in the driveway...I have done many a car in the driveway including painting..A simple frame made of pvc tubing wrapped with 6-8 mil plastic works well.http://www.mycoupe.ca/modules/wordpress/?p=553.The killer is planing working around weather..I routinely paint/ spray parts outside..I just finished up a batch of parts this week all done outside..I'm also in the middle of doing the engine compartment of my green 72 outside on the driveway..I will be spraying it there too..The only thing I will do is set up a 10x10 pop up shade shelter over it..Where there's a will there's a way..You can do all the body work..edging(painting the jambs undersides) at home then see if there's a local trade school who will let you rent booth time or better yet do the paint. Here's some pics of the parts I did this week, look at the quality of the finish

I've painted small parts like this in the driveway too and they turned out good. I agree that the prep work is 80% or more of the paint job. I plan to test the home made paint booth at some point in the near future when we paint the grabber blue car for my 13 yr old son to drive when he's 16.

 

[Austin Vert]

Hey Guys,

I'm just having a little fun here and stirring up the pot so to speak.

But on a fairly serious note, the matter's been raised about spraypainting around family and pets etc, etc. from or around your home.

I don't know what your State to State health and safety laws are like around America exactly, but here in Australia they take those sort of things fairly seriously. We have laws in place that would stop you from spraypainting out in the open and/or near and aroiud your house in a typical suburban environment where your neighbours live close by, and would be effected by your painting.

You do have to think of your neighbours and your family with this sort of activity, and is it a safe and fair thing to do. Also, if you go to the trouble of constructing a makeshift spraybooth,whether it's a garage or tent idea, there are two things to consider. The fumes created could be exhausted out of your so called booth, but where do they go? They go around the neighbourhood and cause problems.(Unless you've found a clever way to quell all the fumes after they leave your booth) Secondly, if you don't exhaust your fumes, you get a massive buildup in your booth. That is very dangerous and life threatening to the spraypainter in the booth full of fumes.

Pro spraybooths can be hired out for reasonable hourly rates around the cities, and are a good idea for all to take advantage of. Think about it guys.

Greg

 

[matrixx]

I no longer have to spend money on the pest control guys since i started painting outside.

You do make a good point to make sure no pets or people are around. I never heard of any offenses in usa about painting outside. Always wear a full painters suit with filtered mask if you do any makeshift paint booth. It does get pretty bad.

 

[[email protected]]

Had to buy my paint in Nevada to get good solvent based paint and clear. Industrial finishes in Reno gave advice buy best quality clear you can. I bought Sikkens top quality base and clear and sealer primer. Ended up with 1 gal and 1 quart of color plus 1 quart black pearl for stripes, plus all the other reducers, activators etc cost $1300. My painter bad mouths Summit but is okay with Eastwood. Again, he loved the sikkens clear. Best luck

 

[Qcode351mach]

Hey Guys,

I'm just having a little fun here and stirring up the pot so to speak.

But on a fairly serious note, the matter's been raised about spraypainting around family and pets etc, etc. from or around your home.

I don't know what your State to State health and safety laws are like around America exactly, but here in Australia they take those sort of things fairly seriously. We have laws in place that would stop you from spraypainting out in the open and/or near and aroiud your house in a typical suburban environment where your neighbours live close by, and would be effected by your painting.

You do have to think of your neighbours and your family with this sort of activity, and is it a safe and fair thing to do. Also, if you go to the trouble of constructing a makeshift spraybooth,whether it's a garage or tent idea, there are two things to consider. The fumes created could be exhausted out of your so called booth, but where do they go? They go around the neighbourhood and cause problems.(Unless you've found a clever way to quell all the fumes after they leave your booth) Secondly, if you don't exhaust your fumes, you get a massive buildup in your booth. That is very dangerous and life threatening to the spraypainter in the booth full of fumes.

Pro spraybooths can be hired out for reasonable hourly rates around the cities, and are a good idea for all to take advantage of. Think about it guys.

Greg

At the hobbyist level there's very little the town or state can do,,at the worst they will warn you to stop & most of the time that would be after your done..Most of the fumes dissipate very quickly..I've actually seen house painters who spray make more of a problem create huge clouds of overspray..Check any commercial spray booth exhaust when a car is being painted..They expel fumes too...The only way to have minimal emissions is by the use of a water wash system..In essence it's a water fall ..that the overspray travels over on it's way out the booth, the water catches a good percentage of the overspray which is then converted back to a solid you dispose of..No matter how you slice the pie auto body work & it's related operations use hazardous substances chemicals that you have to be aware of in order to facilitate the proper use of. NEVER EVER spray in a enclosed area with out proper ventilation protective gear. Which is what Greg is saying..

 

[[email protected]]

few things no one mentioned. Get you practice panel from a body shop their take offs are fine and represent 9 cents per pound scrap. much cheaper that wrecking yard. Yes lots of filtered ventilation and yes mask for isocyanates better yet if you can come up with fresh air hood. Family away until house well ventilated. Depending on your weather leave it alone to gas out fully for 2 days to a week

 

[Go Time]

Hey Guys,

I'm just having a little fun here and stirring up the pot so to speak.

But on a fairly serious note, the matter's been raised about spraypainting around family and pets etc, etc. from or around your home.

I don't know what your State to State health and safety laws are like around America exactly, but here in Australia they take those sort of things fairly seriously. We have laws in place that would stop you from spraypainting out in the open and/or near and aroiud your house in a typical suburban environment where your neighbours live close by, and would be effected by your painting.

You do have to think of your neighbours and your family with this sort of activity, and is it a safe and fair thing to do. Also, if you go to the trouble of constructing a makeshift spraybooth,whether it's a garage or tent idea, there are two things to consider. The fumes created could be exhausted out of your so called booth, but where do they go? They go around the neighbourhood and cause problems.(Unless you've found a clever way to quell all the fumes after they leave your booth) Secondly, if you don't exhaust your fumes, you get a massive buildup in your booth. That is very dangerous and life threatening to the spraypainter in the booth full of fumes.

Pro spraybooths can be hired out for reasonable hourly rates around the cities, and are a good idea for all to take advantage of. Think about it guys.

Greg

At the hobbyist level there's very little the town or state can do,,at the worst they will warn you to stop & most of the time that would be after your done..Most of the fumes dissipate very quickly..I've actually seen house painters who spray make more of a problem create huge clouds of overspray..Check any commercial spray booth exhaust when a car is being painted..They expel fumes too...The only way to have minimal emissions is by the use of a water wash system..In essence it's a water fall ..that the overspray travels over on it's way out the booth, the water catches a good percentage of the overspray which is then converted back to a solid you dispose of..No matter how you slice the pie auto body work & it's related operations use hazardous substances chemicals that you have to be aware of in order to facilitate the proper use of. NEVER EVER spray in a enclosed area with out proper ventilation protective gear. Which is what Greg is saying..

"NEVER EVER spray in a enclosed area with out proper ventilation protective gear. Which is what Greg is saying.."

+1 "Q" I remember (barely) spraying a huge back hoe tractor for a local municipality when I was 19 years old back in 1985 in their building with poor ventilation . When I left there I was High as a kite off of the Dupont Centari Enamel fumes and I was wearing a charcoal filter mask. Besides that your visibility greatly diminishes if you don't have very good ventilation. Thanks for the hazy memory "Q"

 

[ramair]

I don't know if anybody else has mentioned this, but to spray paint you need a good air compressor. A HVLP gun will eat cfm like their is no tomorrow. A conventional gun will take less cfm, but overspray will be worse. If you have a small air compressor look at a LVLP gun, I use a Star(Astro Pneumatic Evo T S4000) with my small compressor. I can get away with painting one coat on a hood before the compressor kicks down. When choosing paint go with the base clear, it is more novice friendly. If you go with single stage and it is a metallic, good luck, even a non metallic is not easy to spray. Here are some before and after pictures of my moms old car that I repainted for her. I used PPG single stage acrylic urethane paint with a convential Devil Biss JGA gun. All prep work was done in the garage, the laying down of tha paint was done in a rented paint booth.