The Auto Painting Tips NewsletterWith Chris Curwen & Expert Auto Painter - Dave Gage (Car Cosmetics) January 9th, 2008 - Issue 35 Spray Painting Work AreasIt is going to be more or less impossible to complete a professional looking paint job without having the right tools, materials and equipment available to hand. If you wish to prepare an auto body surface properly and then paint it with results comparable to that of a professional auto painter, you must expect to buy, borrow or rent some specialized equipment. You will find a huge selection of tools and equipment for painting with and for making repairs at your auto paint supply store. The merchandise they offer is designed mostly for commercial use, so expect it to be of heavy duty and of the highest quality. While this equipment will be expensive, you can expect the
products to last a very long time as long as you take care of
them properly. They will offer less heavy duty products that will therefore cost less than their commercial use counterparts. Talk with other auto enthusiasts to see what equipment and suppliers they've experience good results with on their paint projects. You also have the option of renting the items from a local rental shop. However, one of the drawbacks with hiring rental equipment is that you have absolutely no idea how the previous user treated that item and therefore you cannot guarantee the results you will achieve from using it. For example, when hiring paint spray guns, tiny air and material ports are easily clogged with dry paint if they are not immediately cleaned after each use which in turn will affect the paint application. Therefore, think carefully about purchasing your own paint spray gun; this way you know it has been taken care of and that it will work properly every time you use it. Your Spray Painting Work Area Please remember that all automotive paint products are potentially dangerous. Just about every product is flammable and you have to be keenly aware of all heat and flame sources whenever working with them. Flash fires involving clouds of flammable gases will quickly engulf your shop, garage, carport and most importantly, you. Make sure that you have a fire extinguisher available to hand at all times. Onward. If you want the best possible smooth, blemish free paint job with a deep glassy shine, consider renting an auto spray booth or spending time to develop your own paint booth in your garage or workshop. The essentials of a spray booth or paint spraying area are:
Rather than spray your vehicle in an open garage and cover everything in the place with speckles of overspray, consider enclosing an area with sheets of clear plastic available from hardware stores. Be sure not to put plastic too close to light fixtures; hot bulbs could melt or ignite it. Place a large fan near the front of your work space to help ensure proper ventilation is achieved. One option you could try is to cut a hole in the plastic and place the fan in the hole to bring in fresh air from the outside. Always remember to leave the garage door open a little to help with ventilation and make sure any breeze from the outside won’t blow directly in through the open garage door. If this could pose a problem, arrange to paint early in the morning when breezes are minimal. To keep down dust, refrain from wetting down the floor in your paint enclosure. Wetting down the floor introduces humidity to your painting environment, which may cause more problems that what you are trying to eliminate. Should you decide to paint your vehicle at home, you must provide a suitable work area. If the area is not clean for example, air pressure will circulate dust, which will in turn land on your freshly applied paint. There are stricter guidelines and regulations being implemented for the auto paint industry regarding how and where auto paint can be sprayed. Using HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) is helpful however, painters in particular regions have to use high-tech spray booths that are equipped with downdraft ventilation systems as well as mechanisms that will capture any overspray. Take a look in the phone book yellow pages and search for ‘auto body repair and painting’ or something similar, you may be able to locate paint booths available for rent. You should also check with your local auto body paint and supply store and even make some phone calls to various auto body shops in your local area to discover who rents out their paint booth. Masking will have to be completed at that booth's location, along with possible part dismantling, such as lights and required cleaning. That's all we have for you this week. Thank you very much
for reading. We both hope this issue has been of valued
interest to you.
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Safety Disclaimer: Always follow the recommendations of your nearest auto paint supply store or by referring to the manufacturer's application guides and information sheets when dealing with any type of auto paint product or piece of equipment. Copyright © LearnAutoPainting.com 2007-2008. All Rights Reserved. |
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Customer Testimonials
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