The Auto Painting Tips NewsletterWith Chris Curwen & Expert Auto Painter - Dave Gage (Car Cosmetics) January 23rd, 2008 - Issue 37 Lighting You cannot have too much light when painting, except of course in extreme conditions. Light will always help to reveal imperfections much more clearly, allowing you to make the necessary corrections or remove them altogether before they are painted over. Proper, adequate lighting will expose all areas of the parts or pieces that you are painting, providing you the opportunity for complete coverage with paint and eliminating the need for touching up afterwards. Caution: When you are setting up your home lighting conditions, be careful that the setup doesn't cause excessive localized heat. This would run the risk of causing surface blemishes in the paint. Fluorescent light fixtures are cooler than most other types of light and may be a safer and more productive choice for you. Always give yourself enough room to work in In order to optimize your chances of successfully completing your paint job to a high standard, your work area must not be cluttered. Even though auto bodywork is a messy and dusty task, a clean and spacious work area is a must. Working in a cluttered environment makes it easy to misplace or damage parts, resulting in additional work. Although you don't want to have parts scattered throughout the house, any parts that can be temporarily stored out of your immediate area will be less likely to incur damage. You must give yourself enough room to walk around the vehicle or parts that you are painting. If you accidentally brush against a panel or part that you have just painted, you will have no choice but to paint it again - not cool. To conclude: Your painting area should have adequate lighting, proper ventilation, a flat surface for mixing paint and the means by which to hang small parts. Any clutter that can be removed from your permanent or temporary spray area, needs to be. Sanding It will be virtually impossible for you to achieve a high quality paint job when you apply paint to improperly prepared surfaces. Paint products were not made to fill in any cracks or crevices. They will simply sink into these imperfections to magnify their depth and their roughness. You will have to spend some time sanding coats of primer or the existing painted surfaces to get them as smooth as possible. Professional painters spend the majority of their time preparing cars for the application of paint, above the actual spraying of them. Various sandpaper grits and useful hand tools are available to assist you with your smoothing down. Sandpaper Sandpaper is rated based on its coarseness. Low numbers are the coarsest while the higher numbers are much finer. You can get sandpaper starting from 36-grit to rough up body filler to 2,000-grit for final wet sanding. Sheets of sandpaper can be bought that measure a foot square for you to cut or fold depending on your needs. Make sure you purchase enough sandpaper to complete the job. One sheet is often not enough for more than one small general repair. Auto paint supply stores carry the widest selection of sandpaper grits, both in the type used for dry sanding only and those that can be used dry or with water. Wet sanding is generally saved for those operations required to smooth blemishes on lacquer or urethane paints after they have been sprayed and cured. Sanding Blocks and Boards A sanding block or board works best to give you a flat, even sand. Caution: Choosing to use only your hand will result in low spots or grooves because of the irregular shape of your hand. Sanding blocks and boards, because of their flat and rigid base, will allow the same amount of pressure to be dispersed across the sanding surface. You will find sanding blocks and boards for sale at auto paint supply stores as well as most auto parts stores and come in a variety of sizes and types.
The largest possible sanding block that you can use will yield the optimum results. Sanding Machines A Sanding machine will consist of a pneumatic or an electric hand sander. You don't always need to use one, especially if you are working on a small job. A sanding machine will significantly reduce the amount of time you spend on sanding if you are going to be painting the entire vehicle or if the vehicle has undergone some body repair. Caution: Make sure you know how to operate it; a sanding machine will unnecessarily damage a vehicle if it's being operated by an inexperienced person. Dual action (DA) sanders are the backbone of professional auto body shops. They are designed to hold a circular pad that moves in both orbital and random directions rather than just spinning in a circle at high speed. Use a DA sander to remove old paint, old body filler and rust deposits on sheet metal panels. They have speed controls so you can adjust them for your particular sanding needs. You can also use an assortment of sandpaper grit discs for initial sanding to fine finishing for example. Large tools work well for body repair jobs while smaller ones help with paint preparation work. You will find DA’s available at your auto paint supply store and various tool outlets.
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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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