DIY painting

[anton]

Right guys, need some advice, my car has very badly faided paint and before anyone says polish, its also a different colour front to back no crash damage visable though which is good.
but anyway, i have a friend that does a bit of painting in his spare time, mostly just single pannel and bikes but he agreed to spray my car for £300. unfortunately he has since moved away so isn't able to do it. i hear about people getting cars done professionally for £1-2k but i can buy the spray gun, (buying a compressor anyway) for about £50 and make my garage into a booth for not much. so i was thinking, whats involved with teaching myself?? i have a book on it and it seems not too bad, i have a few spare pannels to practice on before i start on the car, but has anybody attempted this themselves?? i'm not looking for a show standard finnish, just one that is going to last more than 5 years and not much orange peel.

Cheers

Ant

[Acidburn]

My mates making a booth in the lockup next to mine that i'm hoping to use to do some spraying stuff and i've already got the compressor.

Hardest bit imo is prepping the car, its time consuming but needs doing right for a good finish.

[goodall]

My mates making a booth in the lockup next to mine that i'm hoping to use to do some spraying stuff and i've already got the compressor.

Hardest bit imo is prepping the car, its time consuming but needs doing right for a good finish.

as said all in the prep,

wet and dry and hi build primer and odd wee bit filler is your friend, personally few bits iv ever done found it too time consuming to get the finish i wanted
start off saying doesn't have be perfect but soon release making look good making look prefect almost the same

[iain1067]

The only success i have had with spray painting is doing alloys, anything else just doesn't work, i think you have also got to thin down the paint before using it, and dust/dirt getting into the paint is your enemy when painting you would be surprised how much air is being blown around. Plus if you are doing it in a garage/booth you need ventilation as the paint fumes are poisonous, a simple mask is not enough.

[anton]

yes well its not so much the prep that was worring me, thats just time consuming. it was things like the dust issue as i'm just in an old garage, ventilation isn't a problem, i can hook up an extractor.

Ant

[iain1067]

If you lets say painted the floor and walls of the garage you would still have a problem with dust, the dust that comes from the drying particles of the paint, it's quite amazing how far it travels, unless you have a really great dust extraction system. Then there is the old problem of getting water from the compressor in the airline and then into the paint.

Iain

[Knight Rider S4]

years ago I use to help a mate out doing homers painting cars ..and you need to have good kit for a good job..We had extraction,flush walls painted ..use to wet down the room before painting to keep the dust down ...Need to heat the room as well to ensure that the paint drys quick enough to stop runs and orange peel..

[anton]

i will be getting a full air line filter sytem, walls will be plastic covered, can wet the floor, can heat with a tempory electric radiator if that would help??

Ant

[DJones]

i will be getting a full air line filter sytem, walls will be plastic covered, can wet the floor, can heat with a tempory electric radiator if that would help??

Ant

Extraction systems are good for moving the dust and paint mist but you need to filter the air in. If you dont you will add more dust than you move.

If you cant control the air coming inn, in my opinion, your better off not moving the air at all.

If you do a search on "painting" you will see what i have done as i,m currently in the process of painting mine.

Hope it helps.

[anton]

Extraction systems are good for moving the dust and paint mist but you need to filter the air in. If you dont you will add more dust than you move.

If you cant control the air coming inn, in my opinion, your better off not moving the air at all.

If you do a search on "painting" you will see what i have done as i,m currently in the process of painting mine.

Hope it helps.

ah, yes thats basically exactly what i was thinking for the inside garage booth, forgot about your post, i think thats what inspired me in the first place!
as for drawing air in with a filter, what do you use? would some old tights drawn over a wooden frame do? or is it worth getting something propper? and what kind of fan? are we talking office desk fan or computer fan?

Also, one think i'm not sure about, did you prep the car in the booth? if so how did you get rid of all the dust??

really appreciate the help on this one guys.although its still 6 months away, want to make sure i'm 100% ready

Ant

[DJones]

ah, yes thats basically exactly what i was thinking for the inside garage booth, forgot about your post, i think thats what inspired me in the first place!
as for drawing air in with a filter, what do you use? would some old tights drawn over a wooden frame do? or is it worth getting something propper? and what kind of fan? are we talking office desk fan or computer fan?

Also, one think I'm not sure about, did you prep the car in the booth? if so how did you get rid of all the dust??

really appreciate the help on this one guys.although its still 6 months away, want to make sure I'm 100% ready

Ant

If you go to the shop that you will get your paint from they will also sell filter material. I used the proper filters and the filter size is approximately 6' by 3'.

I did prep the car in the booth, vacuumed it out and dampened down walls and floor prior to top coat.

For fans i used 4no 18" electric cooling fans i.e car rad fans. all wired together with jump wires from my A8 that was ticking over on the drive!!!

I used these as i wanted the fans to be insulated/sealed as i was concerned that open motors could ignite the fumes.

It is amazing how much air movement is requires to shift dust. I tested the clear down time with smoke.

Hope it helps.

[anton]

Fantastic! thank you
I'll probably ask more nearer the time about what grit to use ect, i know its in my book but its about 50 years old and i'm not convinced there still the best ways to do things lol, do you know of any good painting books? need real basics as only other thing i've painted is air-fix
-why do i get the feeling my first attempt will be shocking