I am in the process of rebuilding a 65 lark GS and have a 68 riv waiting when the 65 is done At 62 I decided to try to paint a veh my self. I had no one to teach me so I read up on it and bought the stuff and painted my old truck. :Brow: It looks ok for a farm truck. I seem to have trouble with the paint going on too dry and with orange peel.[tractor enamel paint] Sounds corny dont it. :laugh: :laugh: I dont plan to get exotic. I intend to use acrylic enamel on the skylark and the Riv. I can do the body work , I have done quite a bit of that. I know how to prime and block sand. The skylark is stripped down to the bare bones to repair all the rust damage. I replaced the trunk floor and welded the holes in the floor pan up. I am building a driver not a show car but I will show it in my local club. I know that there is a lot of knowledge on this site and knowledge is power. I am doing this on a retirement budget so I need all the help that I can get. p
If you were close by ........i'd come over and show you. There are so many different factors when it comes to painting. If you had a viscocity cup it would help you with the mixing part. Basicly it is a little measuring cup that is used to test the viscocity of the paint, to see if it's to thin or thick before you spray. The gun pattern and fluid control knob are 2 other key points that need to be addressed. here's a link for you that describes it for you. http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/adjusting your gun.htm Air flow and paint volume are 2 more adjustment on your gun that need to be mentioned. It maybe mentioned in the link but i'm not sure. If your compressor is to small it won't give keep up with the gun and you'll get that dry heavy orange peel problems. The compressor has to be able to keep up with your spraying to help you achieve a nice finish. Are you using a HVLP gun or just one of those $50 guns? The $50 gun can give you a nice finish if you know how to use it. I always tell anyone who wants to get into spraying to get use to the way the gun handles and reacts to little adjustments while priming. You can play with air pressure and fluid control knob to what i mean. If you get a run or too ,you have to sand it anyways so don't worry about it. I taught my self 24 years ago, with trial and error and I found it really fun. It's really satisfying knowing that you did it yourself. Good Luck and I hope I was able to help you out some. I probably missed a few thing but I don't think about the small stuff because it comes so second nature to me. If I did i'm sure someone will mention it. Jarrod
Oh Yeah.....you have to have the right reducers or thinnner for the job which are based on temprature. Humidity will also affect a paint job.
paint Jarrod, Thanks for the info. My compressor is a 5hp with a 60 gal tank. I am not worried about running out of air. I am sure that my problems are my ignorance and lack of skill in this area. I do fine on mechanics and basic body work. But I have never squirted paint. I live out in the sticks in tenn. and have to depend on my self to learn. I bought 4 paint guns two cheap ones for spraying primer and 2 better ones for finish stuff. The finish ones are hvlp. They are pretty good guns not binks or devilbis but pretty fair. I have dryers on the line, and good pressure regulators. My biggest problem is when it doesnt do right for me I dont know what to do to correct the situation. I will keep at it and will learn by the biblical method, "here a little, there a little, line on line, precept on precept," and "Oh God, Why did I do that?" I intend to organize the thing better, Get all the primers the same all the paint the same, all the reducers the same. ect. Also to get my routines the same. Thanks again for the pointers, keep them coming , I need all the help I can get.
Ok since you are using a HVLP gun you must know that if you go and buy just any pressure regulator off the shelf to use with your HVLP you will have difficulty with it. The HVLP will be suffocated with an off the shelf regulator it need more air to work properly. They make larger Couplers/Nipples and Air Hoses to avoid this problem. Don't get me wrong you can use what you got but the finish isn't going to be what experienced painters get. I've seen so many hobby painters and shops try an HVLP gun and will never use it again. They were never told that would have to purchase the extra piece's to get the Quality finish that experienced HVLP painters get. I will admitt i've used mine with the smaller air hoses and the larger nipples and couplers and it goes on just fine, but I don't use a pressure regulator at the gun only at the dryer. I go by the sound that it makes from years of experience. Maybe i'm fooling myself but it works for me. Jarrod
