TOPIC: The Spray Booth

It got it's first work out tonight,.......
Got to love how that Polyurethane lays down.

All in all.. I have good draw but I need to add more filters. I'm not getting enough fresh air inflow. But it evacuates fast once I stop spraying. All in all I am happy with the project and how the booth is working.

Awsome video Heather,wishing I lived a little closer,
maybe paint my bass boat!

Looking good Heather, thanks. I'm ordering an hvlp gun set-up tonight, and will try to get enough airflow in my garage to evacuate mist. Gives me something to think about. Watching you do this at least gives me an example of how to spray. Only thing is I could not hear you very well in the beginning, it was like an echo chamber. Wish my body work on the Power Cat was better. I may try and play around with that this week if I get feeling better. You might now, as soon as it gets to 60+ here, I've got a heck of a cold!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Frank

Hey thanks frank. If you have never used a spray gun before, practice on something first to get the hang of it. No one can tell you how to shoot paint, you learn it as time goes on. I have been painting for many years. Mostly cars but none the less, try to get something smooth and vertical to practice on. White is one of the hardest colors to shoot in my opinion, other say it's black. I think it depends on how each person sees colors. As for the booth. I have plenty of draw from my fan. I am using a old central air furnace blower pulling from out of the booth. I just don't have enough intake filters. I have 2 20x20 filters like you use in your house. I think I will try adding 3 more to get more air moving through the booth. But all in all. I am happy with how it worked.

As for the audio at the start Yea,,, I know it's hard to hear. I should have used a remote microphone. That shop is cavernous and does have a echo to it. Sorry bout that. That was my bad......

Good luck, I can't wait to see that old cat going!

Heather,
what I take with me from this tutorial is that I need George Thorogood in the backgroud. That really seems to give strength to the arm to hold it up till the end.

Great shiny job for such a little lady.
Serge

Heather, I have some stuff I can set vertical to practice on, but the hull is done. All I'm doing now is the deck, mostly top flat stuff. I'll play around with it some when I get it with some steel panels I have. I think I'll be fine, long as I can hold the trigger for the duration. My hand and finger strength are not what they used to be!

Frank

One thing about it Frank you're on and off the trigger constantly. Everytime you make a pass, as you reach the end of your stroke twist your wrist in the direction of the pass at the very end to fan the spray away from the surface, then release the trigger. Then hit the trigger, fan back in wih your wrist and make your next pass in the opposite direction, fanning outward again at the end of that pass before releasing the trigger. If you puill and release the trigger with the gun pointing directly at the surface you will run the fool out of it.

Also, always overlap each pass by a couple of inches so each pass will "flow" into each other, and after you do a section step over to the next spot and start again, overlapping the end stroke onto the previously sprayed area by about 4-6 inches. It just takes a little practice, and the tenser you are about your movements, the worse the result is going to be. Just swing your entire arm on the passes and go with the flow. It's almost like ballet once you get used to it and is almost relaxing.

On your deck I would start with, let's say the left side of the deck and spray it, then move to the other side and spray the right half of the deck, and about 3 feet down the side. Then I would move back to the left and spray down the side to the splashwell, spray the splashwell, and up the right side to the area I stopped at earlier. This way, since you already sprayed down a few feet from the deck on that side you are not spraying wet paint right at the deck with the chance of leaving overspray or dry spots on the deck. You've got just a small area to worry about on the side and it will be easier to flow out witout overspray issues.

Doug

Thanks Doug. I'm gonna have questions for sure, but that was a great brief primer.

Funny thing is I've always been afraid of spraying stuff. Never could do it even with rattle cans. So everything gets brushed. That is until I did the Merc. No brushes there, all rattle can, but the technique you describe for the gun is basically what I did on the merc, and I got very few runs. I think some of it is after 57 years, the ADHD is receding a bit and I have more patience.

Now to what I do. My thought was to climb in the boat, spray the inner vertical surfaces up to the gunnel edge (including the rear and side inner vertical edges of the splash pan), then move forward and do the dash and the bow. Then get out, do the gunnels and then very small amount of vertical surface around the deck and finish off at the transom. Does that make sense?

You can check the project out here: www.powercatboat.com/Group/FA_14t/FA_14t01.html

Thanks again. I need all the help I can get.

Frank

Yes, I know Doug is good with the old paint gun. He is also better at explaining stuff than I am. I'm a horrible teacher. LOL

Runs, you will get them just keep going and try to minimize them. after it's all nice and dry you can wet sand them away and buff & polish that area and no one will ever know it ran.

That will be a whole lot better than sanding off all the brush marks Heather! That stuff liked to about kill me.

Should I do a light sanding between coats of primer or top coat?

I think if I'm spraying one more decent coat of primer would do it.

Then light sand before top coat?

Light sand between applications of top coat (I'm using Brightsides)?

How many top coats would be best you think?

Thanks for any and all help!

Frank

Well it all depends on your subject. I had done a good bit of body work to this boat and used 3 coats of primer. I did wet sand with 400 between primer coats. My own old saying is. when the primer shines you know what the finish will look like. As for sanding between coats of paint. In this case I would say no. If you are doing a show stopper paint job you may want to do that. But for this stuff. No, just lay on a nice smooth coat, let it tack up and spray the next. You Data sheet should tell you recommended number of coats and the dry time between coats. This was a 2 part polyurethane from BASF and the time was kinda crazy. It was like, 10 min dry time. Just enough time to drink one beer. LOL.

I'll take a look at the cans I got. It's easier to read stuff on my big monitor, can't see real well. Vision is another thing that's sort of gone to heck on me. Oh well. anyways I'll get out the cans and my magnifying glass and see what they say. Pre-cote primer and Brightsides top side one part polyurethane.

Thanks Heather, take care.

Frank

Hi Heather,

I have just started to get involved with other boat enthusiast. I have a collection of boats and have built a shop to restore them, almost done. I have worked on cars in the past but don't like the upkeep, maintenance and time involved restoring one. I own a miniature golf business and have worked with fiberglass for 20 years. So boats have become my passion. Now let me see if I got this right. You are a woman who: likes boats, knows about boats, works on boats and drinks a beer in between coats of paint. Is this correct? I look forward to meeting you someday!

Thanks Tom

Yea,, that about sums it up Gilligan. A self made thug chick who as she gets older is becoming more reserved but still likes a good fight. I am not trying to impress any one, Just trying to get the occasional pat on the back for a job well done showing myself I am still alive.

Have any experience spraying gelcoat?, im sanding mine to bare fiberglass and dont no how to go about spraying it. should i use primer if so what kind , how many coats of gel, what to mix with each coat. I have read many ways to do it, but they all sound so complicated lol

It is. I have sprayed Gel Coat before and it's rough A lot of sanding if you spray it it's thick it's almost like spraying it from a sand blaster. Basically if it gets air in it as you spray, it wont float to the top and smooth out on it's own like paint will.
I am not the expert on shooting gel coat. Done it a few times and was always a female dog. Spot repairs no problem...

Frank, Heather and Doug just gave a GREAT primer on spray painting. One thing I would add is you can get different speed catalyst that can match the conditions, fast for cooler temps, medium for 70 degrees or thereabout, and slow for higher temps, 80 degrees and above. Get the right catalyst and try to err slower rather than faster. Take your time. My first few jobs I was nervous and worried the paint would 'flash off' before I could get around the whole boat. Believe me, that's the least of your worries. Use a generous overlap and watch the surface. It will look a little 'flat', (like a non gloss finish) for a few seconds, until the paint 'flows'. If you try to spray enough for instant gloss, you will likely get some runs. You will see flaws because you are looking real close while you spray. DON"T try and use more paint to cover them. Ignore them and as the paint cures most of the little ones will disappear, whats left you can wet sand and polish. You will see 'dust heads' (dirt in the paint). Most will disappear as it cures, others will buff out, the real big ones you may have to wet sand and polish. Once it looks pretty good, STOP PAINTING! Don't look TOO CLOSE! DON'T TOUCH! GO AWAY, work on the motor, the trim, ANYTHING to get your eyes off the flaws until the paint fully cures. If you are looking from a foot away and seeing all the flaws (you will...) ask yourself how many paint jobs you look at from a foot away. If you are honest with yourself, the ONLY one you look at that close is the one YOU did.

Now, ask yourself why I said all this, because I DID ALL THOSE THINGS on mine and you'll do some of them no matter what anyone warns you about. Remember, PERFECT is the enemy of GOOD.


P.S. Try not to drag the air hose over the wet paint! I put the hose over my right shoulder and across my back and hold it with my left hand....I STILL drag it at least once...

Bernie

Yes. this is right You see in the video where I take the tweezers and pluck a stray bug off the forward deck? The paint was still wet.... what you did not see is a quick flash of the gun to that area so it would flow into the disturbed area. But this is for the sure and experienced... If you get any bugs or dust in the paint. leave it alone.. Unless it's like a dragon fly or a boulder. you can buff and sand them out when it's all over and dry. And it's also what the airbrush for touch up's is for.

Thanks for all the great advice Bernie! Good stuff. I'm going to copy and save a bunch of this stuff to review before I paint, and then watch Heather doing her magic stuff on video!

I only bought a regular gun Heather. You figure I'm gonna need a detail one?

Gee if this works out, think I could do a decent job re-painting my new GMC? All I could afford was the utility model, and they all come in like a gray/silver color. I want red! Or maybe a two tone red & white like old Chevy trucks used to be painted. Plus it would match the Power Cat!

Dream on right?

Frank

I'm not a painter, but hope to self-tutor sometime in the future just like my hero, Frank. I did have a good friend who was when I was a youngster, and remembered two more tips for the art.

1 - Not only watch out for the air hose hitting the project, (over the shoulder around the back held with the non-gun hand is good advise), but watch for loose clothing doing the same dirty deed. A loose shirt/jacket will swipe the side while you're doing a top piece if you're not careful.

2 - A water filter in the air line is essential to prevent blotches. Compressed air creates condensation, and a droplet of water will ruin an otherwise pristine paint job.

Not to worry Mark, already thought about this stuff. I may get another good mask for somebody to be in there helping me specifically to keep the hose out of the paint. Also, I have ordered from NAPA some disposable water filters that go right on before the gun. I have some tight fitting long sleeved shirts and jeans, so should be fine.

Frank

Heather, talk to me!

I've watched that video a number of times, and while my eyes aren't great, it seems to me that you keep your finger on the trigger most all the time. Looks like as you sweep back and forth, you let your wrist swivel up and out at the end of each pass, but again, I can't see your finger off the trigger or the spray stop at the end of each "swoop."

Yes? No? Maybe?

Thanks for the help!

Frank

Yes I am on it most all the time but it's my experience from years of automotive painting that I can.

Doug was correct for you as a first time sprayer.

As you are starting your sweep, you should get on as you have been into your stroke of your sweep a second or 2 then off just before you finish your sweep. The point is, never let the gun stop in any one place as you are holing the trigger, not for a second. What you see me doing is making sweeps but at the end I am pushing the fan of spray away and out and coming back in in a elliptical path for my next sweep.

GO With Doug's advise. If you do this a few more time in your live you will start to develop your own style. It's like the brush stokes of an artist. Every one style is some what different but the fundamentals never change.

Heather.

PS. I am going to be painting some rub rails this afternoon. If you want, I will make a how to video just for you. Ok? I will hang some paper and show you how to do it "Textbook style"....

Sounds good Heather, thanks. I'll follow Doug's advice.

Sure, a video of painting rub rail would be great. Thank you.

Frank