Never painted before would like some advice

Levi

Member
I have never painted with a spray gun. I have done some rattle can stuff on our 4650 hood. I want to be able to do better than that in the future. I have a converted pair of jd 8200 drills made into a 27 ft 3pt drill. I bought some van sickle jd green and jd yellow for the lids. I have heard that alkyd paints aren't that great, but this drill isn't meant for the show room I just want it to look nice in the field. my question is what do i need to get in addition to the paint, would the hardener be a good idea? I heard you need naptha to thin the alkyd paints. well thanks guys
Levi
 
I can't offer tech advice but I would spend a little time at your local paint dealer. Invaluable advice. Plus, My friend who owns a body shop allows me to charge on his account..huge savings on expensive painting supplies.

Before spraying equipment I would spray a metal fence etc that needs painted etc so you can see how the gun works and you will get great experience using the gun from that one job-spray patterns/holding the gun/ different pressures etc...that is what I did
 
Took me a couple of hours to learn how to paint, and 20 years to KNOW how to paint.
You can do it, just ask lot's of questions and do some reading then practice, practice.
 
The biggest part of painting is the preparation. What ever you paint you need to make sure it's very clean. Any trace of oils or chemicals can have a very bad affect on the outcome. Painting over existing paint you have to make sure the paint is compatible. For example if you try to paint something with baked on enamel with an alkyd enamel it will soon peal off. Even when the paints are compatible the old paint should be sanded first. It needs the roughened surface to get a bite on to make a better adhesion.

The biggest problem with alkyds is the color. If you are painting colors like black, white, gray the colors stay pretty colorfast. Then if you were to paint green or blue it would only be slightly less colorfast. It's when you use a paint that has red or yellow in it you have a lot of trouble with fading. I painted a utility trailer gray in 2009 and except for damage places it's still in great shape. I used Industrial Maintenance Enamel from Sherwin Williams.

The paint sprayer will be easier than a rattle can once you figure out how much to thin the paint. Naphtha is the best solvent to spray alkyds. You can use mineral spirits but it slows the drying time down and makes the likelihood of runs higher. Naphtha is a faster drying solvent. You can also use turpentine which is also a slower drying solvent but actually a better solvent for the paint. The paint would be a little more durable thinned with turpentine.

The hardener is a good product for the paint but not for the painter. There is a lot of health problems spraying hardeners. A person really needs a air supplied respirator to spray hardeners.
 
HVLP,(high volume/low pressure) has several advantages over convetional spraying. Less paint required because more wind's up on project rather than everything else in shop,safer because less solvent is vaporized into air,easier to adjust and use without getting runs.
In addition to clean surface Steve talked about,treat rust because it will come through paint very soon.
 
" I heard you use naptha to thin the alkyd paints" Do they not give people application guides when they buy paint anymore? Is there not some litterature that comes with the paint? If not how do you know spray temps. drying times between coats ? Does any wacky farm store sell paint these days? Is there anybody that actually goes to an auto body supply where that have paint , guidance , knowledge of what reducer. Seems to me a lot of people can buy paint and be left out hanging with no knowledge of its uses and spray methods. So to try and add something helpful [ and not sound complaining] each gun will have a sweet spot where the paint is most atomized . You can shoot water through the gun and observe the spray pattern from the side and see where this area is . The center of that distance is where you want to be from the work you are spraying. That is not a spec in the guide { although some will give a distance]. For what you want to spray the job will be very forgiving to mistakes and will look good if you spray in every nook. For your job Harbor Freight gun will be fine.
 
Once upon a time they put instructions for paint on the label. Today that is replaced with warning labels in three languages.
 
Ok i figured i would sand the old paint to texture it there is some rust coming through the paint on the boxes. I assume that should be sanded to bright metal? this drill will be painted outside because it is to big for any of my sheds. would a charcoal filter mask be ok if i use a hardener being outside or should I stay away from it all together. I do have some experience spraying polyurethane on cabinet doors but dad usually did that and i carried work to and from him. but i did do some spraying. how similar is that to painting, dad told me its a lot easier to get a good job done on wood than metal because nothing soaks into the metal and it runs sooner.
Thanks again guys
Levi
 
Yes like the first guy said keep an old sheet metal car hood or some flat surface you can spray test you pattern on. Very handy. Could even be the shop door . You are not spraying flat surfaces so as long as you get coverage it will look great.
 
Under normal circumstances when paint is damaged down to the metal the rust will bleed out quite a ways Surrounding the damaged spot. The paint should be taken down to metal in a much larger area than the ding. Sometimes you have a panel that is spotted with rust where there is no damage. In this case the entire panel should be taken down to bare metal and epoxy primed. In this case water has gotten through the paint and corroded the metal.

About the charcoal filter. The first time I painted a tractor I used a urethane with a hardener. This is a stronger hardener than the one for alkyd but along the same line. I was too cheap to buy an air supplied respirator so I painted it outdoors with a charcoal filter and tried to stay upwind from the paint and held my breath when I was downwind. After I completed the tractor I coughed for six months so now I won't use any hardener without the air supplied respirator. The hardener will go through a charcoal respirator.

You still have the run problem spraying wood. Wood should be sealed and sanded smooth before being topcoated so it would be the same as metal. The thing about spraying polyurethane is the same as you will have spraying an alkyd enamel, the finishes set up slow so if you spray a juicy wet coat on the finish will run. It should spray on in almost splatters where you see a little texture as it's going on. Moments later the finish will flow out and level.
 
Only 20 years? I've been at it for over 40 years and I still learn something every job I do.
 

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