Anyone tried their hand at spraying?

[CoxyLaad 0]

Jeez Timmy you have done an absolutely cracking job on your bike mate!!!

I wish I could paint like that

[tim20vt 0]

Jeez Timmy you have done an absolutely cracking job on your bike mate!!!

I wish I could paint like that

 

thanks i had a bit of practice on all my mk1 golfs.

i think with practice anyone can do it the main thing is having somewhere to do it and affording all the equipment.

[flusted 0]

I sprayed my whole car a about 5 months ago.First time id sprayed with a compressor.

I bought all the paint and the gun for under £100.

Guna do it again when it warms up abit as its a bit dull where it was so cold and i done it on my parents driveway!

[dazzyvr6 0]

as its been said before,spraying is pretty easy with a bit of practice,its the prep work that needs to be spot on,i was a paint sprayerfor 5 years,not on cars but the technique is the same,ive got a small compessor which is ideal for little jobs like colour coding wing mirrors etc,paint choice is quite critical aswell,you can get 2 pack paint which is isacyanide free,i think cellulose paints are been fazed out towards the end of the year,and water based paints being used,which is going to be more expensive to use

[flusted 0]

is it worth me doing my next coat i 2k then?

[dazzyvr6 0]

ive just had my front bumper sprayed in a paint called DELTRON,and the finish is spot on

[corradophil 3]

I used to work in a body shop, but never got as far as spraying colour, although I know the basics.

 

I sprayed my passanger door, rear bumper and O/S lower rear quarter in my garage and they match the finish if the rest of the car perfectly. Obviously I could prep them to a profesional standard, beacuse thats what I used to do. The spraying is a steep learnning curve, and I woould recommend practicing on scrap panels as mentioned before. You don't want to mess it up on either of the Corrados.

 

We always used 2K acrylic paint - far better than cellulose.

 

Carry out the repair and guide coat and finish with p180 production paper, prime with two heavy coats of 2k high build primer. Guide coat the primer and wet flat with p800 wet and dry. Apply base coat in 2-3 thin coats to build the colour up, you are not trying to get a gloss with this. Then when the base coat tacks off, 2 coats of 2K clear lacquer. If you are blowing in the lacquer, mist some thinners with the spray gun around the edges of where you have painted after applying the last coat, this will make it polish up easier. Leave it all to harden, a good test is if you can mark the paint by pressing your finger nail into it, it is not hard enough. It should not mark at all. Once hard, wet flat with P1500 wet and dry to remove orange peel, but be very careful not to brake through the finish or you'll be spraying it again. Finaly machine polish with Farecla G3 compound. You should get a glass finish using this method with practice. One big issue is blending the colour, you must assume it will not match and 90% it does not.

 

It is not an easy process to get right, and the paint and materials will cost a fair bit, but if you have the interest, time and money you can get good results. To be honest my advice is, touch in chips and sratches with the touch paint from the dealers, and save to get it done profesionaly.

[wilkes 0]

i sprayed mine too ,months of prep ,with a bodyshop preppar friend teaching/checking everthing ,the paint is quite easy cos if you cock it up you can polish it back up,just make sure theres enough paint on the panels ,

i also did it with a small compressor in my mates garage ,and its good quality ,seen people pay silly money for a job thats no where near mine so im chuffed,even my local paint supplier thought it looked good ,it really is very satisfying knowing that you have done it too even if it isn't 100% and knowing if you get a dent or scratch ,you can fix it relativly cheaply .

[gradeAfailure 0]

Ok, well I've been doing some test sprays on metal sheet with the VW aerosol I have, and it's coming out a pretty damn good match to the original paint on the car, so I'm going to have a crack at blowing over the scrape on the rear arch this weekend - no filler for the dent or anything, I just want rid of the gouges in the paint...

 

So, how far back should I sand? Just enough to get a good keyed surface? And seeing as I won't be going back to bare metal, should I put down a layer of primer first?

[marc c 0]

Use something like 180 wet and dry to remove the scratch working in circular movementsfrom the centre outwards to try and feather out the edges ie you dont have prononced lip on the edge of the repair and you should see metal then primer then topcoat.

 

Then move onto 320 to take out the deep scratches caused by the 180 using the same circular motion

 

Finally use 600 allround the repair in the same circular motion to remove the scratches from the 320.

 

Always use a block and use the wet and dry wet and clean off the rubbing down water with a shammy leather.

 

When youre happy with the repair clean it with some panel wipe.

 

Any bare metal should be covered with 1K etch primer which is allowed to flash off

 

Then use some high build primer covering the whole repair and try not to prime up to the edges of your masked off area as this will leave an edge.

 

Cover the primed area with guide coat and rub down with 800 wet and dry until the guide coat has dissapeared and the primer feels flat when you run your hand over it

 

As you rub the primer down it should blend into the old paintwork leaving no discernible edges.

 

When your happy scotch brite the area you are going to paint panel wipe it tack rag it and put on your top coat holding your gun aerosol about 8 inches away from the panel dusting a light coat on first doing any edges and trying to overlap slightly each run of the paint

 

Allow the paint time to flash off before doing another coat and another coat and another coat until youre happy with the finish etc.

 

A lot is down to the preparation which takes time and experience if youre not confident leave well alone as you can do a lot more damage than you realise

[corradophil 3]

A lot is down to the preparation which takes time and experience if youre not confident leave well alone as you can do a lot more damage than you realise

 

Absolutely, if your are going to get it repaired proffesionaly at some point, you will probably make the job worse by having a go, than if you left well alone.

[CaiosG60 PWR 0]

I've got a VW camper that I'm restoring and planning to spray myself. I've done a bit of research so far by asking people and have also read an old Haynes bodywork repair manual. It was helpful but I’m far from knowledgeable of the subject so far and very interested in the info in this thread.

 

Firstly though I bought a 3hp 150 litre compressor that can do nearly 15cfm at 120psi, I was told anything less wouldn’t really do. Especially if I wanted to use air tools with it like a sander, grinder and polisher and was doing an entire van.

 

As far as I have been told when it comes to paint choice. If you’re not going back to the metal you should spray with the same type of paint that’s already on the car or you could get a bad reaction between the paints. I think you need an oven to spray water based paints as it doesn’t use the harsh hardeners that other methods use. For the camper, the plan is to go right back to the metal and then spraying it with 2pc and a quick drying hardener (no oven). I should be using an air fed respirator when spraying this paint but seeing as it’s a one off and a proper respirator costs quite a bit I’m only going to use a good mask. The chemicals are really bad for you and if you work with them everyday you have to be really careful.

 

I’ve been told that the quality of the spray gun can make a huge difference. You can pay from as little as £10 for a spray gun but I reckon the finish would probably reflect that. I want to get a Devilbiss GTi as I’ve seen the finish that other amateurs have got with this gun. If someone in the know could recommend a less expensive but good quality spray gun I’d probably go for that.

 

I’m going to look into selling Devilbiss or Sata spray guns soon.

[tim20vt 0]

"Firstly though I bought a 3hp 150 litre compressor that can do nearly 15cfm at 120psi,"

 

that will be spot on thats what i have it might need a 30 amp fused supply.

 

"I should be using an air fed respirator when spraying this paint but seeing as it%u2019s a one off and a proper respirator costs quite a bit I%u2019m only going to use a good mask. The chemicals are really bad for you and if you work with them everyday you have to be really careful"

 

thats why i quit painting it is well harsh especialy if u have a few beers aswell after,

buy a decent mask with atleast carbon filters.

 

 

"I%u2019ve been told that the quality of the spray gun can make a huge difference. You can pay from as little as £10 for a spray gun but I reckon the finish would probably reflect that. I want to get a Devilbiss GTi as I%u2019ve seen the finish that other amateurs have got with this gun. If someone in the know could recommend a less expensive but good quality spray gun I%u2019d probably go for that.

 

I%u2019m going to look into selling Devilbiss or Sata spray guns soon"

 

i use airgunsa no complaints they come with thatcham transfer efficency certificates.. sort of a devilbiss replica but cheaper myn are all gravity fed guns so i cant coment on the bottom fed ones.

[Bobby 0]

like mentioned before things can only get better with practice i started on flat colours flash red etc then went onto metalics and pearls, started on my flushed front bumper this week i will post up some pics tommorow of the jom grill, handle and rear number plate panel i sprayed over the weekend in 2pac aqua blue pearl. The laquer is the hardest part to finish for most people, flusted when i spayed a friends base red car we then laquered it over as this prevent the colour fading and gives a glass shine :shock: i'll post up a pic to show you what i mean. I always use gravity guns just prefer them over the base feed type,thoroughly recommend devilbliss top quality equipment :D .

[bcstudent 0]

This is a great thread. It's making me want to go and try to paint something! I prepped and sprayed my replacement front panel about 18 months ago but I didn't really have a clue and was making it up as I went along. The finish wasn't great but most of it is invisible so it'll do as a first attempt. I've got a driver's door to fit that needs spraying to match the car. Maybe that'll become my next victim...

 

"Firstly though I bought a 3hp 150 litre compressor that can do nearly 15cfm at 120psi,"

 

that will be spot on thats what i have it might need a 30 amp fused supply.

 

3hp is only 9.3A. It'll be fine with a standard 13A plug.

[StormchargedVR6 0]

I was a paintsprayer for sixteen years, and made some good money out of it , but you do need the rite gear,and materials. If using 2pack always use a Air Fed Mask, i gave it up because of Health resons. :(

I still do a bit for my self, got use of an Oven so why not. :)

[gradeAfailure 0]

Well, the irritating weather has decided to rain which means I can't clear the crap out of the garage into the back garded to make way for the car, so it'll just be more practice this weekend... grr... :)

 

On the subject of lacquer, obviously if you're using 2K with a gun, you can mix some thinners in with it for getting the blend area right, but how would you go about getting an acceptable blend with aerosol lacquer? Or is it just not possible?

 

On the plus side, test sprays have been coming out nicely (after I discovered that the lacquer sprays much heavier than the basecoat!), and cuts up to a lovely deep shine with Poorboys SSR2 and Meguiars polish... :thumbleft: just gotta work on technique as I'm getting a very slight orange-peel effect with the lacquer, but I suspect the coats just need to be thinner...

[corradophil 3]

You will always get orange peel, to get a glass finish you need to flat and polish it.

[StormchargedVR6 0]

You will always get orange peel, to get a glass finish you need to flat and polish it.

Good painter can get a flat finish, I know :)

[gradeAfailure 0]

Ok, no worries on the orange peel then, the Poorboys seems to be doing a good job of glassing it...

 

What about the blending of the lacquer though?

[StormchargedVR6 0]

You won't blend lacquer with an aerosol, you need spraygun and use a slow thinner(fade out thinner) to do a spot repair.

[gradeAfailure 0]

darn... :(

 

best buy a compressor and a gun then!

[CoxyLaad 0]

moving it on a bit, - bumper repair, anyone got any tips on repairing the plastic on a bumper?

My bumper has a perfect circle pressed into it, I suspect from driving into the back of someones exhaust.

Plastic welding tips?

 

We need a bodywork tips section.

[Riley 0]

i seem to have a bit of a nack for bodywork 8)

 

ive mainly used tins on small things like mirrors and wotnot,have used a gun a long time ago on a motorbike fairing and it was immaculate 8)

 

the prep is very important,constantly feeling/looking for dips/dents etc...and if filling,you are best to get a good amount on and work it down with a wide sanding block to get the level right.

 

i got bored one night and wafted a few coats over the rear 1/4 of the mk1,used a tin and didnt polish it afterwards or anything.

 

Neil.

[StormchargedVR6 0]

moving it on a bit, - bumper repair, anyone got any tips on repairing the plastic on a bumper?

My bumper has a perfect circle pressed into it, I suspect from driving into the back of someones exhaust.

Plastic welding tips?

 

We need a bodywork tips section.

Depends how deep its pressed into the bumper,you can sand bumpers down , and use some fine filler and use 2 pack primer.

Only need plastic welding if there a hole.