Aaron's 'learning to paint' thread..

[aaronjb]

So, seeing as Rich has one of these, I thought I'd start one too  s;) s;)

First off - this is not a cheap project.  I think I'll have spent pretty much what a bodyshop would have charged me to paint these by the time I'm finished - but hopefully I'll have learnt a new skill in the process.

Here's a list of everything I've bought so far - no prices unless anyone really wants to know how stupid I am:

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PART        SUPPLIER    DESCRIPTION
HVLP-1000   eBay        High Volume Low Pressure spray system (Apollo Spraymate)
Polisher    eBay        1200W orbital polisher/sander with four heads
Tack Rags   eBay
Respirator  eBay        Dual cartridge chemical respirator
S. discs    eBay        6" Sanding Discs & soft pad interface P80/P120/240/400
Mixing Cup  Paints4u    SuperCup graduated mixing cup
Tins        Paints4u    Plastic 1ltr paint tins (2x)
Wet & Dry   Paints4u    P400/P600/P800/P1200
S. block    Paints4u    Rubber sanding block
Wipes       Paints4u    40x Panel Wipe cloths
Scotchpads  Paints4u    3x each of Green/Red/Grey scotch pads
20:00       Paints4u    20:00 Waterbased panel wipe 5ltr
Stopper     Paints4u    Spat-O-Rapid 1K Stopper (2x)
Thinner     Paints4u    2ltr Hydrofan Thinner
Primer      Paints4u    1ltr Hydrofan HF610 1k filler primer
Basecoat    Paints4u    1ltr Hydrofan Basecoat Mica (8M6)
20:85       Paints4u    1ltr 20:85 1K Acrylic Laquer

A few little bits & pieces from Halfords:
Goggles, 1.5mm drill bits, rattle-can Ford Royal Blue, plastic filler spatulas

And some bits I already had like white spirits for general cleaning.


In case you're wondering - the 1.5mm drill bits are there to 'modify' the paint jet in the standard spray gun.  It comes from the factory with 1.8mm and 1.0mm jets - the Hydrofan stuff needs 1.4mm so I'll start out trying 1.0mm and move up to 1.5mm if that leads to horrible results.


So, day 1 was fairly uneventful thanks to the weather - but I made a little start on the ducktail spoiler.

And now, just to prove that even genuine toyota parts don't arrive perfect;  the spoiler has a manufacturing 'stamp' embossed into the bottom that needs filling, some evidence of solvent 'pop' in the filler and it also had a horrible 'lip' that looked like two halves of the spoiler joined together on one end. I think the lip was probably actually a dry edge in the primer, but it got sanded down regardless.

The manufacturing stamp:


Again:


Solvent pop in the primer (I think):



Hopefully tomorrow will see the weather better and me having more energy, so I'll shoot primer (not in my kitchen though!  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  )

[Anonymous]

Aarons auto painting service, great rates, club members only, 50% discount for small Scotsmen  s:D s:D

[heathstimpson]

Can't see the piccies Aaron  s:? :? s:?

[Draggon]

Hehe I remember my first car (Mk2 Escort mexico bright yellow) and spraying the front lower skirt i bought in my mums kitchen.

I had no idea she didnt want bright yellow dining chairs ...(soz off topic but slightly related)

Cant wait to see your results Aaron......are you going to spray in the garage or outside?

[heathstimpson]

Can't see the piccies Aaron  s:? :? s:?

Cancel that all ok now; weird  s:? :? s:?

[aaronjb]

Right - day 2..

Lots more filling later to get rid of the manufacturing marks, followed by a quick rub-down with a green scotchbrite pad, blow off, tack rag over and then panel wipe down..

And I was ready to spray.

Opened the tin of 1k Filler/Primer and what do I find? Not something akin to paint, like I was expecting, but something much more like P28 filler..

The instructions say 1000:50 ratio of filler to thinners to spray, but that left me with a mix that wouldn't even travel up the sucker pipe in the gun  s:? :? s:?

So ~50:50 mix later and I had something that would, at least, spray.


Unfortunately the finish was terrible:
(click to see a larger version)


On the plus side, at least you can't see where I did all the filling:


The front is really patchy:



Very 'grainy' finish with the 1.0 jet in the gun, and very splotchy coming out of the gun too..

Not sure what the remedial measures are here - obviously rub down & start again, but I'm thinking 1.5mm jet and perhaps even more thinners to filler ratio.  Might just give paints4u a call on monday and see what their Hydrofan man thinks..

[rtbiscuit]

it only needs a gentle rub down, just get back a smooth surface. also is that a plastic primer with alastomers in or just a basic metal primer.

get something else to practice on, then you can spray till your happy, and then apply to the finished item.

i got bored over the weekend and am in the middle of spraying my induction pipe. have it all in white using hammerite white spray, just waiting for the paint to harden properly and will see if i can get the plasticote red to go on top.

doe 2 test sprays and at the moment the first has crackled and the second didn't. did a test spray on an unseen bit, and guess what it crackled. i think it might be to incompatible the 2 paints so might go buy some red hammerite.

anyways back to yours.

try a larger nozzle, and a thinner consistancy with the primer.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  i think 60:40

[aaronjb]

It's really hard to measure the ratios with the primer as you can't actually pour it out of the container - it's got the same consistency of thick porridge  s:? :? s:?

And it's supposed to be 'ready to spray' undiluted! I can't even see a conventional high-pressure spray gun pulling it through like that.. so I think a call to paints4u to find out if it's really meant to be like that is in order.

[Anonymous]

It's really hard to measure the ratios with the primer as you can't actually pour it out of the container - it's got the same consistency of thick porridge  s:? :? s:?

And it's supposed to be 'ready to spray' undiluted! I can't even see a conventional high-pressure spray gun pulling it through like that.. so I think a call to paints4u to find out if it's really meant to be like that is in order.

Waaait a minute, whats your address Aaron, my porridge tasted like sodding primer this morning!  s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

[rtbiscuit]

did you give it a good old stir, it might be the consistance is because its all settled?

its a stab in the dark guess  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[aaronjb]

I tried - it was impossible to stir, it was that thick! Seriously, like one big lump of putty in a pot..

[filcee]

It's really hard to measure the ratios with the primer as you can't actually pour it out of the container - it's got the same consistency of thick porridge  s:? :? s:?

Just a couple of suggestions (based on what I do with lawn weed & feed and energy drinks for my bike rides - not at the same time!!!!  s:-D :-D s:-D  )

Get a cheap plastic[1] jug or two and some electronic kitchen scales that can be zeroed with stuff - like a container - on them. (Wilkinsons are a god-send for getting hold of cheap stuff like this)
Put the jug on the scales, and zero the reading.
Pour the ingredients out into the jugs, and either read the marks for volume off the side, or note the weight from the scales.  Use whichever is easiest to calculate the ratios.

Alternatively:
Place the can containing the ingredient on the scales and read off the weight.  Scoop out some of the ingredient into the jug until you have reduced the weight by the desired amount.  Repeat with second ingredient.

Apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs  :-) :-) :-)

[1] I'm assuming that the "ingredients" won't melt the plastic - you might need glass jugs instead.

[aaronjb]

I know what you mean Phil  s;) s;)  I have a proper measuring cup (pre-gradiated for 1:1 through 5:1), but that's useless when it's solid..

On the plus side, just got off the phone from paints4u - they went and opened one of their tins and I believe his words were along the lines of:

"Oh.. yes, that is.. erm.. yeah I just tried to stir ours and.. well that's like porridge isn't it.  I know they're a bit optimistic sometimes with 'ready to spray' but that's a bit wrong!  We'll call Lechler for you and find out what's up with this.."

It's good to find helpful suppliers  s:) s:)

Now I'm just waiting for a call back to see if:

a) It's gone off in their stores
b) It's a bad batch
or
c) The datasheet is wrong and specifies far too little thinning

[loadswine]

I wonder if the 1000:50 ratio was the thinners being the thousand and the porridge being the 50. That's 20:1 which might be about right if its that thick. I know very little about professional spraying though, so just conjecture.  s:) s:)

[aaronjb]

I wondered the same thing - it is entirely possible that they got the datasheet back to front.. Hopefully I'll find out soon  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

Painted the heat shield today, tin of barbecue paint £5.99 Piece of urine to do, no thinners, sanding, priming, mixing etc. You are obviously going the wrong way about things Aaron, hell it was so easy that if my car wasn't already sable i would have bought 10 tins of sable spray paint and had the wife spray it in between ironing and digging the conservatory foundations!  s:D s:D

[philster_d]

if you put in the runny liquid first wont the lumpy porridge stuff (popped in a slice at a time) displace the liquid until the correct levelyou want?    s:) s:)

[rtbiscuit]

nelix, spraying primer and colour are as you say a piece of cake especially if you use rattle cans.

the difficult bit is the laqering, but if you can master that out of a rattle tin you are well on your way to a productive new career  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Lacquer? Are you calling me a hairdresser?  s:evil: :evil: s:evil:

[philster_d]

Aaron, where are the pictures of you gradualy undressing as you spray?

[aaronjb]

Now you're scaring me, Phil!  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

And can we try and keep on topic here   s:P s:P  

No updates on the paint front, however - unless Stu seeing my rubbed-down spoiler counts - still waiting on a call back from paints4u.