Hi everyone, my lil bro is looking into painting/doing body work as a hobby, but most of the time he asks me for advice and instructions. Sadly this is one of the few times i had to say "i dont know". I'm pretty accomplished at my job as an auto tech and in my spare time built a few hellishly fast cars, but never did anything more than rattle can prime/paint/clear. So i thought that it would be a good idea to learn how to do so together. Hes already an extremely good artist so i figure alot of this he would pick up on easily, and whatever i learn would be a bonus.

i know we're not gonna become pros at this overnight, but if anyone can suggest any tips, methods, instructions, books, etc would be helpfull...also any links that you guys found "usefull"

Also equipment - setup like water seperators etc(nothing crazy like those 700$ snap on hvlp guns) i already sold my soul to snapon once...besides id like to buy my lil bro all the equipment. theres gonna be a harbor frieght opening soon about 3 miles from me...bout time NY get one!

things like guidecoats (even though ive seen ppl do it,only on tv), bondo/plastic filler, how brighten up paint after wetsanding (polish?) i dont understand well.

Thanks ahead of time everyone.

 

I'm in NY and there's a Harbor Freight 5mins away from my house
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Gl w/ the painting venture man. If your lil bro is good at art I'd try to set him up with an air brush as well. Get him to try air brushing designs for cars, custom paint jobs pay good money

 

Lucky sob, now i'm hate on albany cause of you. i can make it there in 5 mins...if i attach rockets to my car (future mythbuster like project). He talked to me about airbrushing, but i was like "ive seen one before". thanks dude

 

 

Check out the Paint U Cation videos from Kevin T.
Very good starting point for newbies going into doing body & paint work. Well worth the price of admission as the DVDs have great information contained inside. Cheap price to get a education in paint & body work ,IMO.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PUC-PAINT6/

 

ty so far

 

I'll give you one piece of advice. Clean your gun THOROUGHLY!!! Many paint jobs get f'ed up from people being lazy about cleaning their equipment let alone the environment they are painting in. Another piece of advice... You can't just read a book/watch a video and be confidant to do show quality work within your first few tries. Granted you would be a fool to not look at them lol, but just don't get yourself down if even 2 or 3 projects don't turn out the way you wanted them to. It takes practice, so if I were you guys I would just research a bit and just give it a try. It takes practice more than anything.

P.S. your brother would probably love airbrushing, so I would try and get him practicing on that the most. It can apply to so many other projects. Plus all will envy in his work if he gets any good at it. I know i sure would!!

 

thanks for that tip, hes been itchin me to get one, i saw some of the harbor freight stuff, pretty inexpensive and should be nice for a starter, and its a few minuets away. also did some digging and found so great reviews.

 

One way that I learned proper technique is to fill the gun with water and practice spraying with that. When it comes to painting a few pointers;
-Prime over 180grit sand scratches
-Paint over 320grit sand scratches
-Its always better to spray the clear on wet because u can always wet sand runs out while if it is dry then u have to reclear it
-The key to a good paint job is the prep.

 

Completely agree! The prep is what makes a nice paint job. For the primer (if it's primer/surfacer not primer/sealer or non sanding primer) I usually work up to a bit higher grit. Same goes for the paint. Not by much though. I usually start with 180 with the primer though. Also there is a bit of a difference between spot putty and body filler. Spot putty you usually apply to low spots after you prime if you cant fill them in with more primer. I guess what we should tell you is more the problems that can arise and how to solve them rather then the "proper techniques". Mainly because there isn't just one technique, and because you can just watch some vids to get a handle on that. Hmmm I'll have to think of some problems that typically happen to people.

 

One BIG tip, DO NOT BUY A PAINT GUN FROM HARBOR FREIGHT. I have experience with them and they are about useless. Despite popular belief you don't need $700 worth of equipment to do decent paint work(even though I to sold my soul to the snap-on guy...and cornwell and craftsman)

For a starter gun spend about $40-$50. Also make sure its an HVLP gravity fed gun. You can lay down some decent work with one of these guns with a bit of practice. And all you need starting out is a decent water separater and make sure you have a pressure regulator because HVLP guns only use about 25psi MAX. Just having the regulator on the bottom of the gun is not enough(Dont ask me how I know =P)

 

do even bother buying any gun for 50 to 60 edollars they do not last long your seals and o rings will be junk after a couple times of cleaning. buy a devilbiss finishline this is a great starter gun and will cost you around 150 160 and can get rebuild kits j for them. I spray probably 4 to 6 hours a day and while they are not as good as the gun i usually use a sata i have used finishlines quite bit have laid out some great paint jobs with them have one in my garage right now that i used to spray my camaro. if your brother plans on doing any airbrushing definitly do not buy a cheap airbrush either you will regret it

 

We have a place here called Workshop tools. They have paint guns for 30 bucks. The last couple I have bought have worked fine. No the quality and pattern isn't that good but they will spray decent enough. Painted several cars with them. After several paint jobs they make good primer guns. You really don't want to use the same gun for primer that you use for paint anyway. Primers don't wash out very well and that little spec left in the gun usually comes out at the worst time. And those little orange filters that screw on your hose or regulator at the gun work great.

 

awsome guys, keep em comming, and yes the main thing is gonna be the problems we run into, ill give the h freight stuff a shot before i buy something nice, my friend donated his dads car as the first "car guinea pig" but im gonna have him practice on a fender or something first. he wants to re do his hyundai also so thats gonna be a big moment there. Then i want to repaint my blue iroc as a team project.

questions
epoxy vs acrylic vs high build vs sealer primer? etc, basicly all the freaky paint terminology etc.

remember simple explinations are better cuz i honestly dont know to explain all this stuff to him

 

I'd suggest going a paint store and getting just a little cheap line primer, and paint first. Get a hood or some panel from a body shop that's not completely destroyed, pick an area that is straight. Then tap a dent in it and start from there. Do three or four getting larger then prime and paint. Something that doesn't matter like that you can just wet sand primer and paint right over. Practice is the best way I know. Been making a living for 30 years at it and the best body men have been self taught mostly.

 

touche

 

Something that I haven't seen mentioned was protection. For any spraying, do lil bro a favor and get him a proper respirator. I'm nearly 50 now and wish I'd never sprayed anything without one. Even sanding, a mask would be good. Nothing in paint is good for you.

Never had an artistic bone in my body, always amazed at people that could air brush. Just amazing to me. Good luck with it, it can be very fun and profitable.

 

I usually only use a couple types of paint as I'm still on my learning curve but if you plan to put primer on a car and leave it that was for quite some time before you sand and paint it I have been told you should always use epoxy primer, because it wont allow moisture through.

 

ty saftey when hes around is always in my head. im assuming a respirator type with the nosh filters or w/e there called?

 

Usually the ones with replaceable cartridges are good for spraying. The white paper masks are good for sanding dust and such. Find a local paint supplier, not necessarily the closest one or the largest one but one that seem to want to help you. Let them know what you're trying to do and they can be a huge help. They may also have some paints they've mixed for customers that either didn't match or they never picked up that they would sell cheap.