My Car Painting

Correcting Spray Gun Air Pressure Problems As long as you clean your spray gun and leave it in a place where it is unlikely to be injured by other objects being set atop it, and the like, you can expect many years of faithful service from this device, and will probably be using it long after many of your other current tools have worn out and been replaced. Some painters report using a single spray gun for twenty-five years or more – although, of course, these are well-engineered American models which use good material, and modern Chinese models, frequently made of pot metal, may be less enduring. Nevertheless, spray guns are not perfect or infallible, and there will inevitably be moments when they fail you. Parts will be misadjusted or improperly lubricated, one of them will occasionally break and need to be repaired or replaced, and so on. Besides the air nozzle and air cap cleaning problems described in the previous article, there are some larger problems as well. ...

Testing your Spray Gun’s Pattern Indeed, test-spraying is an extremely fruitful way of detecting problems with either air or paint flow, and should be carried out before every major paint job. Some painters also shoot a test pattern periodically during a long, thorough paint job, using a piece of masked paper tacked up on the wall of their workspace as a testing surface. If you are painting an entire car, you should, at a minimum, test the spray pattern every time you fill the paint cup. To test spray, set up your spray gun, filling the paint cup three-quarters of the way as usual, and connect the paint gun to the compressor. Set up a piece of clean paper or white cardboard in a vertical position, tacking it in place if necessary, at a height where you can spray it most conveniently – probably at about waist height, since holding your upper arm straight down at your side and your forearm out at right angles to your body is the most stable way to aim your paint gun. P...

Are Separate Spray Guns Necessary? Although many auto painting gurus recommend this arrangement, others argue that there is no logical reason for it in most cases, since the paint or primer will need to be cleaned completely out of the gun in any case, and remnants of paint would probably crosslink and ruin the device before you got around to using the next color. There are some circumstances where separate spray guns for primer and paint might be appropriate, of course. At a large auto painting shop, some painters may be undercoating cars, while those in adjacent booths are painting or clear-coating others. In this case, if the primer has specific characteristics and needs – for example, if the nozzle size varies between the primer and paint, or if compressor calibrations are preset for the different materials in different booths– then the process might be streamlined by using separate guns for each purpose. The whole “set-up” can be left in place, and the car take...

The reasons for painting your car afresh are not difficult to guess. May be that the old paint is beginning to get peeled off or you could simply be tired of the color of your car. Some may like their car to stand out from the rest of the crowd and by giving it an exclusive chrome paint. Whatever be the reason for giving your car a new paint, let it be known that it’s a very expensive affair, and at times it may make a better sense to go for a used car instead. That could prompt you to repaint the car on your own, using a spraying machine. Yes, you can do so, but you may go wrong somewhere in the process and further spoil the looks of your car. You’ll need to procure all the right materials and carry out necessary preparatory work to avoid giving your car the looks of having been ill-treated by an inexperienced mechanic. How much are we talking? Even if you decided to spray the car yourself, in all likelihood you would be spending about $1500. And, in case ...

How Much To Paint A Car Painting a car is one of those rare bits of maintenance that are rarely done by amateurs. As such, the question of how much to paint a car is generally on the minds of many car owners. The price varies, due to the varying techniques and the cost of materials and labor. Fortunately, smart car owners can find prices that are within their budgets, and shops that will guarantee the best paint jobs for the most reasonable prices. The Basic Process Painting a car is far more difficult than painting a room after all, the question of how to paint a car is generally answered by finding a professional. Unlike typical painting, the painting of a vehicle requires very specialized equipment, if not a specialized environment altogether. Not only must a shop make use of pricey spray-guns and window and tire coverings, but the paint used in painting cars is quite expensive. Several coats of this sort of paint are needed to paint the average vehicle, a ...