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Rattle can advice please
- Thread starter RickB
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RickB
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Painting happened yesterday.
I learned a lot of things yesterday in a short period of time.
First, whoever offered the tip about wearing latex gloves - I really wish I had taken your advice.
Second, and probably most important, if you are going to extract paint from spray cans be very patient. Most of the ways you could think to speed this up will only end in disaster.
Next, if you are going to try and speed up the process be sure to do it far away from the subject that you intend to paint.
A geyser of paint spraying everything can really reach out far and touch a lot of stuff. Then you get to sand off all the lovely little spots of paint deposited on your work. Paint drys fastest when deposited in ways that don't enhance the project.
Oh yeah, a good tip is to keep your respirator on your body - for me hanging uncomfortably around my neck so that it's always easy to put in place before spraying.
Another is to start earlier than you planned, the end of the day comes too soon. Today's my wife's birthday so yesterday morning was full of preparations for that so of course I got started late. Fortunately the prep work was almost done so I could spend most of the time getting the equipment ready to use and reading the documentation that came with the spray gun. All that left little time to paint, especially considering it takes a long time to drain the air from a spray can.
Note to self - find a way to catch drips coming off the sprayer before they leave blobs of paint on the work.
No idea where the drips came from, but sanding them down won't be fun. I had thought about hanging the hood so I could spray it that way - with it hanging vertically - but thought I could do it while mounted to the car just as well. Hanging it would have most likely produced a better job.
All in all I was surprised by many things.
First, since I practiced on a spare trunk lid I found that with the controls wide open the gun can spray out a lot of paint very quickly. Amazingly quickly in fact.
About cleaning the gun, can it be done by simply putting solvent in, swishing it around then spraying it out? Do I need to take it apart and thoroughly clean every nook & cranny?
I have more work to do on this piece, but it's definitely painted and looks pretty good. there were a couple blobs that will have to be sanded out and I haven't actually been out to look at it today - my opinion of the work may change when I do that.
All in all I was surprised at how well my cruddy old compressor did. It's just a 2 hp 12 gallon unit. For a hobby / back yard guy I would definitely say go for it if you want to try doing this - it would be easy to do a lot worse!
I learned a lot of things yesterday in a short period of time.
First, whoever offered the tip about wearing latex gloves - I really wish I had taken your advice.
Second, and probably most important, if you are going to extract paint from spray cans be very patient. Most of the ways you could think to speed this up will only end in disaster.
Next, if you are going to try and speed up the process be sure to do it far away from the subject that you intend to paint.
A geyser of paint spraying everything can really reach out far and touch a lot of stuff. Then you get to sand off all the lovely little spots of paint deposited on your work. Paint drys fastest when deposited in ways that don't enhance the project.
Oh yeah, a good tip is to keep your respirator on your body - for me hanging uncomfortably around my neck so that it's always easy to put in place before spraying.
Another is to start earlier than you planned, the end of the day comes too soon. Today's my wife's birthday so yesterday morning was full of preparations for that so of course I got started late. Fortunately the prep work was almost done so I could spend most of the time getting the equipment ready to use and reading the documentation that came with the spray gun. All that left little time to paint, especially considering it takes a long time to drain the air from a spray can.
Note to self - find a way to catch drips coming off the sprayer before they leave blobs of paint on the work.
No idea where the drips came from, but sanding them down won't be fun. I had thought about hanging the hood so I could spray it that way - with it hanging vertically - but thought I could do it while mounted to the car just as well. Hanging it would have most likely produced a better job.
All in all I was surprised by many things.
First, since I practiced on a spare trunk lid I found that with the controls wide open the gun can spray out a lot of paint very quickly. Amazingly quickly in fact.
About cleaning the gun, can it be done by simply putting solvent in, swishing it around then spraying it out? Do I need to take it apart and thoroughly clean every nook & cranny?
I have more work to do on this piece, but it's definitely painted and looks pretty good. there were a couple blobs that will have to be sanded out and I haven't actually been out to look at it today - my opinion of the work may change when I do that.
All in all I was surprised at how well my cruddy old compressor did. It's just a 2 hp 12 gallon unit. For a hobby / back yard guy I would definitely say go for it if you want to try doing this - it would be easy to do a lot worse!
Trevor Jessie
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Yup, you need to disassemble the gun to clean it properly.
G
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RickB said:
I almost fell out the chair laughing when I read that cause I knew where you were going with it.
Trevor Jessie
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The drips and/or blobs may be because of incorrect tip/needle size, or incorrect setting, or poor atomization by the gun. (this is my issue with HF guns) I do not think the manufacturing tolerances are such that you are guaranteed a gun that will work properly. You may get lucky and find one that will work fine, and for the price I guess it is worth a gamble.
Of course, there are many variables here since you are shooting paint drained out of a rattle can.
Of course, there are many variables here since you are shooting paint drained out of a rattle can.
G
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RickB said:
Many many variables!!
But, in today's fast paced world, your method of stabbing the side of the can and painting ~everything~ might just catch on.
Green dog, why not ????? :thumbsup:
OP
RickB
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Green lawn mower, hey just add a bit of yellow and the value goes up!!
Green floor jack, green concrete, green feet ( don't paint in open toed sandals should have made my list of 'things' above ), green sandals, green parts on the parts car, green smoker bbq, the list goes on and on and on...
Green floor jack, green concrete, green feet ( don't paint in open toed sandals should have made my list of 'things' above ), green sandals, green parts on the parts car, green smoker bbq, the list goes on and on and on...
G
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Multi tasking m'boy !!!!
OP
RickB
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Trying to restore that old hood has really taken some twists and turns.
Last week I had it repaired mostly 'perfect' then I went to spray on some primer and the nozzle on the brand new can malfunctioned and shot blobs all over.
You really wouldn't believe how fast that stuff dries when that happens.
In hindsight I should have grabbed some thinner and a rag, but instead I grabbed a rag and wiped at it. This made things much worse.
So, a few times after work last week I was out there sanding and glazing some more.
Yesterday I was finishing it up and thought it would be a good time to remove it from the car. Put the wrench on the first bolt and snap - broke right off.
Looking at the rest and finding them all very rusty I finally decided to give up on that hood. The thing has been one problem after the next and after all I have done with it I'm still very far from having it work. It is missing some parts for latching, it won't work with the telescoping hood stay, I still need to clean and de-rust the underside and paint it.
Maybe some other time I will come back to it.
I decided to pull out one of my other bonnets, this one was made for the 1500 Midgets and doesn't need much work. I washed rinsed and dried it and it looks like a keeper.
Today I'll sand it and primer it up, first hitting any rusty areas with rust killer then maybe a bit of glazing bondo along where the front flashing goes.
All in all I think it's the way I should have gone weeks ago.
But I have learned many things along the way, that's the silver lining here.
And my 12 year old son is helping me, so that's cool.
Last week I had it repaired mostly 'perfect' then I went to spray on some primer and the nozzle on the brand new can malfunctioned and shot blobs all over.
You really wouldn't believe how fast that stuff dries when that happens.
In hindsight I should have grabbed some thinner and a rag, but instead I grabbed a rag and wiped at it. This made things much worse.
So, a few times after work last week I was out there sanding and glazing some more.
Yesterday I was finishing it up and thought it would be a good time to remove it from the car. Put the wrench on the first bolt and snap - broke right off.
Looking at the rest and finding them all very rusty I finally decided to give up on that hood. The thing has been one problem after the next and after all I have done with it I'm still very far from having it work. It is missing some parts for latching, it won't work with the telescoping hood stay, I still need to clean and de-rust the underside and paint it.
Maybe some other time I will come back to it.
I decided to pull out one of my other bonnets, this one was made for the 1500 Midgets and doesn't need much work. I washed rinsed and dried it and it looks like a keeper.
Today I'll sand it and primer it up, first hitting any rusty areas with rust killer then maybe a bit of glazing bondo along where the front flashing goes.
All in all I think it's the way I should have gone weeks ago.
But I have learned many things along the way, that's the silver lining here.
And my 12 year old son is helping me, so that's cool.
G
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RickB said:
HOw ggod is he at sandning?
OP
RickB
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heh, I showed him both the variable speed orbital and the palm random orbital...
Let him do some of the first bit of sanding with each.
He likes the palm size unit better. The vari speed unit is quite a bit bigger and harder to control.
And of course he's become familiar with the block and the wet sanding.
I let him apply water with a sponge while I work on the material mostly, he's a long way to go before he learns to focus more on the work than the tools.
Still, I'm happy he spends any time at all with it, I keep sessions with him short and to the point so he doesn't get bored and can see results.
Let him do some of the first bit of sanding with each.
He likes the palm size unit better. The vari speed unit is quite a bit bigger and harder to control.
And of course he's become familiar with the block and the wet sanding.
I let him apply water with a sponge while I work on the material mostly, he's a long way to go before he learns to focus more on the work than the tools.
Still, I'm happy he spends any time at all with it, I keep sessions with him short and to the point so he doesn't get bored and can see results.