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TR2/3/3A tr3 painting --spraying: vertical, horizontal ect...

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sp53

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Well I made my hillbilly paint both in the garage which is basically cutting a single car garage in half with plastic and putting in some heat to get to 60 degrees. Anyways so, I am going to spray some primmer on the hood and other body panels and wonder what position would be best for spraying: vertical, horizontal, 45 degrees or somewhere in between. I also plan to wet the floor and keep body panels up off the floor a few feet to help stop dust from flying. Any tips are welcome even cash,
steve
 
I purchased a hobbyaire fresh air supply set up for about $400 and I wouldn't paint without it,and I paint outside.
Tom
 
First, I don't know what you are spraying but whatever it is, there will be a lot of it in an enclosed space without some kind of forced ventilation. I, like Tom above, like to paint outdoors, but know that is not possible everywhere. I use HVLP and LVLP paint guns and compressed air. I also avoid two pack paints. (I've not tried water based auto paint yet but plan to try next summer.)
As for orientation of panels, I just try to get them in a comfortable position that's easy to reach with the gun. The wet floor helps but you'll still have plenty of particles.
Tom
 
Steve,

I painted in my 2-car garage with the doors open. In the rear of the garage, I cut a hole in the soffit and added an old house A/C/Heater squirrel cage blower inside, blowing out. I did not water the floor but I did use a leaf blower a few days in advance to blow out most of the dust from sanding. Houston has a different temperature problem than Seattle. I painted early each morning when it was coolest.

Since I painted the car in pieces, I had the option to hang things or lay them flat. Each has different disadvantages. Flat allows the paint to lay thicker without running, but it was harder for the paint in my gun to flow when held at that angle (gravity fed HLVP) -and you've really got to watch that air hose. Primers are easier and more forgiving. Color is easy to see. The clear coat was the hardest to see and easiest to run. -And it gets everywhere and everything in the garage will be sticky. Even the bottom of your shoes. A little dust in primer should not be a problem. What is irritating is a butterfly with one wing stuck in fresh clear-coat and the other trying to free it. I found a black cat hair in my hood after the second coat of clear. After all the other coats of clear, and all the ultra-fine-color sanding, I can still find that cat hair. Our black cat is 13 years old, and I hope I have his hair as a reminder for a very long time. -I tried to show it to my wife, but otherwise no person has ever seen that hair.

Take your time. You don't have to do your best -good enough is probably good enough. You have arrived at the fun part.

Get a good respirator and use it -I couldn't even smell the paint until I took mine off.

Jer
 
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I read where you stated you were going to add heat to your paint area. Please make sure you have no open flames like pilot light on your heater going when you spray. I don't even like to have an electric motor running in the same room with all of the fumes that could blow up into flames taking out your garage and the car itself.
 
I bought paint drop cloths that are canvas from Amazon for the floor area. They last for a car paint, turn them over, keeps your floor clean. I use a large fan with heater filters low in the plastic booth. One end has cheap filters to get the dust out. The other end has better filters to pick up any loose paint. The big fan pulls stuff out of the air and into the filters. The outgoing is the color you are painting when you are done. Also, the plastic you use will shed paint molecules. There is a brand of plastic which will have one side that paint will stick.
I second the hobby air unit. a mask will plug up in about 3 minutes, then you are breathing that stuff.
 
IMO No matter what you do, you're going to get dust. I went both routes. I built a booth with an extracting fan, filters, the whole works. Still got dust. I've painted outside. Got dust and at least one fly doing a death march across the bonnet. The skill you need to learn next, is how to deal with the imperfections in your paint. It took me a year to get up the nerve to 1500 wet sand my TR6 bonnet and wheel it out. What a difference! My next painting excursion will be with lacquer . 5 minutes or less dry time between coats and easy easy repairs.
 
Thanks you guys for your input. I stole a little from everybody and will give the painting inside a try this week; it is supposed to be 50 outside and I can get that up to 60. This summer was so hot my shop stayed at least 73 at night and 85+ in the day s 24/7 and then when it cooled everything dropped to 50.

I like the lacquer idea; this old guy I worked with that had some really, really, cool cars, no kids’ just cars. I would mention some, but it sounds unreal; anyways he would paint cars with lacquer. He painted and rubbed out this 40 Ford in 1 hour blocks for about a month, it looked too easy plus the car is beautiful. I asked the guys at the paint store about lacquer and they thought I was dreaming.
 
We’re still using the laquer base coats here in Texas. I hear the West Coast has gone all water based now. It’s just a matter of time and I’m sure we’ll be there too.
 
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