Paint: Questions

[RSykes]

I have to finish painting my '64 T-cab Champ pick-up which was started by a friend of mine who died.

I'll be applying a non-sanding sealer followed by build primer. After that, the paint, followed by clear coat.

1) What size compressor do I need?
2) Do I sand the paint between coats?

[32hyb]

As a panel beater painter myself of the old school I assume your trying to seal the old substrate surface but for what reason I'm not sure in all the years I've been doing it where possible its better to start with a clean canvass so to speak .
If this is not possible by all means use the sealer but once you have applied high build surfacer you MUST make sure that you don't rub through the sealer.
Compressor size should be a minimum of 10 cfm this will make sure you don't run out of air half way through the process of applying finish coats.
When applying final finish I normally would apply a minimum of five coats overall give it 24 hrs then wet or dry rub entire body with twelve hundred 1200 paper so there is no orange peel .
Then apply 5 more coats follow the same process you can put more colour on its up to you but when you have applied what you think will be enough its times to buff polish I'm assuming your using acrylic Lacquer and not two pack .
If you are using two pack you need a spray booth to reduce the amount of surface contaminates as well as stopping the fumes and vapour which are lethal without the use of the proper air supplied masks.
The beauty of two pack is a great gloss finish BUT it only surface gloss as against full depth gloss all the way to the primer when using Acrylic Lacquer which you can redo if you mark it a lot more easier than two pack.

Hope I haven't confused you or put you off.

Regards Allan 32hyb

[swvalcon]

More information would be nice. Will it be to metal or just well sanded old paint? But either way I would use epoxy primer as the sealer both before your build primer and over it before your paint. Use a 2-k build primer anything else is old school and hasn't been use in the last 30-40 years in body shops. I would use a two part paint either single stage or base clear. Either can be wet sanded and buffed when dry and you only need two to three coats. Every time around the car just adds more junk in the paint with a booth or without.

[TWChamp]

Each coat of paint won't need to be sanded before more is applied as long as you work within the window for that paint. When I painted my Model A chassis parts I used PPG DP-90 primer, let it air dry for an hour or two, then top coated with DCC-9000. I think the repaint window for my paint was a couple days, if I remember correctly. The parts came out very nice, but I did get a bit thin on the top coat in a couple small spots. When you paint black over black primer, it's hard to tell how well it's covered unless you have lots of light.

[SN-60]

There are SO many types and brands of paint available today, it's best to just follow the paint manufacturers instructions.....Everything will be clearly spelled out. Good luck!

[RSykes]

Thanks guys. I worked with the friend I mentioned who died. We did this from early January through April 2013. I'll explain in the next paragraph why there has been such a break since he died if you want to slog through it. Anyway, I did body repair, mixing, spraying, sanding; cleaning the paint equipment--the whole shot. He was a 30-year mechanic/paint/body man. I was involved in all phases. I just don't remember if we sanded the paint before the clear coat. I know he said the pressure maintenance was important because a changing air/paint mix has been known to effect the color in the paint. Sweetolbob answered one of the two questions--find the gun and you'll find the pressure maintenance requirement. Now, just need to know whether the paint gets sanded. All body parts are bare metal.

Why the time gap-- When we did the passenger side fender, the air deflector separated from the fender. It took me several months to find another. The project was a frame-off, so when we got the fender done in November of 2013, I asked him to keep it for me because of storage issues. After he died, his son took all of his business equipment and emptied his house. He would not give me the fender even though his lawyer said it was the right thing to do. To pursue the fender legally was an approximate $3000 civil suit. I took him to small claims court for the cost of a new fender, body work and paint. Magistrate said I sued the wrong person--that I should file against the probate estate of my friend. His son did not have power-of-attorney and my friend left no will. So, neither the son or any other member of the family has filed a probate case, this after now 15 months. I know the son has sold and still has much of his dad's property for sale, and the three other siblings are not sharing in the proceeds.

Found a fender in North Carolina. Drove down, took it off the truck. Owner said he wanted nothing for it. I have completed all the body work. It's ready for paint along with the truck bed.

I have all the materials for the job.

The surfaces are bare metal--that's why the non-sanding sealer.

[sweetolbob]

It appears that you are on the road so lets talk $$$$. If this is a one time paint job and you're not rich go to Harbor Freight and get this.

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-hp-60...sor-55391.html It's a lot of compressor for the money and get the extended warranty. The volume will handle most guns. While you are there, pickup there best HVLP spray gun and a cheaper one for primer. Don't use the best gun for primers.

I personally have a Devilbiss Plus gun I've used for years but have bought a couple of the HF guns over the years for lesser work and they spray pretty well. I also own a very expensive Ingersol-Rand compressor that bellied up after seven years in spite of the fact I ran their synthetic oil in it with regular changes. The original motor now drive a HF compressor that has lasted two years that I installed after the IR compressor seized. It cost $180 vs $900 for the IR replacement. I figure I can toss the HF head out every other year and be money ahead although it's still running as well as when it was installed.

If you want to spend more money on a finish gun then do so (don't go crazy however - $200 will but a great but not professional gun) but don't waste a lot of money on the primer gun or compressor. You'll get a lot of encouragement from professionals to go with the best but for my money, and I'm an amateur that has done a half dozen or so cars, don't. Also don't go below 5 HP on the compressor no matter what they rate the output.

The best place to spend extra money is on the buffing of the final paint. The wet sanding is pretty straight forward but if you can find someone to do the final polishing locally and watch what he does it will be money well spent. This is the area that can make a modest spray job look professional.

As far as painting and sanding, I like the epoxy primer for initial coating and 2K high build for leveling. You'll sand most of the first coat or two of 2K off to level the finish. I'll let the better painter talk about sanding the base.

Good luck, this is how we learn, by doing and fixing the mistakes. Be Safe, Bob