From: Bill Kealey (cwkealey@atlanticbb.net)
Date: Tue Jul 05 2005 - 14:06:27 PDT
Stu,
I admit also to being a neophyte where spray guns are concerned.
When I painted my motorcycle I did not know about the various types of guns and
bought a regular old spray gun from Sears and also joined several auto
body/painting groups on Yahoo Groups. They gave me some great pointers and the
bike turned out okay. However, it took several trys to get it right.
Admittedly, if a professional shop had painted the bike I would still be
complaining. <grin>
I was always told to practice on a barrel until you get it right. Due to the
curving and, oh heck now I can't think of what they are called, the stamped
rings around the sides ... make you work at adjusting your speed of movement and
changing angles for painting.
I also had to fiddle with the air pressure, adjustments on the gun, had to clean
it a couple of times as I had the paint mix wrong and all that good stuff.
Eventually, I got it right .... more or less.
Keep at it and keep adjusting the air pressure, the guns adjustments and
yourself. Your distance from the surface being sprayed as well as the speed of
movement make a lot of difference. I found that when I learned to keep the
spray gun the same distance from the surface the entire sideways movement
instead of the natural tendency to arc at the middle putting the spray too close
then things went well. This is the same with spray cans.
The hardest part that I had to adjust for was that I couldn't get it through my
thick skull how the thinner worked in the drying process and the spray was
drying before it hit the metal. It looked like cotton candy going through the
air. I finally got it right and the paint is about three years old and doing
well.
Good luck with it and when you start getting frustrated to the point of throwing
things ... my advise is to grab a beer and throw it down the old gullet. I'm
not much of a drinker but it always works for me.
Bill K.
Subject: [MV] Spray Painting.
Well, I guess it's harder than it looks.
I bought cheapo spray gun. It spit out primer rather than spray even though
I used 20% Xylene as directed. I also didn't notice the warning about
pressure over 50 lbs. What kind of gun should I get? Is it the gun or the
painter? I do great with the spray cans.
"Stu"
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