james caruso
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thats the first time i have ever heard someone having carpeting in a booth. that seems like it would trap alot of dirt. i line my floors with 100lb white booth paper and the walls i spray with evercoat’s tacky coat booth coating. the 2 together really reduces dust nibs and every time the booth is cleaned i have perfectly bright white floors and walls.
i sweep it to get the bulk then turn the fan on and blow the floor down. i would blow the walls as well but they have a sticky booth coating on them so its unnecessary.
definately agree with the heat as well. if you have a curing lamp or a halogen work lamp and a heat gun you’ll need that as well.
if the graphics are small then the eraser wheel will work well. if its large then that might be an issue unless you get one of the large eraser wheels that go on your buffer. there are a couple other products out there, one called “vinyl off”. sign supply places will carry it like fellers, sign warehouse or beacon graphics. spray it on, let it set for a while and the vinyl should come off somewhat easy.
with the type of work i do i have to mix everything. no one paint comapny makes the best of everything which is needed to do custom paint. in this business we pretty much abuse paint and have completely unorthodox procedures so the stuff has to work. its alot of trial and error of using different products and brands until you find the combination that works really really well. for the most part though i try to stick with one brand’s color (rm) and one brands primers and clears (spi). they all work great together.
your gonna be hard pressed to find a gun in the price range that you are looking in that is better than the iwata. iwata and sata are usually the guns to have. i prefer sata for primer and mini gun but iwata for base and clear. sata is really expensive though and out of th range you want to spend.
i’ve been strictly using spi clear and primer for probably 7-8 years now i guess.
have any of you guys actually got a paint company to warranty a paintjob? everyone always talks about warranty but i’ve never hard of a paint company do anything other than give you a free gallon of clear…..although i dont work in a production shop either. just curious?
no sure but it looks like it might be prospray’s economy line. i have never used prospray clears only the base which is very good. i dont think they have as good or extensive color matching system as other companies but coverage and price is great. prospray is already a pretty reasonable product so i doubt their clears cost much. they are probably in line with matrix so average would be maybe 100 a sprayable gallon for the clears. again, just guessing.
good to know, thanks!!
how do you compare it to glasurit or rm? also, i have only used waterborne once to airbrush with but for those of you that use it, how do you or can you wipe it down?? if something sits in base for a while before clearing can you wipe dry waterborn base down with w&g remover or something like that the way you can solvent base or is it too delicate? is there a special product for this?
well i dont pay too much attanetion to what everyone else is doing but i think its just like everything else. the guys who have built a good name for themselves are doing good and the others have gone under or have found another job and just do it on the side. the economy seems to affect the classic car market a bit less than others. most of these are old retired guys who have money regardless.
if your looking to actually paint it and not save the chromed surface then scuff it as best as you can, epoxy prime and paint it. the aluminum is no big deal but the chrome is usually a pia to dull out. instead of sanding you can lightly blast it to etch the chrome as well.
on the custom and resto side of things, overall this year business has been really good. oct, nov and now dec are pretty slow although its always slow this time of year. right now i am starting to get a few big projects rolling then first week of feb is when it gets crazy. people get their taxes done and its time to play with their toys!!
i use p400 to level out my clear. its definately not too coarse. the idea is to not just knock the orange peel off but to level the slight waves. the finer you go with the paper the less you are going to do that. i know many guys who use p320 to level their clear but i think thats just a little too coarse. as for the spi clears. the universal and ms are the ones i like. read the thread below. i gave a good explanation of spi clears.
http://www.refinishnetwork.com/discussion-forum/refinish/dynatone-anyone-have-experience-here.html