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I'm good with a spray can.... what am i doing wrong!

4K views 21 replies 10 participants last post by  philPKP 
#1 ·
hi guys.... i seem to get better results with a spray can than i do with a Spray gun....

I've got a el cheapo spray gun... and it seems to orange peel..... I'm not shure how much paint to spray on at a time....

when i Spray can... i just put ultra light coats... like 5 times.....

but i think that i'm spraying too little at a time with my spray gun.... I'm spraying at 40psi... and mixing it according to the directions on the can of Nason...

How thick a coat am i supposed to spray? i think i might have moved the gun back and forth too much...... because when i watch american hot rod.... they seem to move much slower.... so i'm assuming it should be a relativley thick coat.........

Sorry i'm just fumbling my way thru this body work thing... :(

this is the cheap gun i have :)

 
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#2 ·
I have one of those guns and it works great. Sounds from your description that you are not putting on enough material in a pass. First coat can be the mist coat to form a tooth for the rest of the job but subsequent coats should go on looking wet and be overlapped 50% for uniform coverage. Only way to describe it is get uniform coverage as heavy as possible without causing runs. This can only be done with proper settings and proper technique. Spray guns are light years ahead of rattle cans in capabilities but bring with them a higher level of complexity and skill set.

You just need to experiment with paint and air settings and painting technique to get it right. Get an old fender or some such practice pallet and play with it.
 
#3 ·
Seconds per foot for topcoat/clearcoat:

The speed of a pass to consider or "work from" might be to actualy count seconds that the gun moves per foot. An example; on a 4 foot wide door starting the gun off the panel at about 8 inches from the surface with "happy" presure/settings count 1 mississippi 2 mississippi 3 mississippi 4 mississippi etc..every 12 inches ... This will give you a sence of how to slow your passes down and really slam the material on there with a bench mark to set your stlye to depending on how long it takes to say Mississippi.

Of course color coats for BC/CC systems are "dusted on" since the goal is color coverage/management not final gloss as with clears or single stage paint.

hope to have helped.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Hold the gun the other way and you might get a better feel of control also. The small tab sticking down goes in the crook of your hand and your index finger goes on the lever. Of course the gun is for a right hander. It might give you that "spray can feel of control". Try thinning down the paint a little more, back off the pressure to around 30psi , and adjust the fan spray. Keep us informed how it turns out. BTW here is the info you forgot to post with the pic. PSI is calling for 30 lbs. And it is a touch up gun. Definately not for squirting anything big.

Now you can do professional custom spray painting, detailing and touch-up with this lightweight spray gun. Right-or left-hand control. Self-centering brass air nozzle lets you change spray pattern from flat to round. Covers an 8in. area from 8in. away. Siphon feed cup has an 8 ounce capacity. 2.8 CFM at 30 PSI, 4.0 CFM at 50 PSI. 1/4in. NPT fluid and air inlets.

Kevin
 
#5 ·
What are you painting with that gun....it's a touchup gun.

If you want to do a whole paint job, you need a bigger gun.

And you partially solved your own problem....you bought a "cheapo" gun....you get what you pay for.
 
#6 ·
yah.... I was a afriad of getting a run..... so i didn't want to spray too much on..... I was defiantly going way to fast......

So aparantly i should almost spend 4 seconds per foot? is that correct... i know it's not exactly 4 for every app..... but i was like 4 feet in 1 second.... i was so afraid i was going to get a run, or have 1/4 inch of paint on there.....

so it's NOTHING like spray painting with a can..... one mist coat.... then COATER ON LIKE NO tomorrow.......

I basically ended up doing 6 passes on the same door in like 20 seconds.....
:)

Man i need to go get a job at a body shop so i can learn all this stuff... it seems like there is so much to know.

poncho62 said:
What are you painting with that gun....it's a touchup gun.

If you want to do a whole paint job, you need a bigger gun.

And you partially solved your own problem....you bought a "cheapo" gun....you get what you pay for.
I'm just painting the bottom half of my doors on my 96 Golf.... Because i want to sell it, and i figure cleaning up the rust spots before i do is a good idea.

but i plan on painting a whole car next month.... if this goes well..... so you don't think i can use my cheesy gun to paint a whole car?
 
#10 ·
milo said:
1 mississippi 2 mississippi 3 mississippi 4 mississippi
would be about right for a pass FOUR FEET long. :rolleyes:
GOTCHA ;)





this touch up thing is getting a little confusing..... whats the difference..... if you paint 4 inches wide 20inches wide....the paint is still going to look the same in a 4 inch spot as a 20 inc spot..... unless what they are saying by touchup is.... dont use this where your going to look at it everyday..... ???
dunno... I know it's a poop gun, but i didn't want to go pay 200.00 for a gun to find out i'm a absolute loser at painting......
grrr.... maybe i'll see if i can borrow a real paint gun from somone..
 
#12 ·
Painting 4 inch wide strips will make it look like a zebra.lower the pressure. and spray at least a 8-10 strep on each pass. You will have to stop and fill that touch up gun after a few passes, then you will have more dry places. Napa used to have a cheapo gun that worked good enough to paint several cars.

Troy

__________________
If you don't make mistakes. your not doing anything.

69 ss rs full custom camaro 98 ISCA grandchampion
69 ss rs bb camaro wifes driver
66 Elcamino 350/all dz parts,ac,windows,loaded,my driver
69 ss chevelle bb conv.fresh frame off
26 T sedan street rod
 
#13 ·
troy-curt said:
Painting 4 inch wide strips will make it look like a zebra.lower the pressure. and spray at least a 8-10 strep on each pass. You will have to stop and fill that touch up gun after a few passes, then you will have more dry places. Napa used to have a cheapo gun that worked good enough to paint several cars.

Troy
8-10 strep?.... i dunno what you mean.....

hah i didn't even use half the paint in my gun.... i definatly dont use enough paint... I'll go try again tomorrow...

I'm doing an area about 8" high, and 6 feet long....

oh.... and so what does that air adjust ment on the gun do .....
 
#14 ·
quote;
_________________________________________________

8-10 strep?.... i dunno what you mean.....

hah i didn't even use half the paint in my gun.... i definatly dont use enough paint... I'll go try again tomorrow...

I'm doing an area about 8" high, and 6 feet long....

oh.... and so what does that air adjust ment on the gun do

_________________________________________________

strep...strip...????paint spray pattern.

You have a fan adj. and a quantity adj.

You should have gotten some instructions with the gun.

Troy

__________________
If you don't make mistakes. your not doing anything.

69 ss rs full custom camaro 98 ISCA grandchampion
69 ss rs bb camaro wifes driver
66 Elcamino 350/all dz parts,ac,windows,loaded,my driver
69 ss chevelle bb conv.fresh frame off
26 T sedan street rod
 
#15 ·
The larger spray guns have much better adjustabiliy than the touch up gun, and is therefore going to lay down a better coat of paint.....

You are definately spraying much too light. Painting is an art, the best jobs seem to be just on the edge of dissaster (runs)
 
#16 ·
consistency

yes it is a touch up gun & u would need a bigger gun for whole car. learn what to use what u have with consistency first. lighting is probably the most overlooked aspect of home painters. on my spray booth i have 4' flourescent lites standing vertical every 4 ft. adjust ur gun on test panel buy a couple sheets of poster board at the dollar stores. they don't absorb paint like cardboard so closer to shooting on metal, old panels are great also. hold gun 6-8" from surface, grasp gun around top of canister & forefinger over top to work trigger. screw in back should control paint flow = how much comes out. turn it in to just feel it seat - not too tight or u squish ur needle & nozzle seat. remembe these are like a carb jets= gentle. now back it out 1 1/2 turns ( may put mark on knob to count rotation). pull trigger & release. ur looking for a fan pattern= looks like a cigar shape image of paint with even paint distribution from top to bottom. fan heighth is adjusted on left side of gun - too tall & u get fade of paint on edges. too much air & cigar image gets blurry as u blow out paint too much. i normally use a 4-5" pattern with touchup guns. once u are satisfied with pattern u need to learn to make a pass = think of a picture offootball field. on the wall,every 10 yds. is a white line. sidelines have mark for for ea. foot & one at ea. 5yd. line. ea. paint mfg. tech sheets show overlap suggestions. learn 50% overlap first. spray patter to touch to ten mark lines, next pass top of pattern goes across the 5 yd. line (giving 5 to 15 yd line double coverage). next one would go 10 - 20yd., then 15-25 yd. each overlapping 1/2 or 50%of last pass with double coat. this gives a more consistant coverage of area so no light spot show thru or darker areas or streaks. now remember where u started- that first pass had only one coat on 0 to 5 yd line becuse u moved down half way. you have to always start ur 1st pass 1/2 way off edge to make it consistant. practice this till it come out even.
now the next thing is to work on ur timing for even paint delivered to the surfaca. lites allow u to see the as it falls on to panel. u need to see it get wet as u put more on, real shiny as it forms drip - sag. ur adjustment of any gun dictates the speed u must maintain on ur hand travel. tilt ur head in front of travel of gun pass looking back at lite in background & watch as reflection changes as u do a pass fast or paint turned low & look how dusty & dry it looks. adjust speed or paint volume flow up & match ur pass speed to see paint get shinier looking as u move. this is wet coat. do it again moving slowly till u get real wet & drips form-to see what it looks like. this holds true even for spray cans, touch up guns, full size guns, u must adjust paint flow or speed to get even wet coat but not run. u will learn to adjust gun & spray pattern to work for ur speed, just keep it consistant. hope it helps
good luck jw www.art4urhog.com
:evil:
 
#18 ·
alrighty....well i figured out how much paint was 2 much paint :)
did a big spray... and was like OOoOooo nice and smooth....... and then i looked backa minuit later.... and it was Running all down the side... :) well I'm learning :)

next time should be perfect...shot 2 little.... shot 2 much.... next time i should be able to get it right down the middle....

i wonder if i can we sand those runs out without having to re-paint... :)
 
#19 ·
Block sand them out wet. You could have run them off the bottom.


Originally posted by Willys36.
_________________________________________________
You just need to experiment with paint and air settings and painting technique to get it right. Get an old fender or some such practice pallet and play with it.
_________________________________________________


PRACTICE_PRACTICE_PRACTICE

Troy

__________________
If you don't make mistakes. your not doing anything.

69 ss rs full custom camaro 98 ISCA grandchampion
69 ss rs bb camaro wifes driver
66 Elcamino 350/all dz parts,ac,windows,loaded,my driver
69 ss chevelle bb conv.fresh frame off
26 T sedan street rod
 
#20 ·
harrington said:
alrighty....well i figured out how much paint was 2 much paint :)
did a big spray... and was like OOoOooo nice and smooth....... and then i looked backa minuit later.... and it was Running all down the side... :) well I'm learning :)

next time should be perfect...shot 2 little.... shot 2 much.... next time i should be able to get it right down the middle....

i wonder if i can we sand those runs out without having to re-paint... :)
yah.... i tried to run them off the bottom...... and some of it did.... it was dripping all over the floor :) so..... we'll see how it turns out.... after i ran one of them out to the floor, I though i was done..... so i cleaned the gun..... and then looked and the rest was Falling too.... ":) hopefully it ran itself to the floor ;)

so how soon can i sant it out?
 
#21 ·
You just need some practice. I tryed my first paint job with acrylic enamel and it was a disaster. Runs and orange peal everywhere. I was trying to put down way to much paint. I know that everyone here is talking about turning the pressure down, but for me and my cheap guns turning up the pressure to the 45psi range works better. I am sure it is due to my inexperience with setting the gun, but it is the only way I can get that thin smooth coat. I also hang a couple of pieces of masking paper on the wall to use for setting the fan pattern before starting. I would suggest you do the same. You can set the pattern and flow before actually painting this way.

Chris
 
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