Today I was out painting some brackets and I used a little trick that is often overlooked, for some reason even the pros. I have seen guys paint hood hinges and the like at the shop and not do this, leaving bare spots!
It's simple, yet often its missed and that's why I thought it would be a good little tip for you guys. First off, these hooks made from stiff wire are invaluable, you can't have enough. I have made them from coat hangers, eighth inch welding rod, sixteenth inch welding rod, just about any stiff wire will do, depending on how heavy the item is you are painting. I have a whole pile of them hanging there on my peg board for tools, because that is exactly what they are, tools.
First off, when ever possible you hang the part as it is going to be SEEN at the very least. If you don't plan on doing the double hook process as I will describe, you hang it as it is bolted on the car. It makes not sense to paint that bracket up side down, but I am telling you I have seen guys do it all the time. So first off, hang it as it is on the car.
But the double hook method works so darn good, I use it all the time. You can see I have a hook on both sides in photo A. I don't actually leave the hanging there, I just put it there to show you. After painting the piece I then hung another hook on the other end. In photo B you can see that I have the top hook in my left hand, the bottom hook in my right hand. I then pull the hook off the rack it's hanging on and simply pull the hooks apart with my hands so I can rotate the bottom hook to the top so I can put the next coat on with it hanging it upside down from where the first coat was applied. If you are pulling the hooks apart it doesn't fall off the hooks. Photo C. I don't care how good you are painting one side of something like this when you turn it over I am personally always surprised because I thought I had gotten it completely covered but there is always somewhere that has a at least a little holiday.
Back years ago I was the painter in a full on resto shop and we would have "Imron day" where we painted all the brackets and such on a car. I would have the booth full of 30 or 40 or more small pieces on hooks like this. Man did that teach me a lot, that is where I learned this trick.
Now damn it, get out there and paint all those little parts.
That elec conduit is very handy for so many things around the shop.
For a quick rack to hang parts from ,use a 2" screw and attach some tie wire to the ceiling ,hanging down about 3'-4' and wrap it around a length of conduit ,adjust it to whayever hight is most comfortable to work at then tie all your parts to it....when your done leave the screws and wire just roll the wire up to the ceiling so its out of the way and set the conduit somewhere out of the way ,even outside ,it wont rust ,or make some racks out of it...I even made my paper machine out of the stuff.....very handy indeed...
I was just here laughing because Ive had wires hanging in the same place for years rolled up . And I use them all the time!!! I thought I was The only one, a lot of my customers asked me why I had wires there!!! LOL! I made a paper machine the same way for the long rolls!! easy to make its cheep & works great
I hang when I can, but sometimes on small parts,
putting it on a stick so you can hold it and go all around.
Dowels work real good, you can just pick them up and put
them back into their holes when finished painting.
I've used expanded metal on sawhorses to lay things on to paint as well, you avoid the pspc blowing back on you vs laying your material on a flat board or other solid surface. I think I heisted this idea from somebody on here years ago. Milo had a neat idea of using a lazy susan with dowels and those spring clanps for holding parts too.
true story, my neighbor has a 65 catalina 2+2 and was "restoring" it. i came over one day and he had the rear springs out, replacing with another set of old used springs. i mentioned he should put some paint on them at least, then went back to my shop for a while. he called me over later to show me his work, he painted the coils red, ok but he painted them upside down so when he installed them, you could see the old dirty tops of the coils faded to fire red...
true story, my neighbor has a 65 catalina 2+2 and was "restoring" it. i came over one day and he had the rear springs out, replacing with another set of old used springs. i mentioned he should put some paint on them at least, then went back to my shop for a while. he called me over later to show me his work, he painted the coils red, ok but he painted them upside down so when he installed them, you could see the old dirty tops of the coils faded to fire red...
I think the absolute hardest thing I've ever painted would have to be roll bars when they are already installed in a race car...any kind of tube is tough though....
true story, my neighbor has a 65 catalina 2+2 and was "restoring" it. i came over one day and he had the rear springs out, replacing with another set of old used springs. i mentioned he should put some paint on them at least, then went back to my shop for a while. he called me over later to show me his work, he painted the coils red, ok but he painted them upside down so when he installed them, you could see the old dirty tops of the coils faded to fire red...
Very believable! I see it all the time with pros. I would get a hood and hinges from the paint dept and the hinge had bare primer all on the front where you see it and the mounting points where it is bolted down were covered perfectly with shiny paint.
Lizer, by the way the trick I have used for painting those is to jamb the back sides and the end of the quarters and fenders where they bolt. You then bolt the parts on with spacers over the studs holding them off the body a little. Of course this only matters if you are shooting it a metallic color where you need perfect application to ensure the same color. You can really stick yourself painting those pieces metallic colors because you spray something like that completely different (as you just learned with the primer) than you would spraying the fenders and quarters. So with them bolted there they end up the exact color without even trying. And the edges are all nicely painted because they are held off with the spacers.
Perfect advice! That was one of the things I was going to ask on here some day, eventually. I will be painting the car a blue metallic (woefully), and wanted all the parts together but not tightly so as to prevent paint bridging. Wasn't really sure what to use for spacers.
Regarding things like headlight buckets, I'm still not sure what to do for that gap because those buckets are really a bear to get on if the fender is on the car and I was hoping to not have to take the fenders off once the car was painted. Sure scratches up a lot of things when I take them on and off.
I use rebar wire for hanging parts. Strong but thin and easy to work, and you can get a big spool at the home store for $5 give or take.
I simply use washers to space them out. I have shot a few of those Mustangs and don't remember the fender extensions being difficult at all to remove once the fender is all bolted on.
Sometimes it takes a different perspective to solve problems. Looks like your paint rack is chest high and very comfortable . On a technical application note; I like to hit everything with a little denatured alcohol first, get rid of moisture and it acts like a bonding agent which helps prevent fish eyes . I 've had trouble with small parts that tend get greased. It solved the problem and it's cheap .
Wax and grease remover isn't expensive and its formulated just for this type of work,thats why the pros use it.
Granted ,its mostly alcohol and straight alcohol WILL work but it evaporates too quickly and needs a few more ingredients to work properly..Sure ,its possible to make your own and I;ve done it in the past but when your doing this stuff every day its just not worth it ,you dont save that much and your taking a chance ,If you want to save some money save the dollars and the pennies will take care of themselves..save dollars by reducing the amount of labor it takes to do the same job...Good quality W&G remover is a time saver.therefore worth every penny....
One more time.....apply with a dripping wet paper shop towel and wipe off before it evaporates....If your fast you can do half a hood max..but 2'x2' is about the norm (half a door)
My mistake I thought we we were painting brackets not 24 coats of candy apple red on a vehicle. So we should buy a $100,000 paint booth too to make sure that our brackets are perfect. Nail polisher remover is 10 times more expensive than acetone because they rename it, it is still acetone. Naphtha is wax remover.
You can buy one of those cheap, I mean inexpensive plastic lazy Susans too. They last forever or until you drop it on a hard concrete floor.
When I'm painting small parts in my cellar, I put one of those sash fans in the window. They fit perfectly. The one I have has two fans. I can set them for exhaust or intake, or one for each.
Then I hang my parts on the water pipes. Works great as long as the parts are not too heavy!!
My mistake I thought we we were painting brackets not 24 coats of candy apple red on a vehicle. So we should buy a $100,000 paint booth too to make sure that our brackets are perfect. Nail polisher remover is 10 times more expensive than acetone because they rename it, it is still acetone. Naphtha is wax remover.
Are you saying you use finger nail polish remover to clean parts before paint ?Isn't nail polish paint. I dont think I'd want to use that ,myself...painting small stuff is a major PITA ,the last thing I wanna do is do it twice...
I don't post here very often (if I ever have)...but when I seen this post...thought I'd share one of my tricks/tools.
Instead of using my "fender" folding racks , I purchased 4 Rolling Wardrobe racks from Wal-Mart. They are around $10 each and after painting items I can roll the rack around anywhere out of the way as the paint is drying.
These pictures don't show the rack very good....but as you can see they can be used for paint items as large as headers since they are over 6ft tall.
I too use wire hangers...but I also use 40lb fishing line with hooks tied at the ends (see pic) and make a slip knot on the top bar of the rack. This way I can slide my freshly painted part back and forth to paint all side and also lift it up to paint undersides!
Also.....when not using....these things can be taken back apart and stored in their box which takes up about a 3' X 2" X 4" space!!!!
Are you saying you use finger nail polish remover to clean parts before paint ?Isn't nail polish paint. I dont think I'd want to use that ,myself...painting small stuff is a major PITA ,the last thing I wanna do is do it twice...
No I use naphtha which is wax and crime remover. I wrote " Nail polisher remover". You could use nail polish remover as it is acetone which evaporates water, but not that great for wax and crime. previous posting snydski wrote "..... I like to hit everything with a little denatured alcohol first, get rid of moisture ...." My point there was acetone is a lot cheaper than nail polish remover and also naphtha is basically what is in the fancy cans of prep-sol, prewipe or whatever it is called.
My mistake I thought we we were painting brackets not 24 coats of candy apple red on a vehicle. So we should buy a $100,000 paint booth too to make sure that our brackets are perfect. Nail polisher remover is 10 times more expensive than acetone because they rename it, it is still acetone. Naphtha is wax remover.
Touché, LOL, really, thanks for the knock in the head to wake me up this morning.
Hell, I had a number of bugs get stuck to one of these battery tray brackets and I didn't even clean them off when I bolted it to the car.
So I clearly get your point. The funny part is I didn't even wipe these parts at all! I sandblasted rust and failed paint off them, blew them off and hung and primed them. :mwink:
But honestly, in my opinion that solvent is such a small part of the process, why cheap out. I mean it would be like trying to keep the price down on your house by buying a cheaper door bell button. I use only automotive grade paint products on my car, I just don't see a big deal, and I am one of the cheapest guys you are going to meet.
I don't post here very often (if I ever have)...but when I seen this post...thought I'd share one of my tricks/tools.
Instead of using my "fender" folding racks , I purchased 4 Rolling Wardrobe racks from Wal-Mart. They are around $10 each and after painting items I can roll the rack around anywhere out of the way as the paint is drying.
These pictures don't show the rack very good....but as you can see they can be used for paint items as large as headers since they are over 6ft tall.
I too use wire hangers...but I also use 40lb fishing line with hooks tied at the ends (see pic) and make a slip knot on the top bar of the rack. This way I can slide my freshly painted part back and forth to paint all side and also lift it up to paint undersides!
Also.....when not using....these things can be taken back apart and stored in their box which takes up about a 3' X 2" X 4" space!!!!
Like some here I already use that technique but it's more than worthy of showing as I bet there are many people that don't
For those of you that have trouble with small parts blowing about, there are a few options: You can leave the lower hook on while painting and hold it with your free hand to stop it moving; hang a weight from the lower hook; or I've even attached an elastic shock cord / bungee from the lower hook and hooked it through the grids on the booth floor.
I like those cube shaped stands you have there too, they look very handy indeed. I'd like something similar that I can put a 1/2" weld mesh top onto for painting flat parts without the blowback you get from a table.
i use coat hangers a bunch you can also use mechanic wire twisted at the end.one other trick is to use your spray can lids to support the small stuff so it dosen't get blow back and fog out,ialso use cardboard sheets to rotate the parts so i get every angle to get total coverage.after you do this for awhile it just becomes automatic.the angle of the hanging wire is important also.too much leaves visual lines that don't give the perfect look.i like the two wire approach but every painter has his style.
First of all....Excellent tip for anyone who didn't know!! I mean that!!
But whats with all the pro bashing!! all we try to do is give advice!! we all have different approaches so compare and use it!! I'm a pro for 30 years and alway game to learn I wouldnt be a pro otherwise! paints and prosess changes, those who don't keep up will lose, these forums are awsome so stop bashing and learn whatever you think will work for you!!
Keith
I'm sorry Keith, I have done a little "pro bashing" haven't I.
It comes down to having a basic idea such as this being bashed by the pros on a board like "What a dumb ars, of course everyone knows this, you just got the idea?" I literally have had them like that or at least insinuating it. Plus, it is true that I have worked with a lot of guys who wouldn't do this and end up with bare spots all over their work.
This frustrates the hell out of me at work and I simply can't grasp how a guy could have so little passion for the work he does everyday. I mean, if I cared so little I would find another job.
To point out that "even some pros" don't do this I don't feel is a "bash" by any means. But I can certainly see that with my personal frustration in the attitudes of a few that a personal "dig" is shown in my remarks. I thank you for pointing this out to me as I don't want it to sound like that.
First of all....Excellent tip for anyone who didn't know!! I mean that!!
But whats with all the pro bashing!! all we try to do is give advice!! we all have different approaches so compare and use it!! I'm a pro for 30 years and alway game to learn I wouldnt be a pro otherwise! paints and prosess changes, those who don't keep up will lose, these forums are awsome so stop bashing and learn whatever you think will work for you!!
Keith
i guess the gut of hot rodding for me is building cars in my dad's garage.i see everything getting so perfect that it leaves the average guy behind.it's just like the government.it's all about perfect and money. excuse me for just wanting the old days of motor swaps and street racing.buy the way i have 20 years on you.my first car was a "59"389 Pontiac.
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