Painting with air gun. Bad results...

Christopher561 · Post by **Christopher561** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:29 pm

So I treid this spray gun that my dad bought for me to touch up the car. So I give it a crack at it with my computer case. I basicly thinned the rustolium(black) to a nice thin liquid. I was just experamenting.... So I put it into the spray gun and start to spray. Nice even horizontal coats. making sure to let go of the trigger after every pass. My results were bad. Not horrable but bad!!. I could have put a coat on then sanded then put another coat on then sanded. but i didnt feel like going though that. I think thats where I went wrong though. Well when I started to spray I had the compressor at around 40PSI. I then start to spray on a peice of paper adjusting the width of the paint comming out. I then adjust how fast the air was comming out. I then started to spray It came out nice but the result was a sandy texture.. very rough texture... I mean it loos very nice but just has this texture to it for some reason. I would like to say its bubbles.But it isnt it just sputtered paint.. I dunno. well heres my resultes for just the top and the side pannels.. I think its pretty damn nice. maybe if I take the buffer out and buff it down a little. or just go out and get some clear coat and maybe that will help.. I dunno what I was doing just trying it for the first time. I know there are acctual ways of using laqor based paint with a spray gun but I just wanted to try it and see what results I got..

The texture surface...

7thkevin · Post by **7thkevin** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:56 pm

its cuase there is not enough air, my dad says 5 or so inches should be the best..

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:07 am

To clean it up you could wet sand it with 600 grit, then move up to 1000 grit wet and then 1200 grit wet then compound it.
It looks like you got it on to dry, that is called orange peel.
To use rustoleum you should thin it with automotive grade thinners, adding some automotive hardener to the paint. Thinning takes a little practice to get it right, ussually close to 50/50.
First coat should be sprayed and allowed to tack up, this means drying to where it is half dry, tacky

Then second coat start spraying for shine. If the paint is mixed right and the case has been prepped right, what you see wet should be a reflection of what you end up with when dry.

http://216.183.157.198/paint/

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:38 am

As for flames. You need to mask them out,
If you use fine line tape, its a plastic based masking tape about the width of pin stripe, great for doing smooth curves, Take your time and mask out some flames.. After you get an appealing flame pattern you then need to fill in the masking with standard masking tape. Take your time and use an exacto knife to trim. Mask whatever else is not to be painted. Now carefully sand the flames with a fine paper, such as 600 or 800 grit paper. A light scuff will suffice.
If your paintin your flames one colour you should be good to go, if blending multi coloured flames have all your colours mixed befor you start.
Building up thin light coats of your base colour untill you have the desired consistancy then switch colours while the base coat is still tacky. Then you spray your tips and arcs with colour #2 and accent where needed. Again, prepare your 3'rd colour and mist spray tips and accents while the base and #2 are still tacky.
The reason for changing colours while other coats are still tacky is so that the colours will melt together, hence making a smooth transition between the colours and no hard lines..

Last flame job I did on my skidoo was royal blue to silver tips.
I started with the royal blue and then for each progressive blend I just kept adding automotive silver metalic to the pot. This gave a nice blend, the blue turned to silver progressivly as I added more silver at each change.
The nice thing about this is I didn't have to stop and clean my gun at each change.

some great ideas and a how to here

Cheesehead · Post by **Cheesehead** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:55 pm

You can get chameleon (i.e. paint that changes color based on angle of viewing) paint kits for your computer for about 25 bucks nowadays. They come in spray-paint cans, and come with all 3 coats needed. I'm personally thinking of doing my computer that way.
As long as we're on the topic, I was wondering where I can get a cheap airbrush. I have a dinky air compressor intended for small airbrush work, and would like to be able to use it.
Thanks,
Cheesehead.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 6:04 pm

Cheesehead wrote:I was wondering where I can get a cheap airbrush. I have a dinky air compressor intended for small airbrush work, and would like to be able to use it.
Thanks,
Cheesehead.

Check out the hobby shops, most have several grades of air bushes.
Gravity fed bushes are awesome but a pretty penny. I would say spend around $110 for a hal decent one. and make sure they have gasket and seal kits available for the model you buy.

Edit

was just checking American prices, Man, you can get a ton of great guns for under $100

Cheesehead · Post by **Cheesehead** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:59 pm

Considering I paid 50 cents for the pump (which works well) I think I might want something a bit cheaper, like this:

At 20.00, this looks to be more my price range. With some fancy RC car paint, I can have a boss case in no time!

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 9:28 pm

Cheesehead wrote:Considering I paid 50 cents for the pump (which works well) I think I might want something a bit cheaper, like this:

At 20.00, this looks to be more my price range. With some fancy RC car paint, I can have a boss case in no time!

For a few jobs it will do ya good. If like me, once ya rough up the starter brush, you will yearn for a quality airbrush.

Bigest prob I had with the inexpensive airbrush was when I needed new seals and gaskets.