ok,i must have too much time on my hands.at the ripe old age of 45,i am going to try my hand at bodywork ou: nothing too radical,the hard stuff will go to the pro's.i want to buy a paint gun,not a pos harbor freight,but i dont want something so complex i cant use it.obviously i will be shooting primer first.if that goes good,i will shoot the car myself.i figure what the heck,i have a lot more patience than i used to. uzzled: not looking for a show job but a driver quality.does primer shoot differently than top coat?
gun yes primer shoots dif then top coat . you will have to lay the primer on much thicker than the top coat .If you are going to use the same gun for top coat and primer i would get a gun with a 1.4 nozzle tip, that would work best over all . you"ll want to put on 4 coats of primer . The base coat will be 4 coats and the clear 2 to 4 coats depending on how much you want to polish it . Let me know what you are looking for and i can be more specific.... mike :TU:
One of my best friends was a body man his whole life until his untimely death last year. As with most paint and body guys, he marched to the beat of his own drummer. His motto was "You can't be scared!" He always encouraged others to take a stab at paint and body work. He always said that you couldn't do anything that he couldn't fix, so why not try it yourself. He always used a cheap "primer" gun to do the priming and jamming. He saved his "good" guns for overalls and surface work. He had great success with a regular high pressure, old style gun as his primer gun. These are available nearly anywhere for as little as $50 or so. He also had conventional and hvlp guns to spray color with. He grew up with and was more prone to use his conventional gun over the hvlp. He did use a cheapy hvlp that he bought from an auto parts store. This is the $100 special at O'Reilly, Zone, NAPA,etc. He found that it compared well to his high dollar Devilbis. Every few years, he'd just toss it and get another one, as parts are more or less unavailble for the cheap hvlps. That way, he'd have a good spraying gun with a low dollar investment to leave around the shop for general use. Thanks, Rudy E.
i have found doing body/paint work is very rewarding. well regarding the question about the guns i agree with RudyE buy a cheepy gun for primers (seriously the hf 43430 hvlp is not that bad, great for primers and order the 1.8 or 1.9mm tip from the parts department so you can shoot high build primer) for a topcoat gun whether you shoot a SS (single stage) or a BC/CC (basecoat/clearcoat) dont skimp out. make sure your guns CFM requirements do not exceed your Air Compressor specifications. as for what guns, SATA jet and IWATA are great companies, have only heard great things about the Iwata lph-400 and SATA's RP gun, however these are a bit pricey Astro are supposed to be as good as SATA as they are a clone of them. i plan to buy a Astro soon as its a great deal around $80 compared to the $400+ SATA'S and Iwata's
The big problem with the cheap guns such as Astro, is if they get pulled apart for a thorough cleaning they develop leaks. A Sata can be pulled down hundreds of times and work perfect. The similarity between an Astro and a Sata ends with the appearance, when it comes to performance there is no comparison. You should be able to buy a Sata RP Digital with the aluminum cup for no more than about $425.
more rookie q's ok,hopefully someone outbids me on the astro gun on egay.i was kinda hoping to spend about $250.00 max on a gun that will last...am i dreaming?i had a buddy that owned a body shop,who stressed to me how important it was to clean the gun immediatly,and thouraly after each use.i dont want to toss it because i cleaned it to often :balln the body filler,i was recomended rage gold,any thoughts,pro or con?its pretty cold in my garage how warm should i heat it for the filler to set right. also,what grit paper should i use to sand between primer coats?can i use an straight line air sander or should i do it manually?same question between top coats.can one of you guys just tell me the procedure,and i can download it to my car and it will be painted :grin: :Comp: i am actually looking forward to doing the work as i enjoy a new challenge.an old dog CAN learn new tricks! thanks a lot you guys :beer
You cannot go wrong with Rage fillers. The products are top notch and are not in the same class as the run of the mill "Bondo" grey/red fillers at the low end of the price spectrum. Rage is easy to use and will not have the air pocketing seen in cheap fillers. Sanding is easier as well as application. It was the favorite of my body guy. We used it on my GN in 1996, and I have had no shrinkage or cracking issues with it to this day. We did a complete rt quarter replacement at the factory seem, so most of the "C" pillar on that side is filled with Rage filler. Even nearly ten years later, the repaired side is far nicer than the sloppy original lead work on the driver's side. This is a potential flex area on any car, and mine has proven to be very durable over the years. No doubt in large part to the choice of filler over the repair areas. Thanks, Rudy E.
paint gun Jamie, the others have given good advice. as one that over the years has used just about every gun on the market, i have for the last year used a 100.00 finnish line hvlp by devillbiss. it works as good as any gun i have ever used! btw it is a top cup that is very easy to clean. as for body filler, since it is chemically activated the temperature is not that critical. it just takes a little longer to cure depending on how much activator you use.for body work i keep my garage at 55-60 degrees. dent repair- take a grinder with 36 grit & grind dent & approx 6 in surrounding dent. keep in mind that where there is a dent (low spot), the area around the dent will be high. pull the dent (or if you can get behind hammer out) out as level as you can get, then peck the high area around the dent level. now skim with filler & take a sanding block with maybe 40 grit & block till level. now put another skim coat of filler over area. repeat block procedure useing 80 grit. now you are ready for prime. put two coats of erethane primer. now block area with 150 grit, prime again. if area is now satisfactory, wet sand with 400 grit & paint. this is a rough description but its a start. get yourself a autobody repair book & before you know it you will be doing your own body work!!! good luck. if you have anymore questions feel free to ask. i just realized this is harder to do on paper than it is in real life! btw, you can use a straightline sander in place of the block. i use a block most of the time. to make sure it is perfectly level you can spray a guidecoat over the area and block it which will show any high or low spots. hope this helps keith
Paint gun advice All the advice sounds pretty good. Probably got a gun or 2 by now, but buying guns isn't a one time thing. Tip size is important. Most cans say on the lable what size and psi to spray. Can't go wrong with a finishline if your on a budget. Any cheap gun with a 1.8 tip or so will do for primer. As far as filler, I use evercoat Z-grip. Never tried Rage gold, but plain rage is no better than Z-grip. Marson platinum plus is very good for skim coats (low build). sands nice using 80 grit followed by 120. Apply a final coat of evercoat metal glaze past the filler. No one mentioned a pollyester glazing putty. Adheres to paint so no need to have bare metal spots around the repair. Good luck. And stick to sanding by hand. Best results. Darren, newbee (xtremepaintandbody.com)
