Professional paint setup, need help
 

Well maybe not quite professional, more like budget... But I have a couple painting questions, wasn't sure where to post them, and I was hoping one of the experts (Dr Deltron, please?) could help.

My main question: I plan to use standard DuPont paints and the epoxy primer, and the guy at the shop said that I could use a certain 50$ mask (as apposed to a respirator). Is this true, and will this be safe?


Next, the "room" I plan to build will just be a 8x8x8 box with walmart bed sheets for a roof and walls. Is this a really stupid idea, as the fumes are flammable? I will keep a fire extinguisher in the room.

Will the Husky touch up gun from Home Depot do the trick for a begginner?

Thanks

Respirator: there are $35 respirators at any home-improvement center. They are designed to prevent the inhalation of overspray and fumes OUTSIDE (or with proper ventilation). Do not rely on anything short of a clean-air delivery system if you plan to spray without adequate ventilation, such as in a sealed paint box. Which, by the way, that "room" sounds like a *very bad idea* to me. If you want a nice, clean job, the most important thing is to keep airborne dust at bay. A clean garage (maybe with newspaper on the walls/floor in the vicinity of the paint area) will be fine. Perhaps run a humidifier for a while before painting if you're super concerned with dust. You will get small dust particles in the paint job anyway, so just sand and fix before clearcoating (if you decide to clearcoat, that is).

Don't know nuthin' about the Husky gun. Sorry.

If you have any more questions, please ask.

Any of the top-feed guns here would be fine for bicycle work, which is much less demanding on a gun than automotive (since you don't need a wide, even spray pattern).
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...324&pricetype=

Get a good mask and filter with it - it's worth the money. I've painted with PPG paints (automotive paints) on two remote control jets and used a HVLP gun and worked good. My paint booth was just some PVC pipes framed up with plastic on the sides - with a sheet on the floor and above. The amount of paint I was doing wasn't enough to consider putting in a fan. However, with your idea, what you could do is cut an opening for a box fan, put the fan there with a house filter taped on it so you don't get a bunch of paint going out - you'll be surprised by how much you catch. Just cut an opening the same size if not bigger and put a filter on it too.

Michael

I have found it also helps to wet down the floor of wherever you're working...keeps the dust down.

Also, I don't know how much background research you've done, but the key to a good finish (aside from avoiding contamination and using products that are compatible) is applying multiple light coats. One coat should not provide coverage. Depending on the colour, take the time and do at least 3+ coats.

EDIT: I'm not sure if you're going acrylic enamel (baaad idea- the finish won't last- I've tried it) or base/clear or what; but don't wait too long between coats (or before applying clear) because this just gives more time for something to contaminate your finish.

I'm also not clear on what type of paint you're using. I only have experience with automotive paint (expensive). If this is what you're using, it might end up costing the same amount to take it to be professionaly done or even powdercoated. Not sure about prices in America, but here in Canada you'd be looking at at least (although this depends on the type of paint) $100 for primer/base/clear plus it sounds like you're buying a gun of some sort. Unless you really want this to be DIY you might be better off getting it powdercoated (more durable too).

OK. So, If I put a large fan to ventilate my paint box will the 50$ mask be adequate for my setup? Will I be safe?

You'll be safe (provided you *do* have ventilation), but just be sure you're not introducing a great deal of dust with the fan... Shcu777's post with the fan and filter is pretty neat-o! Also, januarytwenty's note that multiple light coats is the ticket.

If you've never sprayed paint before, practice on a few different scrap pieces to get a feel for the technique. Smooth, even motions, and follow through beyond what you're painting. Don't keep the sprayer too close. If you get drips or wet spots (puddles), you need to back off. Unless you have a narrow-angle nozzle for the sprayer, you'll be wasting a *lot* of paint due to overspray. That's normal (unless you have a narrow-angle nozzle :) )

The reason I thought the "sheet room" was a bad idea is more of a major fire hazard. Spraypaint goes up like a roman candle. It's nearly explosive!! Keep that (and all sources of ignition) in mind. Good luck, and hopefully show us some before and after pics!

Thank you very much. How about tarp or painters plasic for walls instead of sheet? A bit safer?

a little warning, the advice that schu777 gave about using a box fan for an exhaust fan is a VERY bad idea. I am sure he meant no harm and was only trying to help , however the electric motor in that box fan will be ventilated which exposes the brushes to the vapors that you are venting. which are highly flamable, and brushes spark and arc, alot. in other words BOOOM!!!! DONT DO THIS!!!
And plastic sheeting gets magneticly charged. that means it will atract alot of dust, otherwise known as overspray. and then when you spray it will get blown off of the walls and float around until it finds something to stick to, usually what your painting. use the canvas painter sheets.
Make two pannels with furnase filters, put them on opposite walls and just let the breeze blow through. this should provide enough ventilation for sprayin a bike frame.

A friend who used to paint cars in his 2d garage would wet the sheets. It really kept the dust down. bk

I used to vent my motorcycle spray setup with one of these "in reverse." Meaning that I would remove the bag and instead put an air filter on the intake side, and then a hose on the output side to route clean air into the shop. Keep the blower outside and away from the fumes.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/pho...4099/94029.gif It's like $99.

[EDIT / WARNING: Don't use any fan where the motor is directly exposed to the fumes, such as a regular house fan!]

Check out threads on car forums. They usually have relatively low-buck but effective set ups for painting a car. Let me find the one I liked alot...

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread...87138#20387138

Totally insane project with a very meticulous level headed engineer type guy. First post has an index, believe it or not.

Quick summary:
- plastic sheet walls
- cardboard box "ducts"
- air conditioning filters for ducts
- wet down prior to painting

He calls it his $25 paint booth.

Just don't use the cyanide based automotive paint without a full respirator. The other stuff I don't know, but it's not worth dying in a few years to paint your bike for a few bucks less.

cdr

+1!

That looks like a slightly more elaborate set-up than I've used for bike frames.

My favorite was very similar, but in a single car garage. The back door was intake and I had 3 similar fans for exhaust. I just set them under the bottom edge of the roll-up door.
I only used the $35 charcoal respirator, inspite of it's limitations with isocyanate paints.
Thing was, I had so much draw from the fans, I merely stayed up-wind of my spraying.
If I had to go down-wind, I held my breath. :rolleyes:
I had a plywood panel with filters for the intake door and used suction to hold the filters over the fans.
So yes, I sprayed paint pretty much right near the fan motors.
No explosions.
I guess the airflow was such that it couldn't concentrate at all.
Plenty of mondo extingqishers at hand though.

Another +1! for wetting the floor! I use a 2 gallon plastic pump garden sprayer. Usualy used for fertilizer/insecticides. DO label it for WATER ONLY.
If you use sheets rather than 6 mil plastic, wet that with the sprayer too.
Minimizes dust AND fire hazard.

and remeber...don't sand metallic or pearl colors and
..on the final coat of clear(or single stage color)
do a fast wet coat with slow reducer.
The "trick" is to have ALL the paint be "wet" at the same time.
With out runs or dusty spots.

Runs; too much paint. Flip the frame to help smooth it out as it dries.
Dusty; not enough paint. Spray lightly with JUST reducer to help blend the dust out.

If you get nits in the final coat, just let them be. Fishing out that spec of dust will be far more trouble than polishing that tiny spot when the paint is hard.
Gnats are the worst! Once they land on the wet paint, they just roll over to die.
You can get the body, but the wings are THERE! :roflmao2:

One of the Brent Steelman frames I did had a perfect set of wings on the chainstay.
Brent didn't like that much. :rolleyes:
(I was going to go ahead and leave the body for that Jurrasic Park effect.):D

Anyway, gotta run.
Good luck with that c-kid!

Dr. D

Dr. D :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: Excellent info!