WingsOnWheels
Well Known Member
I plan to add to this thread over the next month or so as I continue the saga of painting my RV-6A.
To start things off, I am in no way a professional painter. I have done bits and pieces here and there, but for the most part I am learning as I go, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. This is intended as information for amateurs like me with limited funds and equipment. Yes, there are better ways to do it, this is just how I have chosen to balance cost/quality.
Edit: Forgot to add - Assuming I have purchased enough paint, the total cost of this project including all hardware, supplies, safety equip, consumables, and paint is less than 2K.
Here are some basics of equipment and products I am using.
Hardware:
Paint Booth:
I built my makeshift paintbooth in my garage out of cheap 1x2x8' whitewood sticks. I stapled heavy 6mil clear plastic to the inside of the frame. The floor is also covered in the same plastic. The booth is 8x8x19. 8ft is wide enough, but just barely. 10' would be better. I have two 16" fans forcing air in though AC filters and 4 outflow filters at the opposite end. This seems to work well, but a third fan would be best. At first I mounted the filters on the outside (suction side) of the fans. They need to be on the inside, otherwise the fan recirculate a good portion of the air.
Air System:
I have a Husky 60Gal compressor purchased from home depot a number of years ago. So far it has had no problem keeping up. From the compressor I have 12ft of 5/8 3003 aluminum tube connected via standard AN flare fittings. That tube loops up the wall and into a 3gal secondary expansion tank. from there is goes through a standard filter/water separator/regulator. I have air plumbed in the garage, but for painting I ran a new hose directly to the filter. The hose is 50' 3/8 hybrid PVC/rubber. The setup flows plenty of air and I haven't had any moisture problems (even with near 100% humidity at times). I also have a last-chance filter at the gun.
Paint Guns:
I have two DevilBiss FLG-4 Finish-Line paint guns. So far they have worked well. Atomization is good, the spray pattern is a little small, but adequate. For the epoxy primer I have been using a 1.5mm tip for the topcoat a 1.3mm tip. I tried the 1.8mm for the primer, but it goes on to fast for my liking. I'm very happy with the 1.5mm. As for settings, after much experimentation, I found that pattern and flow wide-open worked best for both primer and topcoat. In most cases, the recommended 23psi inlet pressure worked fine. However, for the blue metallic I had a hard time eliminating tiger-stripes while preventing orange-peel. I ran the pressure up to about 30PSI and moved the gun a little farther away, that did the job.
Continued on the next post-
To start things off, I am in no way a professional painter. I have done bits and pieces here and there, but for the most part I am learning as I go, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. This is intended as information for amateurs like me with limited funds and equipment. Yes, there are better ways to do it, this is just how I have chosen to balance cost/quality.
Edit: Forgot to add - Assuming I have purchased enough paint, the total cost of this project including all hardware, supplies, safety equip, consumables, and paint is less than 2K.
Here are some basics of equipment and products I am using.
Hardware:
Paint Booth:
I built my makeshift paintbooth in my garage out of cheap 1x2x8' whitewood sticks. I stapled heavy 6mil clear plastic to the inside of the frame. The floor is also covered in the same plastic. The booth is 8x8x19. 8ft is wide enough, but just barely. 10' would be better. I have two 16" fans forcing air in though AC filters and 4 outflow filters at the opposite end. This seems to work well, but a third fan would be best. At first I mounted the filters on the outside (suction side) of the fans. They need to be on the inside, otherwise the fan recirculate a good portion of the air.
Air System:
I have a Husky 60Gal compressor purchased from home depot a number of years ago. So far it has had no problem keeping up. From the compressor I have 12ft of 5/8 3003 aluminum tube connected via standard AN flare fittings. That tube loops up the wall and into a 3gal secondary expansion tank. from there is goes through a standard filter/water separator/regulator. I have air plumbed in the garage, but for painting I ran a new hose directly to the filter. The hose is 50' 3/8 hybrid PVC/rubber. The setup flows plenty of air and I haven't had any moisture problems (even with near 100% humidity at times). I also have a last-chance filter at the gun.
Paint Guns:
I have two DevilBiss FLG-4 Finish-Line paint guns. So far they have worked well. Atomization is good, the spray pattern is a little small, but adequate. For the epoxy primer I have been using a 1.5mm tip for the topcoat a 1.3mm tip. I tried the 1.8mm for the primer, but it goes on to fast for my liking. I'm very happy with the 1.5mm. As for settings, after much experimentation, I found that pattern and flow wide-open worked best for both primer and topcoat. In most cases, the recommended 23psi inlet pressure worked fine. However, for the blue metallic I had a hard time eliminating tiger-stripes while preventing orange-peel. I ran the pressure up to about 30PSI and moved the gun a little farther away, that did the job.
Continued on the next post-
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