Masking & Preparation
To begin this venture we need to clean the metal on the car. After we clean the metal, make sure it’s dry before we begin to mask the car, also do a last minute check to be sure it’s free of all dirt grease and other contaminants.
Now it’s time to mask the car, and be sure to mask all that you don’t want
After the car has been masked it’s time to get ready to spray the primer, once again make sure that you have cleaned your surroundings, it’s best to have some water on the floor to keep the dust down, once you are confident that the area is clean then you can begin checking the spray guns to be sure that they are clean. This is a very important step especially if they’re not your guns, dirty guns will make an ugly
Now that you have determined that the
It’s best not to have to leave the
The temps are as follows, their is a high temp that is designed to dry slower when it’s hot in the area where your working, high temp is good for 80 degrees and up, theirs also a mid temp, this probably the most popular temp used this is best used from 55 to 80 degrees and is designed to dry faster to make up for the colder temp, due to the fact primer will run easier in the cold weather. Now we have low temp reducer this will dry extremely slow therefore for giving the primer a better chance to run. I tell you all this in an effort to help you better understand the products that you are working with, the more you know the better armed you are for problems when they happen.
Now it’s time to enter the
If you are really serious about the way that you want it to look the you might want to take the primer one step farther and use an etching primer before you spray the urethane or epoxy primer, an etching primer will give the top coat just a little more to stick to. Etching primer has no building qualities there for it’s not used for smoothing out waves in your work, but it will make the primer stick allot better.
I do suggest that you always use a urethane primer,and not lacquer type,as lacquer can and will shrink urethane or epoxy is recommended for best results. Epoxy is a very hard primer to sand but it’s extremely tough, and urethane is I think probably your best choice,because it’s high building and easy sanding, their are a lot of brands to choose from, I use DuPont euro myself but it’s all up to you to choose that.
Now that your card is primed, it’s time to remove the masking, and I like to do this while it’s still a little wet for the sake of ease, just be very careful about how you do it, you don’t want to screw up all that nice work, so just take it slow and easy while pulling the masking off your car.
(Sanding)
Well now the hard part is here, before you start to sand the car you’ll want to be sure that it’s been guide coated, this will make it easier for you to get an ultra smooth finish. Heres where we weed the boys form the men, if your trying to do a show finish on the car that your
This is the hard part,and you will have lazy people that will want to use a machine to do this, this is just a word to the wise, you have allot better control over a hand block. The best way to produce this type of high quality work is to have the best control over it that you can, offten a machine will go through your primer. If your trying to produce show quality work this would mean priming that area again I.E. more time spent, this is time that could be spent better doing other things.
Now I will explain a bit about what a guide coat is, this is it in a nut-shell. The guide coat is the step right after the car has been primed, you should do this before you pull the masking, what this in tails is misting a light coat of black
Now it’s time to start the actual sanding of the car, you need to pay close attention to detail on this part of the
Now that you’ve finished that part it’s time to move on to the next grit of paper, I usually move to 400 grit on a medium- hard sanding block from here, you don’t want to move up to far because it can leave scratches form the previous grit of paper, so a word to the wise, don’t get in a hurry and move up to far a once this will leave seeable scratches in your work. After you’ve sanded the whole car with the 400 grit wet paper then inspect it for bare metal and guide coat still there.
The whole idea with sanding is to make the primer look the way that you want the
You need to have a vision of how you want it to look, the one thing that you need to know is, the better you want it to look, the more you will pay for materials. Just a word of caution cheap
You might save some money but you will not save the agony of a crappy looking
Now that I’m through with my little lecture on low quality products, it’s time to move on to the next sanding step. From 400 grit I usually move up to 600 grit wet paper, this is where I usually stop unless requested to go one more step, this is really as far as you need to go with the sanding. After you finish with the 600 grit do one final inspection of the work before cleaning it.
Well now it’s time to clean the car, for this just use soap and water, just like washing a car normally. You should blow it dry though, this being the main difference between this and a regular wash job, be sure to blow all the water out of the little cracks in the car, like the cowl area, under the hood, between the doors and in the trunk lid. Believe me this will blow water on your
If you miss some and it happens to get in your
Now it’s to mask for the actual
Now that you’ve masked your car it’s time to put it in the
Now make sure that you have everything you need in there to
Follow all instructions on the back of the
Now that you have the car in the booth, be sure to double check the masking on it, what you are looking for here is perfection and nothing less.
This means everything that if you don’t want it
Supply List
1)
2) sealer
3) reducer
4) Catalyst
5) Tack Cloths, preferably designed for clear coat
6) Measuring Cups
7) Stir Sticks
8) Measuring Stick
9) Strainers
10) Respirator in working order
Now I will give you a few things to think about, if your
Now I will give you a basic mixing chart, most
Instructions
1) get your
2) make sure that your mixing cup is clean.
3) Get your strainer and sticks.
4) Put a strainer in the top of the measuring cup.
5) Now pay close attention to the level of
Recommended Air Pressure At Gun Head.
25-40 PSI Mix 4:1:1 Base Coat
25-40 PSI Mix 4:1:1 Sealer
25-40 PSI Mix 4:1:1 Clear Coat
25-40 PSI Mix 2:1:1 Primer Coat
When using a
Now a lesson on gun angle. Their are only two angles you should ever need to use when holding a spray gun, and they are 45 and 90 degrees angles to the surface of the car that you are spraying, these angles will give you the best outcome possible, and also you should try to keep the spray gun at about 6 to 8 inches from your work. If you get much closer you will more then likely cause a run in the
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