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Old 09-26-2013, 12:42 AM   #1
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School me on paint.

I'm looking at Rustoleum paint from Walmart. It's about $40 per gallon. What is reducer and hardener. Where do I get it and how do I use it. This is enamel paint.

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Old 09-26-2013, 05:31 AM   #2
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Re: School me on paint.

I just used it straight from the can, always have when using a brush or foam roller

spraying you can thin it with xylene(or whatever the can says)
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Old 09-26-2013, 12:08 PM   #3
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Re: School me on paint.

Spend the money and go to NAPA or the like and get some automotive grade paint. With the primer, paint, hardener and clear I was only out $225ish. Rusteoleum will fade.
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Old 09-28-2013, 07:46 PM   #4
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Re: School me on paint.

Ok, you guys are telling me what to get but are not telling me the process of painting. I know how to use a roller or paint brush but I want to know how to spray. Don't be stingy with the info.
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Old 09-28-2013, 11:31 PM   #5
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Re: School me on paint.

I used a brush, so I am no help. ;)
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Old 09-29-2013, 02:25 AM   #6
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Re: School me on paint.

I doubt it is much help but the pointers I have picked up thus far from those who have sprayed are as follows:

1. Pull trigger, point away from faces.
2. Move quickly enough to avoid drips but not so quickly that the paint doesn't hit the bus.
3. Many thin coats are better than 1 thick coat (unless you can hold people to 25' distance at all times)
4. Mix in some amount of "magic ceramic thingies" for the roof (rumors say inside touchable in full sun)
5. The total removal of windows is quicker and easier than masking.
6. You will paint something you forgot to mask or remove.
7. Paint only upwind of hated neighbors and downwind of significant others vehicles.
8. Don't forget to consult your magic 8 ball to predict good weather.

Now if that isn't as clear as good mud then I am sorry, you are as baffled about the process as I am and will probably also use rollers and brushes. I am hoping that I can get a 10' job done.... but would be thrilled with a 25' look as well. Maybe we can get someone here to really detail the whole process in a single thread. I would do rattle-cans but I am quite sure that would be really expensive and time consuming.
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Old 09-29-2013, 05:44 AM   #7
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Re: School me on paint.

I went to Menards and purchased a twin gun kit for less than $30. You need a fairly decent compressor to run a paint gun, much less two guns at the same time. I used DuPont paint because I know it will look better for a long time vs. rustoleum. I thinned the primer with a reducer, not with paint thinner. It didn't take a whole lot of reducer but I did play around with the ratios until I got it just right, or what I thought was just right. I used a cheap set of measuring cups from WalMart to do the measuring and get the ratios the same each time.

The guns I used had all sorts of adjustments and I sprayed a piece of plywood until I got the spray pattern and amount of paint being sprayed to my satisfaction. There will be adjustments for the shape of the pattern, flat vs cone shaped; amount of paint let into the stream and amount of air let into the gun. Hold the gun about 12-18" away from the surface being painted and pull the trigger.

I am not a paintning expert and this was the first thing I'd ever sprayed. I think it turned out ok. I'd reccommend doing a few light coats as I had a some runs because I tried to do it all in one pass.

It's really not that hard and I built it up in my head to be a big deal but when I started painting I couldn't believe how easy it actually was.
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Old 09-29-2013, 10:00 AM   #8
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Re: School me on paint.

Where does the hardener come in?
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Old 09-29-2013, 01:50 PM   #9
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Re: School me on paint.

You add the hardener to the paint but not the primer. That crap is spendy too, I think it was around $40 for a spray paint sized can. I added about 3/4 of the cap full of hardener to about 3/4 of a 2 liter bottle of paint/reducer. I think, roughly, it was a 4:1 ratio for paint to reducer that I found to work well.

Not sure where you are located but I went to an AutoValue and they got me everything I needed. I told them what I wanted to do and they helped me spend my money. It was pretty easy.
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Old 08-18-2014, 06:45 PM   #10
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Re: School me on paint.

painting can be as simple and as hard as you want to make it. paints like rustolium is a single stage paint with everything in it that is needed for paint to spread on and dry it has color pigment all the way thru the coating and it is a good basic coating that will protect the metal but it will never be a smooth glossy automotive finish. two stage paint has a base a base color coat with a clear coat overtop these all must be reduced (fancy for thinned out) and hardner added to get them to dry correctly.
this is a simplistic explanation and I am not splitting hairs with terminology just giving an overview. you can spray both single and multi stage paint and as far as I know you can only roll on option is single stage.
all of this means what is the end product you are after prefect glossy automotive style finish two stage base coat clear coat is the way to go. it is spendy to travel this road and everything is done multiple times and a bit of skill helps. a single stage paint like dupla color or tractor paint can give you a nice almost glossy almost as durable ready to spray paint then there is the roll on options that change the color can look good from a bit back.
all this info mean nothing if you don't prep the area to paint.
a basic prep can be
wash soap and water power was better
scuff sand 400 grit to remove the gloss
clean with a body prep (all the paint manufacture have one )
tack cloth
primer (acid etch primer for the bare metal)
scuff sand primer with 600
wipe down with body prep and tack cloth
paint with any of the above
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Old 08-19-2014, 05:59 PM   #11
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Re: School me on paint.

Do a google search on painting a car with a roller or painting a car yourself with a sprayer, you will find many videos and directions,
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Old 08-19-2014, 09:25 PM   #12
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Re: School me on paint.

If you decide to roller paint, then use a foam roller. It gives a nice slightly textured finish... like a smooth egg. Downside to the oil based paints is the long dry time. I have sprayed Rustoleum (with a Wagner hand held paint sprayer) and rolled ACE Rust Stop. Both were oil based. Never again. My next LATEX paint is going to be all rolled. I will have to use an oil based primer (oil primer on oil paint) and then I will be rolling on Marquee Exterior Latex (leaning towards Satin). The oil based paints have faded a great deal over the past 4 years. I am not happy. The nice thing about the Marquee is that it can be rained on after only 1 hour. Once the weather cools a bit, I will be repainting the rub rails. The body will have to wait until we get a home base.

Forgot to mention that the Marquee is a one coat coverage. One time of painting... YES!
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Old 09-10-2014, 10:59 PM   #13
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Re: School me on paint.

Autoqual has it right. I would like to add one step into the process though........

Step back and look at your work every 10 minutes or so. That way you stay consistent and stay focused. Remember, just painting a 10 ft section of your bus in 2 different days could have serious viewing challenges to the people who see it!
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Old 05-07-2015, 02:01 AM   #14
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Hi I'm about to start painting and was wondering why roll vs spray?
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Old 05-07-2015, 08:12 AM   #15
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Because anybody can roll paint on a surface.
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Old 05-07-2015, 09:43 AM   #16
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i rolled Rustoleum leather brown onto the body, and almond on to the roof of my bus, and it looks OK. just thin it with a little mineral spirits and use the foam roller.
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Old 05-07-2015, 09:49 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by Rayzer69 View Post
Because anybody can roll paint on a surface.
Spraying is a fine art. And this from a guy who builds models and airbrushes them
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Old 05-07-2015, 10:06 AM   #18
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it is.
Thats why my airbrush artist friend is gonna spray mine for me.
Possibly for beer.
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Old 05-07-2015, 11:12 AM   #19
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Spraying isn't hard. If you can use a can of spray paint, and make it look good and even, then you can spray a single stage paint. Single stage paint looks alright to me(beats the hell out of the yellow). A few buddies and I had the whole bus cleaned, stripped, masked, primed, and two coats of paint in one day. I'm not sure how long it would take to dry being rolled on, but with spraying it, it was darn near dry by the time we got around to the front(Climate will also play a factor).

I'm not sure if it'll work, but next time I do it I'm going to try and apply a couple coats of clear lacquer in order to hopefully prevent the oxidation. I'm not looking for show car finish, but I'd like some sort of protection from the oxidizing uv rays.
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Old 05-07-2015, 01:28 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Booyah45828 View Post

I'm not sure if it'll work, but next time I do it I'm going to try and apply a couple coats of clear lacquer in order to hopefully prevent the oxidation. I'm not looking for show car finish, but I'd like some sort of protection from the oxidizing uv rays.
You can buy the clear coat in the same spray cans.

It works great. The Haul all body still looks bright blue with no fading from the sun.

The clear also comes with wider spray tips. I used them on the paint cans and got a much nicer spray pattern with the paint.

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