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Old 02-02-2017, 11:33 PM   #41
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Do people have a reason for trying to use odd paints like Rustoleum mixes instead of just buying purpose made auto paint? The paintforcars.com website has single stage enamels and lacquers for about forty or fifty dollars a gallon. (I've never used it - maybe it sucks?) It seems like you could buy or rent an HVLP unit and take a lot less trouble with the whole process and get a better result, especially considering how much time, effort, and money people spend on other parts of the builds.

Is this strictly a cost saving measure?

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Old 02-02-2017, 11:52 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rainman4040 View Post
-SherKem 400 Primer
-SherKem High Gloss Metal Enamel (Sherwin Williams they were able to color match)
Do you mind if I ask what you paid for the SherKem per gallon? How many gallons did you use?
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Old 02-03-2017, 12:16 AM   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lucasd View Post
Do people have a reason for trying to use odd paints like Rustoleum mixes instead of just buying purpose made auto paint? The paintforcars.com website has single stage enamels and lacquers for about forty or fifty dollars a gallon. (I've never used it - maybe it sucks?) It seems like you could buy or rent an HVLP unit and take a lot less trouble with the whole process and get a better result, especially considering how much time, effort, and money people spend on other parts of the builds.

Is this strictly a cost saving measure?
My personal observation is that most people think that oil based finishes are superior, and this generally means two stage because a clear coat has to be added to reduce the chances of oxidation which oil based paints are prone to experience. Clear coats provide UV protection (2nd Stage). Today's acrylic paints have UV protection built into the paint and are just as hard and resilient as their oil equiv. I will say though, that getting water borne paints to lay out smoothly with no orange peel can be tough as they tend to dry much faster than oil based finishes.

10 years ago I would have agreed that oil based finishes were superior, but the advances in acrylic alkyds have surpassed oil finishes IMHO. Combined with a clear coat or not, they are just as good and half as messy/smelly.

I wrote up some info based on my refinishing and restoration work in another thread if anyone is interested - http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f13/he...tml#post180964

I will definitely be applying the finish on our bus with an HVLP gun. I have a The cheapo from Harbor Freight is actually pretty good. Just go with the turbine version - not that compressed air version - so much better. Catch it with a 20-25% off coupon and it is a heck of a deal.

The key is to never leave paint in the gun and make sure to thin the paint - I have never used an HVLP that I did not have to thin the paint/primer.
High Volume, Low Pressure Spray Gun Kit


You can also rent a nice Graco ProFinish gun from most Sunbelt stores. Here in Nashville, there is only one store that has them, but to rent for a whole week was only $60. The Graco turbine guns are great machines as well. Heck, even the newer Wagner Power painters are pretty slick. They are essentially a turbine HVLP gun all in one with no hose!
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Old 02-03-2017, 10:04 AM   #44
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Nice to know! I've seen claims that the turbine versions were only good for house paint due to some issue of giving inconsistent results with the thinner paints targeted for cars. I'm glad to see it's possible to get decent results with one.
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Old 02-03-2017, 10:09 AM   #45
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Originally Posted by lucasd View Post
Nice to know! I've seen claims that the turbine versions were only good for house paint due to some issue of giving inconsistent results with the thinner paints targeted for cars. I'm glad to see it's possible to get decent results with one.
My experience has been that almost all good paints are usually too thick for turbine HVLP guns, they almost always have to be thinned. But this is based on the stock tip that comes with the machine. You can buy other sized tips that will work for thinner materials. Unfortunately, HF does not sell other tips, so you have to go after market on Amazon. The HF unit is a rebrand of a popular one you will see on the web, not hard to find tips for it.
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Old 02-03-2017, 12:26 PM   #46
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Nice thing about this forum is that it is OK to disagree. That said, I'd probably use a mop before I'd use that HF turbine toy. The finish it produces won't be pleasing and it will take forever to get the paint job done. The HF top loading quart size HVLP works surprisingly well with properly thinned paint (oil or acrylic but no water based) and enough cfm's (10 or more at about 45 psi). I've been spray painting cars since I was 9 yrs old. The first job was done with a hand held Hudson bug sprayer. A buddy and I took turns holding and pumping and after an entire day's work we both had blisters on our hands and a freshly painted 1950 Pontiac. The finish turned out shinny but had the texture of cottage cheese. I graduated to a vacuum cleaner powered " turbine??" sprayer I bought from an ad in "Popular Mechanics". It really wasn't much better. By the time I was 11 I had talked my mother into renting an air compressor and a Binks spray gun--it was love at first squirt. In the 60 odd years since that first spray job I've tried many types of spray guns. While I do use a $60 HF HVLP for small patching jobs, I use my "good" gun (Accuspray at about $600) for completes.The savings in materials alone paid for the gun in about 4 paint jobs. For example, it took just under one gallon of mixed acrylic paint to completely paint my bus with two coats of single stage acrylic and the finish is smooth and shinny.

Tricks of a successful paint job:
1) Proper mixing/ thinning/time between coats per MDS
2) Adjust spray fan (cone) to apply a vertically rich application of paint sort of like
what you'd get with a paint brush
3) Keep the nozzle at 90 degrees from whatever surface you are painting at all times
never scribing an arc.
4) As you begin a spray pass first engage the air, then the paint. As you come to the
end of a pass, stop the flow of paint and then the air and complete the pass. This technique will eliminate the over spray that ends up looking like sand paper at the beginning and end of each pass. Plan
on a 50% overlap of the last pass. A medium wet coat will give the best results.
5) Practice spraying water on a smooth wall to get the feel for how your gun works.
Once you are comfortable with that, mix up a little paint and practice on a junk car
or something until you feel like a pro.

Wear an isocyanite type air filter as all the modern paints are very nasty.

Its a kick to paint once you get the hang of it! Jack
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Old 02-03-2017, 02:25 PM   #47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ol trunt View Post

Its a kick to paint once you get the hang of it! Jack
This guy knows how to paint. ^^^

I have my Binks 2000HVLP w/ pressure pot for finish paint, love the cheapo guns for other stuff. Maintain your gun- it must have packing lubed and be clean clean clean. Gun rebuild kits are cheap. Changeout lines between pot and gun, else pay price.

VERY important to get consistency right- and consistent. They sell plastic viscosity cup for few bucks.

VERY important to thin with proper reducer for formulation of paint. Does not take much, either.

Quick spraying cars, they will combine color, reducer, clear topcoat and hardner for one shot, but know your chemistry. I prefer separating coats for wet sand between on cars, but on a bus- go for it. There is no way to sand around those rivets.

Multiple thin coats will yield better results than 1 thick coat. Adjust air pressure and fan size, turn schnozzle 1/4 to change orientation.

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Old 02-03-2017, 02:44 PM   #48
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As is the case with all things in life, there are degrees of effort here. Based on the OP request, I am guessing that he is shooting for the best job for the cheapest price/effort. It is very possible to use inexpensive tools and methods to paint your bus. While I would not use the $120 HVLP gun from HF for painting a car or customer work, I would totally recommend it for painting a bus. I have a $2500 Graco 5 stage turbine HVLP for the real work that I do refinishing furniture.

ol trunt, it sounds like you have a good bit of experience and I do not want to discount that. I understand how hard painting cars are, I have painted a few of them myself, and none of them really good. All of your comments are top notch for giving someone the basics of sprayed finishes.
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Old 02-03-2017, 02:54 PM   #49
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I was planning on using my "auto body skills" from vocational school back when I was 17. But I may just roll mine on if I can't find someone to spray it. I have a buddy who paints cars, but he's having some drinking issues these days and hasn't been too available.
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Old 02-03-2017, 03:37 PM   #50
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ol trunt View Post
Tricks of a successful paint job:
1) Proper mixing/ thinning/time between coats per MDS
2) Adjust spray fan (cone) to apply a vertically rich application of paint sort of like
what you'd get with a paint brush
3) Keep the nozzle at 90 degrees from whatever surface you are painting at all times
never scribing an arc.
4) As you begin a spray pass first engage the air, then the paint. As you come to the
end of a pass, stop the flow of paint and then the air and complete the pass. This technique will eliminate the over spray that ends up looking like sand paper at the beginning and end of each pass. Plan
on a 50% overlap of the last pass. A medium wet coat will give the best results.
5) Practice spraying water on a smooth wall to get the feel for how your gun works.
Once you are comfortable with that, mix up a little paint and practice on a junk car
or something until you feel like a pro.

Wear an isocyanite type air filter as all the modern paints are very nasty.

Its a kick to paint once you get the hang of it! Jack
One of the moderators should make this post a sticky...
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Old 02-03-2017, 04:04 PM   #51
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I really wish i had a clean spot to paint.. its the one aspect of vehicle building ive really never gotten the hang of... I can put a transmission together on a bench but ask me to pick up a spray gun and im gonna look at you wierd...

do people ever shoot busses outside or is it required to have a clean ventilated paint booth to get a decent paint job?
-Christopher
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Old 02-03-2017, 04:30 PM   #52
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Spray pavement with a garden hose to keep dust down and look for a still day. I've hung a huge tarp to keep drafts at bay when painting Army trucks.

Some folks think doing it the right way is too much bother or expensive. Removing peeling paint and reapplying is work, at least in my book.
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Old 02-03-2017, 05:07 PM   #53
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Quote:
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Removing peeling paint and reapplying is work, at least in my book.
Yeah, I'd rather not have to re-work a paint job every few years to keep it looking decent.

Has anyone used LVLP sprayers? They seem to be set up similarly to HVLP paint sprayers but are designed to run on 5-6 CFM of air. To me, that implies that they are targeted for users who don't have 220v air compressors, as 6+/- CFM seems to be about the upper limit of 110v compressors.

I'm wondering if LVLP units might be a good compromise between professional shop gear and hobby junk.
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Old 02-03-2017, 05:22 PM   #54
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air requirements HVLP

Found this

Air requirements
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Old 02-03-2017, 05:37 PM   #55
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**Also, I highly recommend visiting the benjaminmoore website**

I used this site to try out different color schemes to see what I liked best before I painted the bus. As you can see in the picture below I have the same colors I used, but it was before I actually painted the bus. You can see in the picture I have not yet removed the school bus sticker on the front.

You just upload a picture and highlight the different areas you want painted and you can try different color schemes. I have used this painting rooms as well. Such a great free tool!

Here is the link
Design Your Own Room - Virtual Paint Your Room App - Personal Color Viewer



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Old 02-23-2017, 11:43 AM   #56
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Thanks Rainman! My wife is a "visual" person and can't imagine until she sees it. I was looking at trying to MS paint a pic but this looks like it will do a much better job!
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Old 03-31-2017, 09:14 PM   #57
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Does anyone have experience with Rustoleum's farm and implement paint?

https://www.rustoleum.com/product-ca...ment-brush-on/
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Old 08-28-2017, 10:24 AM   #58
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My experience with painting...

1. Prime it. Unless your paint is in really good shape just prime the whole dang thing. I used about 5 cans Rustoleum auto primer hitting all the rust spots, chips and where we sanded down to metal and covered a lot of real estate. It would have taken a lot less mental energy to just prime the whole thing. Also, the paint went on so much smoother and we got sooo much better coverage where we primed.

2. Spray it. Holy nooks and crannies.... It was ridiculously tedious trying to get into the the cracks and trying to wedge a brush between a light and a piece of fiberglass. It took 11 hours to paint our bus and I bet we would have spent a fraction of that time for the additional taping and masking. (We didn't spray because of overspray issues.)

3. Xylene is your friend. Don't be afraid of solvents. They make the job so much easier. I am a super greenie and alway use zero VOC latex so this was a big lesson for me. Just mask up and glove up and that stuff is like magic for thinning and cleaning up.

4. Look for a deal. We scored some $150 a gallon two part automotive/marine paint from a Sherwan Williams Industrial store for $25 a gallon. It was "expired". The manager said he couldn't sell it to anyone for commercial use. The stuff is amazing and I highly recommend looking for a deal like this. The sheen is so much better than the Rustoleum that everyone is using.
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Old 05-26-2018, 05:07 PM   #59
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Hi Jake, How is your paint holding up on your bus? I'm getting ready to paint mine. Thanks.
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Old 05-26-2018, 05:08 PM   #60
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How bout the exterior?
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