Was the photo of the hood after color sanding? Do you have any pictures of your paint booth Charlie?

 

The owner of this truck started its rework at a local bodyshop where they did the sheetmetal repair and basic smoothing of the panels. The truck (completely disassembled) sat in the back of the shop for over a year after this initial work had been completed. The owner was getting a bit anxious about when he would see his truck painted and all he got from the shop was that, due to workload, they wouldn't be able to paint his truck for at least 18-24 months. He asked if I would paint it for him and I agreed. That said, some of the panels were very straight and some were just close. This hood needed some straightening as the peak in the center was bowed in (like many are) and there were some high and low spots that needed correction. The hood came to me with a reverse tilt hinge installed...supposedly all the panels were aligned on the truck prior to disassembly. I certainly hope so because the adjustment bolts on the tilt assembly were welded. The anchor nuts for the hinge mounts (now the mounts for the rear rollers) were gone so those had to be replaced and welded...the shop had the rollers installed with just a loose nut on the back.
The biggest issue that I have with this vintage hood is they have a tendency to bow in the center which causes warpage across the flat areas on each side of the peak. Here is a pic of the underside of the hood with the tilt mechanism in place.

 

My "spray booth" is essentially my whole garage. I built the air recycler that is shown in the photo below to suck air/overspray in the lower three 20x20 panels, clean the paint particles and vapor out and return the scrubbed air back out through the upper two panels. This setup will cycle all the air through my garage at the rate of 3 times a minute. No air/fumes leave the garage so none of the neighbors even know that I am spraying paint until the doors are opened, then it's just a bit of smell as the new paint gasses out. I have a buddy who is in the commercial HVAC business, he built the cabinets for me to my specs.

 

Thats a pretty awesome filter set up. When you paint a part do you paint it right out in the open or do you hang something around it to isolate it from the shelves and equipment in the photo?

 

I have hung plastic but it is not necessary...the little bit of overspray that gets out of the "air recycling zone" merely sets as dust and can easily be blown off with compressed air. I spend more time blowing off filler and primer dust than I do overspray. I used to have a shop so I really miss having enough room to have separate areas for prep and spraying.

 

That air filter/recycler is awesome. I'm really interested in the specs on it? What powers it? I always clean my shop up really good, pressure wash the floor, and then set up an 30" industrial fan in one window and put filters in another. Your setup looks way cleaner.

 

Oh man I hear ya on the prep and paint rooms seperate. I have an awesome paint room but it has to double as a prep room as well. So major cleaning when I get to base/clear. I was thinking more of sucking contaminates into the fresh paint than overspray on the equipment and material stored around the paint area. With that high volume of air exchange, I would think you would pull a lot of dirt into the paint. No?

 

Beautiful finish Charlie

 

No. Not sure where the dirt would come from...in my case I blow off all the surrounding areas before I prep the panel/body for paint. I even blow off the ceiling and lighting. The air that comes out the upper section of the air recycler flows over the area where I paint, hits the wall, drops down and is sucked back along the floor and into the lower intake. The air flow moves in a loop with very little flowing out to the sides.

 

Well whatever your doing, your paint jobs look pretty awesome.

 

Thanks.....

 

Charlie,

I stopped by Home Depot today and picked up a gallon of BEHR Marquie Satin Black Exterior Enamal (water base) to mix with Hy-Tech Ceramic Microspheres. The instructions that came with the micros say mix 4 parts paint to 1 part microspheres. If I remember, your recomendations are about 50/50 or the consistency of "cake batter". It also says the paint can be thinned 1 pint water to 1 quart water, to make the paint flow better (probably brushing?)

I was surprised the spheres were not bigger in diameter. They are more like grains of sugar.

My plan is to mix closer to 50/50 and to spray in a schultz gun. No thinning required as I want to keep the consistency closer to cake batter.

I could have taken a can of the base color in and had them mix it to the right color. Is that what you did to get your color match, or did you spray it with base clear or single stage clear after it was applied?

So far, I am only planning on using it on the interior of the truck where it will be covered with a product like Dynomat only a different brand if I can be convinced there is a better product for the price.

 

I buy whatever is good and on sale...I really don't care about the color since it will be covered anyway. I believe that the disconnect between the mix ratios lies in the fact that the microspheres have a lot more volume before being mixed with the paint. Once they start mixing in they occupy less space. I believe that the 50/50 ratio that you are citing was based on my statement that once you have added enough microspheres to bring a gallon of paint to the consistency of cake batter you will have 2 gallons of product to spray. I really never have measured the microspheres prior to mixing...the idea is to have as many as possible without turning the mixture to clay. I personally do not like to thin the mixture and if I do I use the Hy-Tech thinner and NEVER water.

 

You use thinner with the water base paint?

 

" I personally do not like to thin the mixture and if I do I use the Hy-Tech thinner and NEVER water. "


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