REFLECTOR: Painting; HVLP

[Ron Brown]

Good Morning Al,

A couple of suggestions for the dust and bugs.

Build a spray booth using plastic sheeting and 2x4's.  Put in about 4 20 x 20 filters in one end, and three cheap box fans in the other end drawing the air from the filtered end.  The one I had access to was 12 x 20' and 8 feet tall.  Try to spray in the direction of the air flow - start spraying at the filter end and end up at he exhaust fan end.  

Also, be sure to use tack rags just before spraying.  I forgot one time and dust was everywhere in the paint.  I thought there was a problem with the spray booth (leaks, etc) and then I remembered I had forgotten to tack rag the piece.

Happy painting and keep sharing your experiences!!!

Re the HVLP, the EPA forced the industry to lower overspray and VOC's.  This resulted in unreasonably low air pressures = not enough to have good atomization and delivery of the spray paints.  The EPA will NOT put you in jail if they find you are using a higher than government regulated air pressure.  Sort of like them damned Low Volume Commodes.  Supposed to save water but you have to flush them twice.  

Ronnie


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Al Gietzen 
  To: reflector 
  Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 1:47 AM
  Subject: REFLECTOR: Painting; HVLP


  Not to bore you further with my painting project; but I need to retract my negative remarks about the Apollo HVLP gun.  The negative remarks should have been directed at the company Sales/Tech support guy; who gave me repeated by advice.  The Apollo company is located about 15 minutes from here, so before I started the job I went by to get a spare paint cup, a pressure regulator for the gun handle (I have a long hose the regulator at the compressor), and review my setup and job with the tech support guy for any useful tips.  He was rather emphatic about the cap pressure not needing to be above 5 psi for any solvent based paints.



  Later when I was having problems and I called him, he suggested that I reduce to pressure since the viscosity was so low. I pointed out that PPG recommended 8 - 10 psi for this paint, and his response was that did not make sense for the Apollo, which was a "true" HVLP gun.  He spoke with assurance, and he ought to know so I accepted it - until yesterday.  Not willing to accept that the old $40 sprayer could do better, I cranked the pressure up to give a cap pressure of 8 - 9 psi; and, yup; it gives a very nice finish; and more over-spray, but hey - it works.  When in doubt, follow the paint manufacturer's suggestion.



  Now my big defects are dust nibs and flying insects.  A beautifully finished canard with three gnats and a small fly imbedded in the clear coat - - ar-r-r-gh!



  Al









------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  To change your email address, visit http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector

  Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
  user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
  Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
  Check old archives: http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/private/reflector/attachments/20051116/8c26eaa1/attachment.html