# Spray Painting on the Cheap



## modela (Jul 29, 2012)

The purpose of this post is to point out that you don't have to have expensive equipment to do a great job spray painting your equipment or projects and to pass along a few tips and techniques along the way.  I always figured that any good project was worth a good finish. I have included both wood and metal projects because I often combine the two as exemplified by this wine press.



My dad used to remind me when I was wanting new equipment that the  old equipment was better than I was. He would then turn around, make something great with it and smile.  It was infuriating, but true.  When you are just starting, whether it be  fishing or golf, the thing that needs the most improvement is your own  skill.  In this light I will approach painting as I started years ago  but today working on a current project, refinishing my front door and  sidelights outside. You can use inexpensive equipment to do some really  nice finishing.  You can learn and add equipment over time. 

*The compressor:*  In this case I was using my old  garage compressor and my old setup for air regulation and filtering.   You probably have a compressor around. You don't really need much to get started and I think you choice of  projects is perfect for learning to spray paint. So let me start off  where I did many years ago.  This is my old Sears air compressor.  I  have had this thing around for ages. You can pick these up on  Craigslist.  This one is a cast iron Sears.  They still sell parts for  these old dogs.  Roll-air is another good old brand. A friend of mine  recently picked up one of these old dogs for $25 on Craigslist.





*Regulator and filter:*  In my present project I had  to string out 100' of hose from the compressor (I switched it to 220  volts and my other choice was to rewire my house).
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
   I built this little platform eons ago.  The regulator came with the  compressor and I added the water filter. Even with the 3/8" hose the  pressure drop would have been enormous had the regulator been attached directly at the compressor.  This outfit lets me string out a lengths of hose at higher  pressures to avoid line pressure drop.  Notice I have only 15' of hose  from the regulator to the gun.  Set up, this includes a water removing  filter and a regulator. At the gun I use a disposable final filter.  The only thing new here was the 3/8" hose. The old one finally gave up the ghost.




 .
*The gun*:  I am using a FinishLine gun from  DeVilbiss.  There are other guns out there, I just stick with DeVilbiss  because that is where I started after throwing away the Sears gun that  came with it.  I did spray quite a few projects with the old Sears gun  but it just wouldn't hold consistent patterns. On the cheap, I believe  Harbor Freight actually makes a decent gun.  I just like the fact that I  can still get parts for any of my old DeVilbiss equipment.  Don't get  hung up here.

I still have my old original DeVilbiss JGA that I could have used  with the same results.  I still use it for primers and if I am having  problems with my other guns.

*
The Project:*

 Today I am at home, working out of my garage.  I am outside the confines of my shop, without my spray booth.  I am working in conditions that I had most of my life--less than optimal.  My project currently is refinishing my front door. I replaced the  door with a plywood panel so I could sand and finish the door lying flat. The door project  is one of those "deferred maintenance" things that involved an  incredible amount of sanding to remove the old finish.  This is a wood  finish which has its own complexities. I would rather be working on my newly rebuilt mill, but I have been promising to do this job for years.

 Not wanting to go into the awful job of painting this again for many  years I chose my paint well going on wood finishing forums.  I settle on an epoxy, 2-part, finish sealer/primer and a two part urethane finish. The sealer was costly at $70 for two quarts, but I  figure I don't want to do this again for many years. 

I then found out  that the epoxy primer/sealer had to be brushed.  I hate brushing because  it is slow and it seems almost impossible to not show brush strokes.   In addition, in complicated work like this it is hard to get a good  finish while moving around all the ins and outs.  Anyway, I got through  it and was then on to spray painting.*


*

I am not too fond of painting wood because the outcomes are many and varied and a lot of them are not good.  Wood varies more than metal.  It can absorb water--a real killer. It has irregularities and the grain absorbs paint differently.   You can be spraying away to see your paint lift on a small place for some unknown reason.  Then there is staining which I never seem to have mastered. I tend to finish everything (like the wine press) clear. Unfortunately a lot my projects are wood.  Most of my projects spray painting are metal or combination  projects.  

Regardless, spray painting works good on both. You can spray something (especially like a lathe or piece of equipment) and get  into nooks and crannies and be done in a fraction of the time. The only  things you have to contend with are masking and clean-up. In addition you can go from start to finish in one day using a good Notice the masking on the doorway.

Pictured below is the Scotchman Iron Worker.  I primed it with epoxy primer.  It went on beautifully.  I turned around and used an epoxy finish.  It went on beautifully as well.  This was a one-morning paint job start to finish.  Painting wooden projects typically can on for days with multiple coats and sanding in between.




 I put many hours into cleaning and wanted the finish to reflect  that.  I purchased the paint from the manufacture and bought their  decals as well. The paint is two part epoxy over an epoxy primer.  The  panels were beat up and take a beating in everyday use.  I had them sprayed black at a  bed liner place for $35.  I don't have to do everything, do I?

*Setting up your Spray Gun:* 
 Setting up your spray gun is important because you are setting the  pattern width and the amount of paint. It is almost analogous to  choosing the width and kind of paint brush you are using.  I like this  video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn1WNis5m8k.  Very entertaining, besides, where else can you see someone else giving this kind of demonstration.  Remember, they are spraying the easy stuff.  Make appropriate setting changes for tight spaces. I will go over the points later.
*
The Paints and Their Uses:* For your wood project.  I  would recommend a couple of things.  First, your wood is going to soak  up a lot of paint. Even if I were going to paint it a color, I often use clear urethanes as primers. I would start off using a one part Urethane Varnish  (exterior).  These are available, cheap, and effective.  The only drawback is the slow drying time.   If you have a lot of large flat areas consider rolling or  brushing since you can work the paint into the grain.  Avoid runs.  If the paint raises the grain so you need to let it dry a couple of  days and then sand it lightly till smooth.  Be patient.  Finishing wood takes more time.

  Then you can go to work spraying on  your finish coats adding additional coats for filler and maybe a color  coat.  I must add a qualifier here.  There is a lot more to wood  finishing that I do not want to tackle here like staining and special  effects and personally I would rather finish metal than wood.

 Don't buy cheap paint.  Cheap paints do so by cutting down the  pigment content in the paints. This means it takes a lot more paint to get a  good finish and they tend to run like crazy.  Rattle cans are expensive  when you get the good ones and they have to lessen the pigments to thin  them down to work at all.  I do both wood and metal but with metal I  typically stick with oil base enamels, urethanes, or epoxies.  When finishing wood you have to be patient.

For metal I use oil based enamels, acrylic enamels, two part urethanes and expoxies.  For years I used Rodda Porcelite enamel over red oxide primer.  It  was a good paint at a reasonable price.  I never had much luck with  either Rustoleum rattle cans or bulk paints.  If you are on a budget look for mis-mixed paints. I   have picked out  mismatched paints (Oil Based Enamels) or mistakes for as little as $5  per gallon from Pittsburgh Paints, Rodda, Sherwin Williams.  They  are glad to just get rid of the paints.  Sometimes they will even add  pigments to alter the color. Each time I go into these stores I ask if they have the mistakes.

Pick the paint for the project.  When I do machinery I like epoxies.   They are practically impervious to oil and grease and they are  durable.  Two part urethanes are good.  Acrylic enamels work well, too,  and are easy to use.  I did the DR Mower projects with these. (DR mower project: 2-part urethane primer, red--acrylic enamel, black--2 part urethane enamel).  On the rusty parts I used a rattle can rust stabilizer before the primer. Can you imagine brushing this???








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Thinning:* Get the right thinner to match the paint.   Thinners are as important as the paint.  Mineral spirits work with  Clear Urethanes but they dry slowly which increases your chance of runs.  Choose the thinner dry speed.  Fast dry works in cold weather.  Medium  is what I used here.  Slow dry is great when the temperatures climb above 80 degrees.  Here is shown a medium speed thinner that will thin  urethanes, acrylic enamels and enamels.  This particular thinner works well with acrylic enamels as well.  I am sure it would work with regular enamels, too. (pictured below the thinner is the door with two coats of epoxy thinner and one finish coat of 2-part urethane with one to two more to come).





Viscosity is important. Too thick and you can't even seem to coax the  paint out of the gun.  In addition you won't get wide patterns. Too  thin and you don't get good coverage and there is a tendency to run.   Also it comes out in a mist.  

You will get a feel of this over time.  Pick the speed of the thinner. I  always start a little thick seeing how the gun handles it.  I thin as I  need to, knowing that you can always go thinner but harder to go the  other way.  Thick paints narrow the pattern you are spraying which you  can use sometimes for nooks and crannies.
*
So, just do it.*  There is a learning curve for  anything.  I just finished my milling machine.  I know hardly anything  about milling.  I looked up some things on U-tube and read a couple of  books.  I know I have a lot to learn but I want to be able to use it  successfully.  So I know I am going to make mistakes on the the way.

Say you are doing your wood project.  I would start with the cheap  urethane, sealing the grain.  Remember that this dries slowly and remember to seal the end grain of the wood so it doesn't pick up water.  Then  pick out the paint. You are looking for a good paint first with price secondary.  If your  project is going to be outside or want to be oil or gas resistant pick  an oil base. Choose good brands.  On my front door we spent hours and  hours sanding the thing.  In no way am I going to choose a cheap paint. 

Metal is similar but it is not porous like wood.  Pick your primer  well. If you have rusty pieces spot prime them to stabilize the rust before you apply your primer.  If you have an existing finish make sure your primer will not lift it.   If your surface is scratched you may choose a filling primer.  As  a general rule I never use water based primers on metal. Prepare the  surface well eliminating grease and rust. Find out as much as you can about the paint you are going to use.   Read the instructions.
*
Prep:*
 Say you rebuild something like a trailer or a lathe.  It has tons of  nooks and crannies.  It is going to get solvents and oils on it.  You  put a lot of work in on it and you want the finish to reflect it.  Don't  do it right off the bat.  Take some easier projects to build some  skills.  Paint some of your outside furniture or and old tool. 

Start in the morning when you are fresh.  Every painting experience  is different because you will use varying kinds of paints and they all  work differently.   The most important thing is to keep your poise.  I  learned this from my kids when they were young.  They were good kids but  at bedtime they became tired little zombies.  Believe me a bad painting experience can make you into a zombie.

Do everything you can the night before you spray paint including  laying things out, final sanding and touch up, and masking. Remember to  think about over-spray.  I was once spraying a finish on one of my  commercial buildings, a bonding primer.  I wasn't thinking about  over-spray.  The wind took the over-spray over the top of the building  depositing on a row of cars on the other side. My insurance company paid  for rubbing out the finishes on nine cars.   Read the directions on  your paints, thinners, and primers.  Walk yourself through the process. 
*
Spray Day:*

1. Clean your surface again.  I often use lacquer thinner followed by a  tack cloth on bare metal. On wood I will run a tack cloth across,  brush it off, and blow it using a  blow gun.  Wet down the area outside if you are spraying outside. I typically roll my project outside to paint and roll back  in to let it dry.  Don't spray in windy conditions.  Make sure your neighbor's cars aren't  in the path (or your own). 

2. You have done your research and have picked a good primer that is compatible with your finish paint.   Apply primer to an even gloss and see what your final project will look  like before it dries to a dull color. If you see any bad spots or goofs this is the time to fix them before the finish really shows them.  

Say I am spraying a lathe.  I would use either a two part  Urethane or an epoxy primer on the lathe. You can use good quality rattle can  primers on many projects but only use tried and true ones.  Remember one rule of thumb that applies to  most primers.  You can spray on your finish coat if applied within 24  hours _without sanding_.  You may be able to apply the finish coat within hours (read your directions).

3. Set the amount of material and the spray pattern width.  With two  knobs it is easy to get lost.  If something is not going right, stop and  spray a flat area until you figure out the (just right) settings.   Remember that they change with the width of the pattern. Look at the  U-Tube Australian video to see how they set the pattern. Remember you  are looking a a 1/2 overlap. Set up a smooth surface vertically to see  your pattern.  If things are going awry just stop, take out your  sacrificial piece and work out the kinks.

You can open up the pattern width for the broad areas and make it  smaller for the nooks and crannies.  Remember that when you open up the  pattern (usually the small knob) that you have to also open up the  amount of paint going to cover it (the big nob).  Close down the pattern  (clockwise) and close down the amount of material (clockwise).  Paint  the nooks and crannies first.  Narrow down the pattern and adjust the  material to to match.  If anything, have it spray lightly hitting the  small areas several times lightly. My dad used to say hit the tough  parts first.  The easy parts take care of themselves. When you switch  from primer to your finishing paint remember that it is not going to be  quite as forgiving.  Better two light coats than one heavy one.

If it looks good leave it alone.  I learned that from a drywall guy. 
*
Recovering from disaster:*

Early a.m.  the day of painting.  We had to drive two hours to go to my daughter's birthday party on that day so I had a little added pressure.  I would be okay if nothing went wrong.  The previous evening I had masked off all my  surfaces.  I sprayed down my driveway with water where I would be painting the door to eliminate dust. 

Early morning the day of painting I mixed my two part paint and let  it set for 30 minutes as directed, poured in the thinner and found it  was the wrong thinner, curdling the paint.  Fortunately I had only  poured half of the paint into the gun where I thinned it.  I had to  throw it out and start over again. Looking at the fine print I found out  that it was only for their brushing varnish.  Don't worry, every  painter has had his own painting nightmares, even the best ones.

I remembered some of the past ones like the English Ford I painted in  the afternoon.  It was a new kind of paint I hadn't tried.  It went on  beautifully, almost too much so.  Then it broke out in runs everywhere.   I worked until midnight with lacquer thinner scrubbing off the old  paint.  I should have known  better.  I had to re-sand everything.  I  found a better paint and the next weekend the new paint went on without a  hitch. I should have tried the paint on a sample before committing  myself.   I can laugh about it now.

I returned to my task and hand. I mixed up more paint and let it set.  I went in and had a cup of  coffee and relaxed a bit.  I went back, started again and everything  went just fine.  I finished, cleaned up my gun and called it a day. With  a light sanding and another coat I will be done.  We left an hour later than we thought but still made it on time for my daughter's birthday.

*FINALLY, HERE ARE SOME GENERAL TIPS*
 1. EVERY PAINT IS DIFFERENT, EVEN ONES WITHIN THE SAME BRAND. SOME ARE VERY FORGIVING.  SOME ARE FRUSTRATING.
 2. MOST PEOPLE WHO SELL YOU PAINT KNOW LITTLE ABOUT PAINTING AND IF THEY DO THEY AVOID GIVING ADVICE.
 3. IF YOU FIND A GOOD PAINT STICK WITH IT.  WRITE DOWN YOUR RESULTS–GOOD AND BAD.
 4. WHEN YOU ARE PAINTING BRING YOUR PAINT TO A BRIGHT, EVEN FLASH.   THE SURFACE SHOULD LOOK EVENLY GLOSSY.  TOO MUCH AIR WITH NOT ENOUGH  PAINT MAKES IT LOOK DULL. IT SHOULD NOT LOOK ORANGE-PEEL.
 5. IF YOU ARE DOING A BIG JOB STOP AND REFLECT PERIODICALLY.  TAKE A BREAK. DON'T FORCE THINGS.
 6. THE BEST PAINTERS MAKE MISTAKES.  THEY JUST KNOW HOW TO COVER THEM.  YOU WILL LEARN THAT OVER TIME.
 7. GET AND USE A GOOD MASK.  THERE ARE MANY PAINTERS RETIRING EARLY.  WEAR IT INCLUDING PREP AND CLEAN-UP.
 8. TRY TO SEE EVERY PROJECT AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN NEW THINGS AND IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS.
 9. MORE AND MORE PAINT COMPANIES ARE GOING TO WATER BASED PAINTS.  IF  YOU BUY A NEW EXPENSIVE GUN MAKE SURE IT WILL TAKE THOSE WHICH MEANS  STAINLESS STEEL CONSTRUCTION.  THERE STILL ARE LOW V.O.C. PAINTS THAT  ARE OIL BASED.  I USED A CLEAR COAT RECENTLY.
 10. ALWAYS CLEAN YOUR GUN AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. BE CAREFUL WITH  WATER BASED PAINTS.  OIL BASED SOLVENTS AND THINNERS MAKE THEM CONGEAL  INTO A GOOEY MESS.

As you can see from my approach you can spray paint well with a  minimum of equipment.  Choose your paint according to the importance of  your project.  Remember all the work you put into getting it ready.   Good luck.

 Jim


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## Tony Wells (Jul 29, 2012)

Great writeup. Thanks for posting it. A lot of good points made there.


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## jgedde (Jul 29, 2012)

Modela,

Great post!  Can you offer some good suggestions for general purpose, two part paints that won't break the bank and is readily available?  How about epoxy paints?

Thanks,
John


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## modela (Jul 29, 2012)

I would try several.  Eastwood carries quite a few 2-part urethane primers and finishes.  Also try Summit Racing, TCP Global. 

You probably have a local auto-body finish place that can provide different finishes.  

The epoxy finishes I used in the two examples were purchased online.  Epoxy primers are easier to get than epoxy colors.  Epoxy color finishes are harder to find and available in fewer colors. They were pretty expensive because they were specialty finishes.  PP&G carries some.   Top Secret Coatings has some in limited colors.  http://www.topsecretcoatings.com/cstore/pc/viewcategoriesIndustrial.asp?idCategory=77 

I usually take a look at the price per quart and if it is a color I use I will pick up a larger amount, like black and red. or clear.  By using the paint for several projects it cuts down the per project cost.  

The finish on the wine press is forty years old.  It is an epoxy.


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## Rbeckett (Jul 29, 2012)

Holy cow!!!  Modela,
Thanks for a super down and dirty how-to!!!!  Complete, accurate and manageable even for a learner.  I think if this process was repeated throughout the shop I would have a show place.  I especially liked the primer on 2 part epoxy and prep.  Great job.
Bob


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## jfcayron (Jul 30, 2012)

modela said:


> The epoxy finishes I used in the two examples were purchased online



I just ordered some ID Yellow from http://www.klasskote.com/

As soon as I have any results to show, I will post here.


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## modela (Jul 30, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the comments.  I spruced up the article a little.  

Pass on your results. Especially helpful are quality paints and sources.  Painting is an ongoing learning lesson.

Jim


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