Painting in a small shop

rbl2

Well-Known Member
I'm far from ready to paint my 26 Chevy yet but I am getting closer. I was reading about auto painting a few days ago and the writer, supposedly a retired pro, said NEVER to paint in a small shop but he did not say why. He may have been thinking of ventilation.

My shop is 14 x 27. My car is not large at all. On the sides I have 3' clearance and the front and rear have about 6-7'. There would be more room on the sides but I added shelving. The ceiling is 12' if I remember correctly. There is a single 3'0" window on the west side and two 3'0" windows on the south side. The garage door, 9'0", faces the east. There is an entrance door on the north side. While it is unheated it is insulated very well and easy to bring up to 70+ degrees on a cold day using a kerosene space heater.

What would be the problems with painting my car in that shop? Any special precautions I should take besides a resperator? Should I wait until warmer weather to paint the car or would using the kerosene heater be ok?

Thanks in advance.

Bill
 
Painting in a small shop, yeah! its done all the time but it has special extra challenges
from what Ive been told, (I don,t do this exceptionally well myself, but Ive had very good results with freinds helping me) you need to have BOTH adequate ventilation, AND youll need to have room to kneel and have the spray gun at the correct distance from the car to get the correct paint dispersion as its used to sweep at different angles,
now in a smaller shop hanging large sheets of plastic over the tools & equipment thats not being used to prevent over spray damage and placing the correct multi directional lighting so you get few shadows and having adequate ventilation plus having the required room to work is usually a major challenge.
your body prep work, and surface conditions on the car are critical, and its MANDATORY that your air source uses DRY air as ANY moisture with SCREW UP the results.
most of my friends have carefully measured the car, added about 5 feet to each side of the car dimensions and then used pvc pipe or wood as a frame and used plastic sheet, and duct tape as the sides , roof and ends of the temporary spray booth they built like a green house in their back yards, but only selected reasonably windless , dry days with temperatures above about 70F, to paint the cars.
be very aware that the paint mist and paint,itself is a potential major fire hazard in some cases so you don,t want to have anything near bye that could ignite the misted paint
be aware that breathing the misted paint can be a huge medical risk, so youll need the proper filtered breathing mask, not just those stupid plastic mesh cups like the medical pharmacy sells

each gun design will require a different PSI and CFM flow rating and that should be in the documentation when you buy the gun or the local auto paint retailer can give you a good idea,but painting a car is not generally a place where massive pressure and high flow rates are needed, generally a steady 45-60 psi of 6.5-8 cfm is all thats required


http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... marketID=2

as always theres a good deal of related info in the links YOULL WANT TO READ THRU! IF YOU EXPECT TO DO THE JOB CORRECTLY

http://www.easypaintyourcar.com/

http://books.google.com/books?id=T2X1uG ... ar&f=false

http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/Painting.html

http://www.graffiti.org/faq/masks.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlD6S_g2-xM

http://www.spraypaintsecrets.com/index2.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hufvs97N ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxoOug0w ... re=related

http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/june2008/collision.htm

http://www.learnautopainting.com/

http://www.scif.com/safety/safetymeetin ... icleID=110

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/booths. ... nAodSCOYKA

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-di ... -paint.htm

http://www.scottgrundfor.com/ideas/paint3.html

http://bobstory.tripod.com/faq.html

http://www.yourepair.com/2009/04/25/how ... paint.html

http://www.yourepair.com/2008/08/21/und ... oices.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Paint-with-a-Com ... ir-Sprayer

http://www.ehow.com/how_4493219_use-spr ... t-gun.html

http://www.onlinetips.org/compressed-ai ... /spray-gun

http://www.discount-paint-spray-guns.co ... nAodqlyu_w

http://www.team-integra.net/forum/displ ... cID=172742

http://www.ehow.com/way_5635735_diy-car ... booth.html

ONE HUGE FACTOR is supplying the spray gun with a consistent supply of DRY AIR at a constant pressure
failure to supply a gun with DRY AIR at a constant pressure will usually result in a defective paint application



now ID freely admit IM no expert with painting cars, but having done a couple paint jobs over the years , Ill point out from experience that if you'll be painting in your home garage the weather conditions, temperature, moisture in the air and WHERE you paint the car DOES effect the results and paint mist WILL get all over the place if you don,t take proper precautions like building a spray area with good ventilation but also good lighting, and youll want top cover EVERYTHING including the floor and ceiling in an area youll use in a home garage to paint your car, youll need room to back away from the car to get the correct distance and angles to spray from, and the prep work has a HUGE effect on your potential results

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=24
 
I have an ample wood supply, visquene, and the skills to build a small and temporary paint booth. That has already crossed my mind.

I am also aware of moisture in the air lines causing problems. To that end I have a filter at the compressor and and another on the paint gun.

I have a high dollar mask that I got from a paint store. It has disposable filters. My son is the one with the experience in this area and he says it is a good one but it does not have air to it. Unfortunately he will not be available to do the actual painting for me. That's ok too as I get to say I painted the car myself. :D

Unless it turns out crappy. :( Then I'll have to find someone else to blame while I do it all over again.

As far as body prep goes I'll take my time. I figure if every time I think I have a spot done correctly I can take a rattle can with a dark paint in it and spray the spot in question. Dark paint because the final color will be a dark blue body and black fenders. Hopefully if there are any flaws they will show up then. Then I can sand that paint off, primer over that spot again and be ready for painting.

I have time yet. Although there will be days with temps in the 70's between now and March I still have some body work to do and hinges to fabricate. I can wait until March or April to paint the car when the temps will be consistently above 70.
 
http://www.p2pays.org/ref/09/08058.htm

http://www.learnautopainting.com/your_q ... swered.htm

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/tech ... index.html

http://www.autobody101.com/

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/cheap_aut ... index.html

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... tips1.html

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/ccrp_0511 ... _tips.html

http://www.purplesagetradingpost.com/su ... aygun.html

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/hvlp_ ... basics.htm

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/toolaircompressor

http://www.chpower.com/chpdfs/catalogs/ ... ayGuns.pdf

http://www.nordson.com/NR/rdonlyres/9CA ... QR0636.pdf

http://www.thebugshop.org/bsfqpnt.htm

http://www.dealtime.com/-low+cfm+spray+paint+gun

7581.jpg
 
I ran a body shop for years before selling to concentrate on the upholstery business. When the car is completely prepped, back it out, go in and blow the every inch of the shop out with an air hose. Let it settle, then wet all the walls and floor but not the ceiling, obviously, with water. Let that sit for half an hour or so, then pull the car in, wipe with a clean tack rag and get to work.
 
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