That sounds good, but I know absolutely nothing about mixing and spraying paint. What is hardener and reducer. What do they do, how do they work, how do you decide how much to use? I would guess hardener changes the drying time of the paint. What does reducer do? reduces what?
Sorry for the questions, but I've had a spray gun for a while and only used it for mold release, never paint.
I’m going to jump into this thread with another question: How about primer? Is there an airbrush or HVLP equivalent to Rusto filler/sandable primer?
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The paint alone wont dry without a hardener. It might in 10 years after turning into goo for so long, but the hardener is what basically activates the paint. There are two kinds though. One is called "wet look" and that's for a super glossy finish. The other won't be glossy. Just a hardener. The reducer is because the paint is raw (so to speak) and needs to be thinned down or it will be too thick to spray. The mix ratios I mentioned earlier are for an airbrush and may not be the right mix for other types of sprayers. Consult the paint guy at NAPA and he should point you in the right direction. My guy got me the right reducer to use but failed to tell me about the different hardeners. I found that out the hard way. Also, mix what you know you can use up that day. That stuff will start to set up overnight even if tightly sealed.
Thanks so much for the explanation. I had never heard that before but it now makes so much sense. So the paint is kind of like epoxy. It won't harden without the hardener, but it will also harden if it's sealed up because it's a chemical thing...
The reducer is just a thinner to make it spray right. Too much and it will be a mist that doesn't get to the surface, too little and it will clog the gun!
i can't expect anyone to tell me exactly how much of each to use, but now that i know what they do, I can play around and figure it out!
Thanks.....
I have gotten much better results with a really cheap airbrush (if you are just using the airbrush in place of rattle cans and are just using it to apply color without any special effects, a cheap external mix Badger is sufficient) than with rattle cans. I would suggest using a compressor rather than the cans - the can will chill VERY quickly and the pressure will drop drastically when it does. A compressor avoids that problem, but cheaper compressors can "pulse' when they spray giving uneven results.
<snip> I paint in my garage year round using this high-tech (cheap) setup:<snip>
That's a nifty little paint booth! But it only solves the ventilation part of the problem for winter painting. My garage is not heated and poorly insulated, so when it's 15F-20F outside as it has been lately, the garage might be barely above freezing. We're hoping to buy a new house in the next year, so I'm not going to invest in any improvements until after I move.
I always see comments in these types of threads asking about paint booths, or people saying that they can't wait for it to warm up so they can get outside to paint. I paint in my garage year round using this high-tech (cheap) setup:
View attachment 338412
Two heavy duty moving boxes - 18" x 18" x 24" - inverted. A couple rivets in the side and back and I can slide the box up and down to change size of the working environment.
I've used these same boxes for three years now - the more you use it, the stronger the boxes get. (and when it's time to move you don't feel bad tossing out your $3 boxes and buying new ones later)
There's a 6" duct starting collar at the top to which I have 6" ducting that runs to a blower.
I tape a furnace filter to the inside top box to help filter paint particulates. I order 12 packs of filters pretty cheaply from Lowes or HomeDepot.
View attachment 338413
The blower is rated for 650cfm and is bolted to my garage wall and vents outside. (In my last house it vented through a window from my basement workroom) It's a good industrial grade blower that I picked on Ebay a few years ago; it had a damaged flange, which didn't matter to me, so I got it cheap-ish (<$100).
The ducting going to the paint booth slips off the top collar of the booth and can be positioned above my workbench to vent epoxy fumes and fiberglass/wood dust when I'm working.
This blower is one of the best investments I made in this hobby.
I control the cfm on this blower through a Variac AC voltage regulator - you don't always want it to suck full strength
View attachment 338411
I've also seen similar setups using those portable wardrobes with the plastic zippered covers.
Hope this is helpful.
-brant
Doyou use automotive paint? If so what type do you like best? And if one wanted avery durable paint what do you recommend?
I don't use automotive paints. I know there are a few builders here that use them and really like them. I just haven't tried them yet. I do most of my paintings with Createx Colors - mostly Wicked Colors and Auto Air because they're water based and easy clean-up...
Actually, Auto Air is an automotive paint (hence the name).
real automotive paints require hardeners or catalysts to achieve a hard, durable finish.
That said, there are flyers on this forum that use real automotive paints because it provides that hard, durable finish to their rocket. It looks really good. I've thought about trying it sometime, but I really like the easy water clean-up of the paints I use now - and applying the hard clear coat afterwards is just one extra step.
It's not fun working in a cold garage. My last garage (in Massachusetts) wasn't finished or insulated so in the winter I did most of my light work in the basement (including painting). But sometimes I needed to cut/sand fiberglass or wood and needed to do that in the garage. I used one of those forced air propane heaters and it worked really well for making it comfortable work space. I bought one of these.
View attachment 338504
They're rated for safe use in unfinished spaces where there's drafts. I still installed a CO detector at the back of my garage, but never had an issue with it. They heat up the space super fast.
There are two ways you can go with the use of auto paints. Some require a clear coat for a final finish. I use the acrylic enamels. Hardener and reducer are all mixed together with the paint and it's a 1 step painting procedure. The hardener is available in 2 forms. One is simply a hardener and the other is a "wet look". The wet look will give you that shiny finish without having to apply it later. I'm not sure how many colors are available in this water based paint you use, but automotive paints have tons of colors and shades, metallic, metal flake, neon and so on. There are other choices in colors that can't use the wet look hardener and require a gloss finish afterward. Sure, it's not as easy to clean up, but I'm not limited to just a dozen or so colors either.
From what little I know there are more than 100 or so different colors readily available from Creatix. there is a good mix of colors, neon/fluorescent, pearl, candy colors, transparent colors are all available. they don't however seem to have any military colors like OD green, grays or desert tans. They seem more geared toward the brilliant colors.
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