Good paint guns and paints??

[Cmnky16]

Ok, my sister wrecked my moms beater, 95 Cougar XR-7 V8. She hit a fire hydrant and took out the bumper skin, bumper support, radiator, radiator support, and the dampner/pulley off the front of the engine. We got a new bumper skin, radiator, support, fan, and dampner/pulley, and we are in the process of getting a new bumper support. When i say new i mean junkyard new. The bumper has a crack in a very inconspicuous area but it was cheap. What is the best/strongest way to fix this broken bumper? What kind of paint should we use? What type of paint gun? We plan on doing it our selves because she just wants to keep the miles down on her truck and she is not too concerned about the looks. The car would probably be considered totaled but she wants to ix it b/c she just got the tranny rebuilt. Also, the car has a two-tone paint job, with the bottom blending to the top w/ vinyl stripes. is there any way to get custom matching vinyl? I can show pictures if anyone wants to see them.

[Stephen's GA]

On paint i cant recomend a brand i personally only use dupont and house of kolor but the type id recomend is a single stage base meaning the air dries it you dont have to mess with hardener and a single stage clear. Now gun brand i dont know ive used many my favorite is this gravity fed gun that i payed $50 brand new central pheumatic prob spelt wrong but it is a awesome gun you could also go with a regualr gun they work just as well.

[tankspring]

for the gun, if you can get a air assited airless(pot and pressure lines) you are set.

[Stephen's GA]

Those are good guns but they are expensive the cheapest one i ever found was 280 he could actually get away with using a Conventional Pressure Feed Spray Gun they are the easiest to set and spray. HVLP guns are hard to set you have many setting and for someone who has never used one they are a pain to set but you use less paint and get less overspray. But honestly you could go to walmart and buy you a Campbell Hausfeld coventional spray gun for like $48.00 and they work great.

[99GrandAMSE]

... as with most things, you get what you pay for :)

[Stephen's GA]

Not totally true I have a devilbliss conventional gun $250 I went and got a campbells gun for $50 for primer and i ended up liking the campbells better and it seems to have lasted a little longer and plus the rebuild kit for my devilbliss is 65$ so id come out cheaper just buying another campbell but i really only use siphon fed guns for primer and hvlp for spraying bases and clear.

[JoeyK]

Originally posted by 99grandamse
... as with most things, you get what you pay for :)

TOTALLY TRUE! I have used just about everythign under the sun & have found that the Sata lineup is the absolute best, bar none. I've painted IRL, Cart & one Nascar, along w/ dozens of custom jobs, not to mention basic paintjobs & the Sata K3 if "The" paint gun to have if your a serious painter. It doesn't come cheap at $750, but when other suckers are wetsanding to smoothe up thier paintjob I'm sittin back & grinnin! That's right, it lays it down that smooth. I've screwed up & got my mixture too hot & ended up buffing a little but very very rarely have I had to wet sand! You can litterally lay down urethane that looks like glass w/ a little practice w/ it. Best $750 I ever spent. (I actually have 2 of them, as I often use one for my singlestages & one for my blending clear when I'm doing spot jobs)
A good basic quality gun that anyone can afford is the Devilbiss 503 & 530. They're the top gun of yesteryear but still very noteworthy. You can pick them up new at arond $200 to $250 if you look around, or even cheaper on e bay used.

Now onto the questions... Use Kent chemweld ep, it's designed for repairing the damage you have (thermoplastics repair) or the equivelent, I believe Fusor also has a compairable product, along w/ several other companies. For paint, don't waste you time w/ one shots & lacquers & enamels, they will crack & peel eventualy. Sure, there's flex additives but they aren't a sure thing. Use what was put on your car in the 1st place, there's a reason for it. Your car is painted w/ Urethane- it's actually of plastic composition & will remain flexible, no worries about putting it on a plastic bumper. For your paint code, go to your trunk & look on the underside of your spare tire cover, you should find it there.

4got 2 mention, if anyone is interested in the Sata K3, get the 1.4 needle & cap on it. That's where the secret lies, the cap has 10 airholes & really atomizes the paint, thus giving you an ultra smoothe coat!

[JoeyK]

Originally posted by Stephen's GA
Not totally true I have a devilbliss conventional gun $250 I went and got a campbells gun for $50 for primer and i ended up liking the campbells better and it seems to have lasted a little longer and plus the rebuild kit for my devilbliss is 65$ so id come out cheaper just buying another campbell but i really only use siphon fed guns for primer and hvlp for spraying bases and clear.

You can get hvlp siphon fed guns just as well as you can get hvlp gravity feed. Wy would you have to worry about rebuild? If you keep em clean & treat em w/ respect Devilbiss' will go some 5 to 10 years w/out needing a rebuild. The only place I ever rebuilt much was when I worked a night job at a factory, there they abused the hell out of em & didn't keep em clean. I can see however, haveing to rebuild a Cambell, they are not even close to being precision made, many of them have the needle dragging in the tip & wearing it out in no time. Not to mention the trigger handle & air & fluid adjustment knobs.

[99GrandAMSE]

... I was waiting for your comments Joey :)

[Stephen's GA]

Good info but for us non pro's its just info. I dont think he's looking to do this for a living LOL so he really only needs a one time gun, paint you bring up some valuable points but what about the person who understands none of the one to ratio or 3 to 1 and so on he prob be better off with some sorta 1 step paint even if he goes with an imron paint base, clear, hardener mixed together thats the paint ive also used on my vehicles and boats and it provideds the hardest most durable surfaces espicially on fiberglass it doesnt seem to chip real easy like regular paint does but anyways good info.

[JoeyK]

Yes, but on a thermoplastic bumper urethane should be used. if anyone has any problems w/ the mixture just pm me & I'll help you out. it's very easy once it's explained to you. get me the product numbers & manufacturer & I'll give you the correct mixture info.

[JoeyK]

By the way, I was just pointing out that you really do get what you pay for. I know this guy wouldn't want to go out & drop $750 on a Sata. But also, if you use one shot I garuntee you it'll split & crack the 1st winter. Same goes for lacquer & a 50/50 chance on enamel w/ "flex additive"

[Jordus]

hmmm *scratches head*


i beleive ill be consulting Joey when i go to buy some painting materials ;)

[tankspring]

As much as I hate em, star guns are a lot cheaper than devilbliss, and its cheaper to replace a star than it is to rebuild a db. I find the db guns just have a lot of probs leaking in the packing nut, but thats probably the MEK we use to clean 'em.

I dont do cars though, my speciality is military equipment, 383 and 686'n Lavs. Heh, you really notice how good a hvlp is when your spraying SW 686 tan

[JoeyK]

Uh, those packing nuts are polyester & wax. Methal Ethal Keytone will destroy them. The last I knew, MEK was being controlled by the government. Do you guys have another use for it besides cleaning? -Be Aware- That stuff is extremely cancerous both in liquid & vapor form! I use Acetone, which is less of a health threat & cleans just about as good.
Never heard of a star, guess I havn't painted w/ everyting;-) I'll hafta check em out. Doubt if I'd have a use for them but I'm curious, never seen or heard of one.

[tankspring]

Im in Canada, MEK is a little less controlled here, just like hexavalent chromate(vinyl wash). Its kinda sad at my work, one girl in the prep dept was pregnant, splashing mek everywhere. She was told she should leave work early for maternity leave but wouldnt.

If you have any good info on mek, id apreciate seeing it. Im on the safety comittee at work and i hate the stuff. Id like to see us switch over to onsolv, but everyone says it just doesnt have the cutting power.

But then again, thats why we are in buisness, doing the dirty word for general dynamics i guess.

[JoeyK]

Wish I still had a material Saftey Data sheet on it. I was a union stewart & also on the saftey counsel when I painted in a factory a while. Well, I painted some. I did more training of painters & building & rebuilding equipment, mixing/ tinting paint, lab testing the paints, Hazardous waste handleing & disposal etc. But ya, MEK is bad news. You can't get it here w/out a permit. & you gotta have a darn good reason to be useing it also. That poor girl is/was lucky if her child came out w/out any birth defects! Some of the immediate effects of ever exposer is dizzyness, fainting, nasty headaches & severe nosebleeds. The chemical can build up in your blood & overtime become lethal. Which can result in cancer & or blood poisening.
I'm unsure of Canadien law but here in the states you get Material Saftey Data sheets which tell you all the ingredients & health risks of any chemical you buy.

[GA1999]

Yeah....MEK is bad news. 10X worse than acetone as far as carcinogens go. We use it at work to clean parts (we make electronic board assemblies for defense contractors). However, we always have to wear nitrile gloves and work with it in a ventilated hood, as it is required by OSHA and our safety handbook. If I were you....I'd find something a little less toxic to clean your gun with.

[Stephen's GA]

Not to make light of yalls subject but im only 24 and im pretty much screwed for life if i live past 50 without getting cancer God has some sort of big plan for me. Ive been exposed to long hrs of resin vapor,paint vapor, and plenty of other vapors plus i worked with asbestos prob spelt wrong and to top it off my Parents owned a ranch that was surrounded by uranium pits semi covered but still active and we lived on this rach swam in the pits that were suppose to be dead that werent for 8yrs we bought a house in the city but the exposure had already occured plus my county has the highest content of radiation than any other county in the US. We dont need a light to read at night we glow LOL

[JoeyK]

Dude, don't you wear a mask when working w/ fiberglass & or painting? Or is it kinda of a lost cause you think? That's one thing I was taught early on/ to be very cautious & wear the masks, even though t"hey are a pain in the a$$ at times. As an old dupont rep told me once. Take care of yourself & heed the warnings, I have yet to meet a retired painter" The old timers in the body business were very carefree & most have paid the price for it. People in the industry are now curious how the new generation will do since they are more educated on the subject & assumibly most wear protective equipment now.
Anyways, that sucks that you were exposed to hazardous materials as a child whcih is a time in your life when you'd never even thnk such a thing could be occuring. Keep your fingers crossed, look at George Burns, that old ba$tard lived forever chainsmokeing cigars!