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Thread: Paint Facilities

  1. #11
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    My airplane was painted in my - attached to home - hangar. Reading some of today's posts gives me pause as to how i vented it. Anyway, the structure was made of 1" PVC pipe large enough to accommodate the wings and fuselage. For ventilation air in, I used four furnace filters taped to the forward side walls and a large circular fan that blew over spray and fumes out through a fan sized tube made of the same 6 mil plastic that covered the four walls, ceiling and floor - didn't want yellow all over my hangar floor. The exhaust tube went to a hole in a panel I made that fit the back window to exit to the outside. For lighting I bought several - eight, I think - inexpensive two tube fluorescent fixtures. Four were on the outside top and two each were on the outside sides. I may have survived the explosion by putting a box with the switches for all the electrical on the outside and lighting and fan were controlled by the external switches. Rightfully or wrongfully, I figured that because the fan motor was brushless, there would be no sparks in the vent flow - reason for the outside power switches. The power was turned on before painting started and turned off about a half hour after painting stopped.

    I believe air temps are critical for a nice finish. I think if you looked at my airplane, you could tell which sections were painted the earliest in the morning and those that were done when the temps start warming up. When it warms up a bit, the orange peel effect begins.

    This thread is really timely for me as I just finished painting the elevator project for my friend. Everything went flawlessly until the finish coat on the top of the elevator - yes the top. I was painting outside very early in the morning before the bugs wake up, but on the top, it was a week or two after the other coats and bottom finish coats and the time was perfect for the neighbor's Birch tree to begin shedding those irritating little seeds with the round wings.

    What saved me was the inexpensive garden Gazebo I had put up this spring. I hadn't finished the project as the weather was too warm to work on it, but with the mosquito netting it came with, it provided a very nice outside paint booth naturally ventilated and the lighting was superb. Not quite big enough for a wing or fuselage, but it might work if the exposed part of the wing or fuselage was down wind - at least for the wind borne Birch spawn.
    Lowell Fitt
    Goodyear, AZ


    My You Tube Channel

  2. #12
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    I would highly recommend some form of booth, ventilation, filtration along with a particulate mask. First if you paint in a garage without a booth every one is inhaling fumes, yoursel, your spouse, you children, your grand children, an pets. I personally would hate to cause anyone life long heath problems. I also know a couple of painter, that have an will always have respiratory problems from inhaling noxious fumes. I personally painted cars when I was going to College. I remember doing one in the bay of the shops garage, I later found myself sitting on the floor with one miserable headache. I have never painted since. Just my 2 bit comment.
    Last edited by Paul Z; 09-14-2014 at 10:16 PM.
    Paul Zimmermann
    LSRM-A
    Garland, Texas

  3. #13
    Senior Member kmach's Avatar
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    Quote Originally Posted by n85ae View Post


    As long as a moth doesn't land in the paint (and EVEN if one does)
    you can buff it all out easily later.

    Regards,
    Jeff Hays
    HI,
    What method did you use to buff out problems ? Details of products used appreciated .
    I did some touch up with aerothane and have some lines and bumps to smooth out.
    Kevin,

    Kitfox Outback
    912 ULS
    Airmaster AP332CTFH-WWR70W
    Summit Aircraft Wheel Skis
    C-FOXW

  4. #14
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    I think it's kind of a common sense thing, if it is dead calm and no bugs
    flying around, you can paint in your driveway ... If you have a lot of airborne
    crud, it's going to get in the paint. The real issue is, what kind of crud is it?
    minor bits of dust WILL come right out with rubbing compound, a tree leaf
    is another problem ...

    If you paint the plane mostly white, nobody will ever see anything in the
    paint no matter how bad a job you do ... Go look at a white airplane in the
    sunlight if you don't believe me ...

    If you paint it black everybody will see every microscopic blemish ...

    I would likely use the "Assilex" abrasive system, and follow it with various
    rubbing/polishing compounds if I did Aerothane today. I previously did it with
    600-1200 grit wet/dry paper, and Meguiar's rubbing compounds in various
    grits. At the time I painted N85AE I did the entire thing with a Dewalt variable
    speed drill and a chuck mounted pad. It worked fine.

    It's not rocket science, pretty much ANY paint if you can level it out post
    spraying, brushing, or rolling, with an abrasive system and polish it later can be
    made to look good with some buffing.

    The irony, is that EVEN if you do a great job spraying, it will most likely require
    final polishing anyway to get it to look really good, and whether you did an
    excellent spray job, or just a decent spray job - This work at the end is about
    the same.

    So if I am doing it, then I don't really care about the spray booth concept, as
    I think it just complicates the process for me. However, IF I had access to
    a professional spray booth (I don't) I would not hesitate to use it. In any
    case you don't need a spray booth to get a great paint job.

    Regards,
    Jeff

  5. #15
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    I'm not sure you can get a newly sprayed section to blend completely with
    Aerothane, BUT you might be able to get the line edge to mostly vanish and not
    be so noticeable. The "Assilex" abrasive system is really nice, my 80 year old
    Dad builds guitars as a hobby, and he gets a mirror finish on them with it. I'm
    pretty impressed with the stuff.

    Quote Originally Posted by kmach View Post
    HI,
    What method did you use to buff out problems ? Details of products used appreciated .
    I did some touch up with aerothane and have some lines and bumps to smooth out.

  6. #16
    Senior Member MotReklaw's Avatar
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    Dick, we used Stewarts System and applied 4-6 cross coats over 6 fill coats. At the end the paint seemed to flow and make a mirror finish. No buffing.

    We also bought a Devilbiss Finishline sprayer as recommended by Stewart's. We had a simple exhaust fan to pull "most" of the overspray out.

    We bought the polyfiber chemicals to get the plane ready to paint. It all came with our kit. I gave some of the chemicals away.

    All in all, the Stewart's System worked well for us. We painted insignia white and I think a gallon was about 185.00. I may be wrong on that price but it's what I remember.

    We were, and still are, novices at painting, but I would choose the Stewart's again….

    Good luck….
    Last edited by MotReklaw; 09-15-2014 at 09:12 AM. Reason: add additional info
    Tommy Walker in Alabama

  7. #17
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    I agree completely with Jeff. You might try your local auto paint store. They will have sand paper to 2000 grit and higher. The typical rubbing compounds will give a somewhat satin appearance, but the "Glazing" compounds will give the mirror shine. The only one I could find was a 3M product that was for machine - foam pad - polishing. I was reluctant to use an electric buffer because of the edges of the finish tapes. I felt a machine could take down through the finish to the Polyspray in an instant giving an ugly gray pinked edge and a ruined day feeling. I tried the compound by hand rubbing using scraps from a T-shirt as a pad and it works fine - perfect mirror look.

    Thoughts on repairing Aerothane. This from forums in times past. If masking, run the masking tape around the repair area and then roll the inner edge of the tape up and away from the surface. This will creage a shallow V at the edge and spray paint doesn't like to go into tight spaces. it will eliminate the hard mask line. Another tip I have heard is to have two spray guns. One with the finish paint and another with Urethane reducer. After spraying the repair, hit the over spray areas with the reducer and it will melt the over spray drops and blend them to the surface. I have used the technique but can't give a strong opinion as to it's effectiveness in large repairs. I did use it when finishing the elevator when temps warmed up a bit and was starting to get a bit of orange peel. It flattened the the surface nicely. Consider this was an elevator flat on the stand. Be careful if trying the tecnique on the side of a fuselage where runs could develop
    Lowell Fitt
    Goodyear, AZ


    My You Tube Channel

  8. #18
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    A Gazebo is seriously a great idea Lowell for painting smaller stuff.

    Quote Originally Posted by HighWing View Post
    What saved me was the inexpensive garden Gazebo I had put up this spring. I hadn't finished the project as the weather was too warm to work on it, but with the mosquito netting it came with, it provided a very nice outside paint booth naturally ventilated and the lighting was superb. Not quite big enough for a wing or fuselage, but it might work if the exposed part of the wing or fuselage was down wind - at least for the wind borne Birch spawn.

  9. #19
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    I have been helping a neighbor replace the windows on his Bonanza. A good time to take a picture of my $300 Paint booth. Note the Birch tree in the background. Note the California Drought in the foreground.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Lowell Fitt
    Goodyear, AZ


    My You Tube Channel

  10. #20
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    Default Re: Paint Facilities

    That's awesome! Half the list is probably laughing thinking you're nuts, but
    this really seems a great idea to me.

    Regards,
    Jeff

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