Paint Facilities

[Dick B in KY]

While most of us don't have access to downdraft paint booths with shielded lighting and one hundred gallon air supply tanks, I would like to get an idea of how builders painted their completed aircraft and the facilities they used-ie basement, one/two/three car garage, work shop/out building, etc. Also, what did you think of your results (we all like to think they are show winners), and what would you do differently if you did it again?

Just curious as I prepare to do some painting.

Thanks,
Dick B

[Dorsal]

I used Poly-Tone, painted in my basement, built plastic walls and used a shop air cleaner to provide ventilation. Some fumes permeated the house resulting in some warranted grief. Painting was easy and the results seem good, if I where to do it again I would look into the Stewart System. I painted as I went which suited me well, I finished the wings, painted them and put them away before covering the fuselage.

[Agfoxflyer]

Dick, I bought a 10 x 20 temporary carport with metal frame and tarp roof. Over this I applied 2 layers of 6 mil poly. I had lights and fan ventilation. When summer came I borrowed a 3 ton AC unit because of the humid summers in Atlanta area. This was located away from the house, but when I painted or covered my wife knew it. I thoroughly enjoyed the covering process ( I used poly-Fiber), but the painting was the least favorite of the entire build process. ( I used aerothane). I do not have a Grand Champion paint job but was satisfied with final result. Just took longer than I had anticipated. If I were to do it again I would look into Stewart System also. My brother and I just finished an RV-9A and I told him early on I had painted my first and last airplane.One piece of advise, if you think you need 5 lights in your paint shop, install ten! You cannot have enough.

[carsonvbaker]

Built a 2x2 frame in half of a 2 car garage. Covered with clear poly. Sealed carefully (no leaks), installed paint booth filters in one end and paint booth exhaust fan (sealed) in the other. Used Polyfiber system. Installed many lights above (outside booth), still not enough light. Best light came during daytime through man door on side of garage - tried to shoot into reflection whenever possible. Took my time painting - over a year to cover and paint.

Note: Used many furnace filters to strip overspray from exhaust - neighbors were kind, did not complain much...... Oh, get yourself a quality paint gun and, if you have a beard like me, a forced air breathing system. (Obviously you'll want that breathing system anyway if shooting Aerothane)

Vic

[Dick B in KY]

Thanks for the replys. I have proceeded a little bit of all of your ways. Good to know that I'm in the ballpark. One of these days I'll have some pictures in a album.

Dick B

[ken nougaret]

am i asking for an explosion if i use box fans as an exhaust for a homemade paint booth when spraying poly-brush, poly-spray, and poly-tone?
ken

[Flybyjim]

I have been painting airplanes for several years, lacquering brass instruments for the past 30 years, box fans are a no-no. You and your family's live's are worth every penny you spend for an explosive-proof exhaust fan. Try Grangers or check at your local electrical supply house. I use a variable speed fan in each spray room to control the draft of air flow depending on the size of the job, air temp and type paint being used. My main room is 12X24, I use a 1 hp fan 24 inch dia. blade. While were talking explosions what type lights are you using inside the room. If you have a light with a switch and it is not explosion proof you could have the same problem. If your doing a plastic room and it is airtight so to speak try keeping the lights outside the room. Plastic sheets will help defuse the light and you can see well as long as you are pulling the over spray out of the room.
Just one persons thoughts.
Jim

[n85ae]

Garage with the door wide open on a very quiet still morning, with Aerothane.
That's how I painted mine, and it's a very nice looking paint
job.

My personal opinion is that home made spray booths are as prone to problems
as spraying without anything ... If there's not much airborne crud while you
are spraying, then the little bit that gets in the paint buffs out easily later.

I knew a guy that painted a lot of cars, and was really good, and he said -
"you can paint with a broom in a dust storm as long as you rub it out later".
It sounds crude, BUT I believe it is a very accurate statement.

Too much effort to make a Class 5 clean room for painting in, it's a waste of
time really. 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

[rosslr]

hey Ken,

I have just built a spray booth of plastic in one corner of the hanger - my main reason was to keep the spray contained - and the fumes. It works really well at that. I too was worried about the explosion risk so went for a blower that has a 5 m duct on it. The actual blower sits out of the booth near the front door of the hanger and I put and louvre exhaust vent in the other end of the booth to vent outside. The booth is not airtight so I need to prop the louvres open when spraying but it works well. As for lights - that worries me too so I have them on the outside now as per Jim's suggestion.

And a very good respirator is essential with double filters and disposal cartridges - cant smell a thing in there! And Googles go over my glasses as well!

cheers

RossMt Beauty
OZ

[avidflyer]

I've painted 2 airplanes with poly fiber system (not aerothane though) in a 16X 24 garage stall. I have plastic attached to the ceiling that can be and is rolled up and tied out of the way when not in use. (makes about a 6" circle) Room ends up being about 12'X22' Have a filter in window on the opposite end from the overhead door which I blocked up about 18" with a 20" box fan in the center of the opening and plywood on the sides. The fan moves enough air that I don't think there is any danger of explosion. You can't even see any spray in the air when you quit spraying. I used a cheap harbor freight gun and the planes came out fine. Jim Chuk

[HighWing]

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.

[Paul Z]

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.

[kmach]

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.

[n85ae]

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

[n85ae]

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.


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.

[MotReklaw]

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….

[HighWing]

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

[n85ae]

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



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.

[HighWing]

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.

[n85ae]

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

Regards,
Jeff

[rosslr]

I took these photos the other day when this thread was still active - but forgot to post them. Maybe still relevant for some. You can see the lights on the outside of the plastic spray booth as well as the blower that sits well outside the booth and blows air into the booth.

cheers

Ross
Mt Beauty
OZ