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Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:28 am

splitty_smile wrote: Patrick199 wrote: Yes!! Another driveway paint job!

Just in case you plan on removing the red overspray that is most definitely all over your glass, try doing it with a rag and some reducer (acetone, lacquer thinner) before you start scratching the shit out of your windows with a dull razor blade. It will also come off easier if you do it right away. Don't wait for it to cure on the glass.

Another way to do it is a trick I learned spray painting crappy looking American cars. use tape to mask the window molding, then spray the window with Pam cooking spray or spray a rag with it and wipe it across the window.
Cool- I haven't even started the top yet. The roof and sides needs to be sanded and primed. I'll spend more time there.
Here's my own little tip for windows- tape the gaskets and moulding. Use about three coats of Rain-X on the windows. Remove the over the over spay with a plastic putty knife, over spray comes right off. :)

Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:11 pm

I love the painting threads. I know I will be either inspired or horrified, and frequently both. My bus needs some bodywork and paint and I have no experience so I read these carefully. I know that I am not going o a professional job, the question is just how low I will go. Rattle can? Foam rollers and Rustoleum? Prime it myself with a rattle can and take it to Maaco?

I love these threads.

Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:05 pm

I've seen this on TV and at the FLAPS, looks like it may be an easy to use system.

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/paintshop.html

Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:25 pm

kkirwin wrote: I've seen this on TV and at the FLAPS, looks like it may be an easy to use system.

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/paintshop.html

Heh. Look at the blue Probe. Orange peel hell!

Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:33 pm

Why spray all over the windows,then come up with a hundred cool ways to get it off! That's the most retarted thing i have ever heard. And the way the bus was prepped,and the paint you are using, it would have come out better with a friggin roller. No kidding.

Mon Aug 13, 2007 5:51 pm

Monkeyknuckles wrote:

I probably should have posted this in the paint and body forum.. :?
G

Trust me dude, you made the right decision. They will heckle you to death in that room and the moderator will delete every thing you post if he doesn't like the way you do things. (He would not like the way you are doing this project).

Mon Aug 13, 2007 6:31 pm

beetleboy58 wrote: Why spray all over the windows,then come up with a hundred cool ways to get it off! That's the most retarted thing i have ever heard. And the way the bus was prepped,and the paint you are using, it would have come out better with a friggin roller. No kidding.

Dude, relax. It's his bus.
Of course it's better to mask the windows before spraying but seeing as how it's too late for that, he needs to know how to get the shit off.
It's also better to wear a proper respirator but I'm not going to try to convince a guy who calls himself "Monkeyknuckles" of that and I'm sure as hell not going to call him (or anyone else) retarded.
At least he has adequate ventilation.

Now, Mr. Monkeyknuckles, it's a really good idea to mask off the windows and rubber and anything else you don't want to get overspray on.
I know they say HVLP puts out 40% less overspray than a conventional spray gun, but what the hell does that mean? No overspray? Of course not. Especially in the hands of someone who probably doesn't get to play with spray guns very often. If you want to reduce the overspray, don't break your wrist at the beginning or end of your stroke. Keep the nozzle pointed directly at the surface you are painting. There will still be overspray, so you need to mask off the entire car. It takes time to mask all those windows on a bus but you have to do it. Screwing around with Pam or Vaseline is dangerous because you are likely to accidentally contaminate the surface you are trying to paint. All you have to do is drag your oily rag across it and you'll have problems. I know you don't care that much, but you'll be glad you took a little extra time to minimize potential problems. Email me if you want to know a good way to mask your windows - doesn't cost much or take too long.
Also, you will have much better luck if you don't paint the top out in the open. Stretch a plastic tarp between four trees, whatever you have to do. It's amazing how much crap is just floating around in the air, looking for some nice wet paint to land on.
If you can't find shelter, paint it in the morning while the air is still.
My final piece of advice to you is to put down the rust-oleum and spend a few bucks on some single stage auto paint and follow the directions for mixing it. You can spray it through your HF HVLP, but you might need a different size tip. This, and other important information, should be written on the back of the paint can.
One of the problems with using Rust-oleum is the slow drying time. The longer it takes to dry, the more time dirt has to find its way into your wet paint.
I'm not a professional auto painter. However, I have prepped and painted hundreds of doors, cabinets, etc. (over the past 23 years) and I've done it with brushes, airless sprayers, conventional sprayers, and HVLP systems.
The only vehicle I have painted is my bus. I did it twice though because I didn't like the way it turned out the first time.
I am by no means an expert.
Ok, I'm done. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:47 pm

definetly agreed on the proper paint. if you are saving a ton of money by diy why not put up a few extra bucks for good quality paint?

Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:17 pm

AJ Quick wrote: Did you thin the paint down?

Looks AWESOME!
I thinned it with ACETONE.
THe mixture was 70% paint to 30% acetone.
If it was straight paint, it would take a month to harden and dry completely.
I need about 5 coats, wet sanded between every 2 coats.
Greg

Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:54 pm

Patrick199 wrote: beetleboy58 wrote: Why spray all over the windows,then come up with a hundred cool ways to get it off! That's the most retarted thing i have ever heard. And the way the bus was prepped,and the paint you are using, it would have come out better with a friggin roller. No kidding.

Dude, relax. It's his bus.
Of course it's better to mask the windows before spraying but seeing as how it's too late for that, he needs to know how to get the shit off.
It's also better to wear a proper respirator but I'm not going to try to convince a guy who calls himself "Monkeyknuckles" of that and I'm sure as hell not going to call him (or anyone else) retarded.
At least he has adequate ventilation.

Now, Mr. Monkeyknuckles, it's a really good idea to mask off the windows and rubber and anything else you don't want to get overspray on.
I know they say HVLP puts out 40% less overspray than a conventional spray gun, but what the hell does that mean? No overspray? Of course not. Especially in the hands of someone who probably doesn't get to play with spray guns very often. If you want to reduce the overspray, don't break your wrist at the beginning or end of your stroke. Keep the nozzle pointed directly at the surface you are painting. There will still be overspray, so you need to mask off the entire car. It takes time to mask all those windows on a bus but you have to do it. Screwing around with Pam or Vaseline is dangerous because you are likely to accidentally contaminate the surface you are trying to paint. All you have to do is drag your oily rag across it and you'll have problems. I know you don't care that much, but you'll be glad you took a little extra time to minimize potential problems. Email me if you want to know a good way to mask your windows - doesn't cost much or take too long.
Also, you will have much better luck if you don't paint the top out in the open. Stretch a plastic tarp between four trees, whatever you have to do. It's amazing how much crap is just floating around in the air, looking for some nice wet paint to land on.
If you can't find shelter, paint it in the morning while the air is still.
My final piece of advice to you is to put down the rust-oleum and spend a few bucks on some single stage auto paint and follow the directions for mixing it. You can spray it through your HF HVLP, but you might need a different size tip. This, and other important information, should be written on the back of the paint can.
One of the problems with using Rust-oleum is the slow drying time. The longer it takes to dry, the more time dirt has to find its way into your wet paint.
I'm not a professional auto painter. However, I have prepped and painted hundreds of doors, cabinets, etc. (over the past 23 years) and I've done it with brushes, airless sprayers, conventional sprayers, and HVLP systems.
The only vehicle I have painted is my bus. I did it twice though because I didn't like the way it turned out the first time.
I am by no means an expert.
Ok, I'm done. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Sage advice, very much appreciated. Thanks for the tips.
I'm lucky or unlucky (depending on how you look at it) every rubber seal on the bus needs to be replaced, the windows will be masked off. The rubber will have some paint on it- till I replace them. The roof will require more preparation. The tree roof tarp is an excellant idea. Just so happens the bus is shaded by 3 large oak trees.
I'll be able to rig the cover. Small bugs can be wet sanded, leaves and squirrels can not.
I thinned down the paint with acetone and after 20 minutes you could touch the paint and it was tacky, but dry enough to Not leave a finger print. :) I must admit- my respirator was in my other van. After I had everything set up, I tested the sprayer to adjust the spray pattern. I gave the bus a test shot, and before I knew it I was done. I'm doing more coats, I'll have it next time. :wink: I'm going to spray again hopefully, this Wednesday. I'll post the results..

Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:01 pm

So it is wednesday... did you paint?

I am working on a test piece now. Just put the first THIN coat on a 70's somthin bug door i had laying around. I sanded with 180 first and wiped down with min. spirits to tack off the dust. I mixed WAY too much paint for just the door. rolled on with 50/50 mix. Rustoleum almond color. I cant wait to see what it looks like after all the coats are done and polished... I have been following this type paintjob for several months. I am just now getting the guts to actualy put paint on metal.

Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:33 pm

Just gonna toss this out. As an ex-auto painter, I would never spray color on anything I had not prepped with at least 360 grit paper, 600 or higher grit would be better.
Work that needs to be be done for smoothness and/or contour, use low grits for speed and ease. After it is smooth/contoured, use fine/higher grits so that grit/ sandpaper marks will not be visible in the final paint job. I think the best way is a trickle of water from a hose pipe and a half sheet of "wet or dry" paper, two folds, three sanding surfaces. I am a believer in the wet sand method in other words.

Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:51 pm

cagstorm wrote: So it is wednesday... did you paint?

I am working on a test piece now. Just put the first THIN coat on a 70's somthin bug door i had laying around. I sanded with 180 first and wiped down with min. spirits to tack off the dust. I mixed WAY too much paint for just the door. rolled on with 50/50 mix. Rustoleum almond color. I cant wait to see what it looks like after all the coats are done and polished... I have been following this type paintjob for several months. I am just now getting the guts to actualy put paint on metal.
Greetings- I did go over and paint.
I got to my brother in law's house ( he was at work)
I spent some time fixing areas that needed to be sanded down and feathered in to match the edges. I also spent more time on some bodywork.
After 3 days the paint dried very hard. I noticed that the paint laid down quite a bit. It was not nearly as smooth as I wanted. I roughed the bus with a sanding sponge (fine about 300-400 grit) I can see that wet sanding is going to be very important to get the smooth finish.
After I set off his house alarm and the neighbors and the cops left, I was able to wipe the bus down with a tack cloth and paint. I sprayed two thick coats with a 40 / 50 mix.
40 acetone 50 paint. It covered the thin spots and was pretty dry after 20 mins. I didn't get any pictures. I'll swing by to take some Thursday.
Over all I'm still digging the red paint. I'll really need to wet sand to get the bus smooth. :D

Thu Aug 16, 2007 5:18 am

I have seen spray can and different paint jobs turn out well, The wet sanding will make all the difference in the world!

Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:12 am

i want to see some pics of it after the paint settled down and dried.

Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:35 am

i_am_cool_fred wrote: i want to see some pics of it after the paint settled down and dried.
I dropped the ball and got distracted. _ I'm going over to take some before work.. :wink:

Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:12 am

Here's some bad pictures from yesterday- the bus had 2 coats applied Wednesday, pictures were taken Thursday. The bus still needs to be wet sanded to make it really smooth. You can't see from the pictures, there is gloss in the paint. With the wetsanding the paint will look good. So far so good.

After the wetsanding and 2 final coats and a polish, I think it will be a good looking bus. Or a better looking bus. I look at it like this- worst case scenario, I can always have the bus painted (in the future) by a highly trained professional :wink:

Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:33 am

definately got some orange peel to take care of but i agree a little elbow grease and a good buffing and it will look good.

Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:42 am

... man! You don't have much use for tape or paper, do you?

I just figure you must be in an awful hurry.

It sure is red now!

Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:42 am

I think that effort is worth something here, and you have to hand it out that at the least it looks alright.
My old neighbor used to set up a very large sprinkler around his garage to keep the road dust down, and them get the floor and everything wet inside.