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DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible?
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wagohn
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PostPosted: Sat May 23, 2020 9:10 am    Post subject: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Hello,
Our bus has terrible paint. The PO seems to have rattle canned the whole bus with whatever "close enough" tins he could find. So we want to paint, but not obsessed about showroom quality.
Ive been perusing YouTube and the following options seem available:

Rustoleum rattle cans - Results range from terrific to horrendous, low cost
HVLP and Compressor - Results seem consistently good, but expensive
HVLP electric gun - Mixed results, low cost

So, the obvious quality choice would be a compressor and gun, but its a high cost entry point then bulky equipment sitting unused for, the most part.

Has anyone had success with the $100 electric HVLP spray guns? As stated, we just want an OK job until we have completed welding etc.

Any opinions welcome.

Thanks
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Bama Dave
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PostPosted: Sat May 23, 2020 12:29 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

wagohn wrote:
Hello,
Our bus has terrible paint. ...we just want an OK job until we have completed welding etc.

Any opinions welcome.


My opinion is to wait until the “welding, etc” is done, then look to do the paint. You will have to overcome the terrible paint job to do it. So, why overcome 2 terrible paint jobs? Wait and do it once in a not terrible way. My opinion.
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wagohn
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PostPosted: Sat May 23, 2020 12:41 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Bama Dave wrote:
wagohn wrote:
Hello,
Our bus has terrible paint. ...we just want an OK job until we have completed welding etc.

Any opinions welcome.


My opinion is to wait until the “welding, etc” is done, then look to do the paint. You will have to overcome the terrible paint job to do it. So, why overcome 2 terrible paint jobs? Wait and do it once in a not terrible way. My opinion.


Thanks, but the welding is a long way off as I want to try myself and buy gear etc. Probably a year. Meanwhile, Im driving the bus around town/work and it would be nice to at least get it one color Smile
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clarkster75
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PostPosted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:47 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

If you want to do something now.. Why don't you do a rolled/HVLP job with Rustoleum (not the cans).. Looks like a Gallon would do a van.
A HVLP gun takes about 11 gal per min. on an air compressor, so you would need something big. If you can do that, a H. Freight HVLP gun is not exp.
That said, you could roll it if you wanted to w/Rustoleum.
You could even do an expensive single stage job and spend 3 weeks sanding. It would look awesome, but like others have said, you would be putting good work over bad.
So, Rustoleum, or single stage, then add in how much sanding/buffing you want to do. There are plenty of Y.T. videos to watch with either process, but removing the rust is the "true" starting point. Good luck.
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Nitramrebrab72
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 2:17 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

You can do a really great job with rattle cans its just hard work to do large surfaces. I'm doing a vanagon at the moment while I travel around France, I don't have access to a compressor, I got the paint mixed canned to the original vw colour, it's cellulose so it's extremely forgiving on runs, they just literally disappear when the paint pulls on drying/ hardening over a 3 week period.
The down side was its very difficult to be able to keep the paint edge wet as you go from one side of the panel to the other, the vanagon panels are quite high and being very limited on the quantity of paint coming out of the cans means you have to spray on closer in than I would of liked to.
Then there is the cost of the cans you will need around 60 cans to get a good finish plus 8 cans of primer.
Not to mention finger cramp from continously holding down the spray nossle on 5 cans in a row.

You could roller and brush flat with a foam brush. You would need to get the thinner ratio right for it to dry and pull at the right speed
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Here is one I did with a foam roller and a foam flatting brush
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wagohn
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 8:04 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Nitramrebrab72 wrote:

You could roller and brush flat with a foam brush. You would need to get the thinner ratio right for it to dry and pull at the right speed
....
Here is one I did with a foam roller and a foam flatting brush


Thank you both for your replies. I looked at prices for a compressor that would run a $20 HF spray gun and they seem to be in the $300+ range, and 200lbs sat in the small garage. Therefore, Im leaning towards something like:
"Here is one I did with a foam roller and a foam flatting brush" Your example is perfect work!

Do you have any tips? What's a foam flatting brush procedure?

Thanks!
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:09 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Not 100% sure what that exactly means, but it's, in short, just rolling paint. The foam roller isn't going to give any lint/dust. That is why foam is used. You may not be able to find a standard size foam roller, and most of the foam rollers are hot dog sized. Nothing really bad there, but the smaller roller isn't going to hold much paint. You have to keep going back to the tray and reload with fresh paint.
The last video I watched the guy was in a shed with two walls. So, that's fine. The "flaws" will come out when you spend 20+ hours wet sanding/sanding to get the dust/drips out like the guy from France and his Van (awesome).
Remember, single stage paint is just paint, and a lot of sanding/buffing, and that is this process just a bit different. Time=$.
So, go for it. The more you put into the "finishing" the more you will get out (in the final look) of it.
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Nitramrebrab72
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:16 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Thanks for your compliment, they are always nice to receive.
Here are three important things.
1. Is preparation, there are no short cuts to that, so if the original paint has dings you need straighten and sparingly fill. Paint on filler for paint chips deep scratches and minor defects. Wet and dry 280 then 400
2. Choosing an easy paint to use, the one I used was Toplac from international I use a lot of their compatible thinners a little bit more than the 10% they say. But that depends on temp heat and wind. I have used upto 25% where the boat had to be finished on a very windy hot dry day. You will have to try to see.
But they do a new product called Hs super gloss might be a lot easier it has a special formula that really pulls the skin tight whilst drying flattening out the roller marks.
3.Use a small foam roller, the contact edge must be kept wet while advanceing from one side to the other lightly caressing the surface with a foam brush.


But you could just choose a 2 tone light grey/green top area primer and a dark grey lower primer. It's easy to put on its a German style rat mat look that could be a good compromise.
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Evil_Fiz
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 12:09 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Since space and expense are limiting factors you may want to look into HVLP turbine spray systems.
This one from Harbor Freight may work:
https://www.harborfreight.com/high-volume-low-pressure-spray-gun-kit-44677.html

There are higher quality turbine systems available for less than the cost of a compressor and gun. You Tube and Google are your friends.
Here are some results on amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=HVLP+Turbine&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

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wagohn
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 9:48 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Evil_Fiz wrote:
Since space and expense are limiting factors you may want to look into HVLP turbine spray systems.
This one from Harbor Freight may work:
https://www.harborfreight.com/high-volume-low-pressure-spray-gun-kit-44677.html

There are higher quality turbine systems available for less than the cost of a compressor and gun. You Tube and Google are your friends.
Here are some results on amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=HVLP+Turbine&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

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Thanks everyone. I had not heard of turbine sprayers. I will go dig around a little. Smile
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bomberbob
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 5:04 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

There is a sticky about HVLP paint guns, about 15 pages worth. Scan over it. I will be using one of the cheap harbor freight turbine guns when I paint my car. They run up into the thousands of dollars, but I am opting for the dirt cheap.
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busmania
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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:42 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

EDIT- now I read the thread! Buy a harbor freight hvlp, wet sand with 100-200 grit, shoot a coat of sealer, paint with cheap paint. That will get you a year or so, then see my comments below about my first paint job and paint yourself. Great fun and learning experience.
End edit


My original comments
I haven’t had a chance to read other replies but here are my thoughts after finishing my first paint job last summer.

-Does it look perfect? Hell no (orange peel I might sand out one day, 2-3 drips)
-Was it a ton of work? Yep
-Would I learn from my mistakes and have much better results next time? Absolutely!
-Does it look perfect? Oh, I already asked that but nope, not perfect.
-Do I love it and love driving it and have pride every time I take it out? Smiles forever!

I learned a ton, did all the bodywork, still notice various imperfections often but
Man was it an awesome experience and learning experience. I had the bus blasted professionally then primed and did a bunch of bodywork. Sprayed it in my garage. All in I was probably $4-5k into it with material, sandblast, bodywork, mistakes etc.

What would I do differently?
-better spray gun
-1-2 more coats of high build and wet sand (I only did 1 but was over it and didn’t want to do a second high build/wet sand round...probably my biggest mistake.)
-rent a paint booth
-eventually wet sand the orange peel out
-od
-My prep was better (see high build primer coats) it would have paid off
-prep, prep, prep some more. Walk away for a few weeks, prep, prep some
More, paint


Here’s my thread.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=712803&highlight=
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wagohn
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2020 10:05 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

busmania wrote:

Here’s my thread.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=712803&highlight=


Nice work. Id be more than happy with your paint - but I have a feeling your paint setup is out of my budget.
What compressor did you use and how much $ did it cost you?
Also, did you just replace your slider's outer rocker only? Weld it yourself?
Thanks
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PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2020 10:17 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

I know in a previous post I said I was going to use the cheap 90 dollar HVLP (turbine) harbor freight paint gun. I am chickening out, as I am putting a ton of work into the prep, and I don't want to get into a position where I start to paint and I can't get it dialed in. I bought a Wagner Motocoat. Have not used it yet, opened the box and read the instructions. It comes with two guns, a gun for thicker materials like undercoating and plasti-dip, and a smaller gun for thinner materials like primer and paint. Hose is over 30 feet long, which is way longer than the hose on the HF unit.
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PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2020 11:02 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

bomberbob wrote:
I know in a previous post I said I was going to use the cheap 90 dollar HVLP (turbine) harbor freight paint gun. I am chickening out, as I am putting a ton of work into the prep, and I don't want to get into a position where I start to paint and I can't get it dialed in. I bought a Wagner Motocoat. Have not used it yet, opened the box and read the instructions. It comes with two guns, a gun for thicker materials like undercoating and plasti-dip, and a smaller gun for thinner materials like primer and paint. Hose is over 30 feet long, which is way longer than the hose on the HF unit.


Interesting. Please post pics of the paint finish when you spray. The advantage of buying Wagner over Harbor Freight would be the possible access to parts when needed.
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 2:37 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

wagohn wrote:


Rustoleum rattle cans - Results range from terrific to horrendous, low cost

Very, very, very few are terrific. Most are at best passable at 10 yards to horrendous and they aren't low cost because it takes probably 3 dozen to 5 dozen cans.

You're forgetting the other part, labor. You will be sanding til your arms look like Popeye.

It is fast and convenient for a small patch. That is all. Basically getting some paint on the metal.
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 6:49 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

wagohn wrote:
busmania wrote:

Here’s my thread.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=712803&highlight=


Nice work. Id be more than happy with your paint - but I have a feeling your paint setup is out of my budget.
What compressor did you use and how much $ did it cost you?
Also, did you just replace your slider's outer rocker only? Weld it yourself?
Thanks


I have a 33 gallon craftsman compressor. I did just replace the outer rockers and yep, I did all the metal work myself.
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 7:58 am    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Buy a small compressor for around the house. Rent something bigger when you are ready to shoot the paint. The local tool rental places here have compressors in their inventory.
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:17 pm    Post subject: Re: DIY Passable Paint Job - Possible? Reply with quote

Painted the body last week, painted the fenders, deck lid, glovebox door, etc today.
PPG Envirobase (waterborne) Miami Bleu. Three good wet coats of clear. I have a Harbor Freight turbine gun, but I opted to buy a Wagner Motocoat. Hose is longer, hose is larger in diameter (push more air), and it comes with two guns. a "detail" gun which is what I used to spray high build, base coat and clear, and this big gun people use for spraying plasti-dip on their cars, undercoating, etc. I have not used the big gun yet.
I was happy with the Wagner gun. First car I have painted since one I did back in 1979. It was in a dirty garage, hot, I was sweating on the car and having to dab it off. When I shot clear on the body I didn't start till 7PM, when the sun went down the insects headed for my lighted garage, and wet paint. I will be wet sanding and buffing out the errors.


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