I'm a competent mechanic but I have no clue how to get started with painting and I'd love to learn it more than anything else. Is there anyone here at least somewhat familiar with prep work and painting? I was thinking of getting like harbor freight stuff and throwing up a green house enclosure in my driveway to start but I have no idea how cheap equipment performs, or if its really down to prep work and technique. Right now I'd just like to redo some body panels on 2 of my cars but I don't feel like screwing stuff up. Where should I start with this stuff?
>>27602747You need the most expensive pads, paint gun, and paint, but the cheapest suit, mask, gloves, and tape. You will screw it up on your first try. It's down to 90% prep and 5% technique and 5% luck. You need to go to a school to learn it or intern and Maaco. I'm not shitting you.
>>27602747painting, just like dent repair, is something that requires genuine artistic skill, talent, and know how to get righteither find a beater to fuck up on with online tutorials or go to a trade school/apprenticeship program
>>27602747Okay so basically there are two types of paint- Base Coat/Clear Coat (BC/CC for brevity), and Single Stage (SS). SS used to be the standard until the 70s when they found out it was cheaper to switch to BC/CC. SS contains a solvent in the paint that allows it to dry infinitely. Compare this to BC/CC where the BC contains no solvent and is always wet forever, the CC then acts as a sealant and the solvent layer to seal in the paint and allow it dry. While cheaper for manufacturers, the downside of this BC/CC process is for the hobbyist it's downright impossible to shoot because you need a paint booth with a built in oven to be able to back the CC layer and they often are $1,000,000 USD installations which obviously puts it out of reach for hobbyists which is why >>27602858 the common reply these days is as this anon says. Back in the 50s and 60s and even into the 70s Maaco and many other paint shops used to just do SS, as well as Ma and Pa shops with no specialized equipment since SS contains a solvent in the paint that allows it to dry on its own so it meant that paint jobs were cheap and importantly easy to do. You can still do these paint jobs today, but you have to do a bit more research since it's a bit of a dying art, but the results are worth it. I'm currently practising shooting SS for a restoration project. You need a different spray gun than you would use for BC/CC.Morbid fun fact: the reason many painters died in the 70s and 80s is because many early BC/CC paints contained organic cyanide compounds and because painters were previously used to working with SS paints that could be pretty much safely worked with without masks... Well... Yeah. IIRC modern formulations are safer, but they're still not very safe. If you shoot BC/CC invest in full face respirator and a space suit because that shit will kill you if you don't.
Would anyone with more knowledge than me recommend getting into automotive painting as a career? I like cars and I like commercial painting. Is it shit? I'd definitely use proper PPE so the unhealthy side isn't so much of an issue
I know a painting spic. I can ask specific questions if you really like to know. But he always said the prepwork was the most important and also most time consuming part. A gun from harbor freight could be okay to use as a beginner. You don't need an oven like someone said above. You can do it in an inflatable booth, or even with no booth at all but I wouldn't recommend it.
gun your shitbox in the yard and wetsand the bugs out of it
>>27602747It's time-consuming, you need patience and attention to details. The cheap stuff works just fine but wind and dust (also oily fingers) will fuck your shit up so a clean space with good but gentle ventilation of filtered air is essential, a few nigger rigged plastic curtains with box fans pulling in air through some cloth will doTake your time prepping it, any imperfection left in the prep stage will look like shit in the end, always finish leveling fillers and primers by hand with a nice big sanding block and guide coatPractice spraying paint and clear on random trash before attempting on a car or you will fuck it upYoutube is your friend and it's full of beginner-friendly tutorials, you'll find a few on the 'Paint Society' channelRemember, paint chads can't stop winning but you'll need to become a social media whore if you want to work for yourself instead of being an employee in some established shop>>27602858Lies, most chink guns will work just fine and a few days of research are enough to learn all the theory and basic tricks if you're not retarded, from there you really will need to practice, buy a few body panels from a junkyard and go to town with them
>>27602968pro painters buy 16 dollar chink guns, clean them 2 or 3 times and chunk them.
>>27602747be sure to strip off old wax or coasting before sanding. years ago back home a friend sanded his car without stripping the wax off first. Hours of sanding and prepping then when he started painting he got hundreds of 'fish eyes' where the paint wold not stick. From my experience its preparation, preparation, preparation, painting is the last step. There is a lot to learn about paint, and painting, but its preparation that makes or kills the paint job. If blow it, you can always prep and paint again.>>27602928>recommend getting into automotive painting as a career?You cant complete with illegal mexicans working at regular autobody shops. You can make good money if you have real skill/talent with custom designs and painting and your local air quality restrictions are too stringent. There are lots of people who will pay for quality paint jobs on cars, boats, motorcycles, motor homes, helmets and more, but they pay for quality.
>>27602747>I have no clue how to get started with painting and I'd love to learn it more than anything else.start with some basic vids. You can use the vin from your car and guy automotive paint in a rattle can (you can order it). Yes, a rattle can. You can also buy by the gallon more, but start small on your own car. Here is a simple rattle can vid for basic info. Look over the paint on you car very closely to see what you can see. The big auto manufactures put just enough paint on for the look, no extra, to save money.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atmTYvyPIbo
This right here is the new king.
years ago my landlord pulled his dodge caravan into the empty lot next to my house, taped it up shittily for like 20 minutes and started painting it with spray paint cans. i was laughing about what a retard he was while i watched, but it honestly came out shockingly nice lol
>>27604153Those only come in very limited colors though, iirc its just white and black at the moment. Good for primer, though.
