learning to paint

shine

Member
after being part of this forum for a good while something has occurred to me . most of the discussions center around painting high solids with a wide variety of reducers and acc . during my career things have changed dramatically . i learned to paint using nitrocellulose lacquer . i spent years perfecting my skills then things changed. acrylic lacquer was all the rage . a little different to use . then enamel came on strong . it was whoa this shit hits the floor . so another learning curve to deal with . just about the time we got things sorted out polyurethane clear hit the market . shooting over lacquer was challenging to put it mildly . fought it to a draw then the bc/cc rave hit . in it's early years it was next to junk . metallics would move around on you something terrible . flowing clear would take graphics with it . to top it off repairing them was a horror show . welcome in waterborne primer . another huge pain it the ass .

so the moral to this story is when your frustrated shooting something remember you got the broken in model . us old farts had to ride bareback with saddle sores .
 
Couldn't agree more with you Shine. Besides knowing each item you mentioned, also had some others in other types of painting I've done. I think the worst crap I ever used was painting 300' offshore supply boats in the 80's when they first were taking the lead out of the paint.
Using solvent based SPI occasionally is me hanging on to the best part of my past with all these new waterbourne products taking over.
 
Few more things that if you are learning today you may take for granted. That is Information. There is so much more information on how to spray, to do metalwork, how to do bodywork, etc etc. Back when I started the Industry was transitioning from Acrylic Lacquer and enamel to BC/CC so I didn't have the same issues Shine did. But if you were trying to learn this on your own, which I essentially was, there was next to no information out there. The various books that were available really weren't written by actual body/paint guys and were riddled with errors. There were very few guys really doing high quality work in my area so I learned a lot by trial and error and discovering that the technical data sheets were great sources of info on the various products I was using. Nowadays you have this forum where so many Pro's share so much inside info that it is simply amazing. I know the stuff I share I didn't read in a book or off the Internet I learned it many times the hard way and through years of doing it.
So if you are learning now you really don't know how fortunate you are. Good time to be alive despite what the TV tells you.:)
 
I remember when PPG published an Auto Paint and Refinishing handbook around 1975 or so. I was pretty much a greenhorn at the time but I treasured that book. At the time it was the most in depth how to book by a manufacturer. I'll bet I still have it buried in an old cardboard box somewhere.

In those days good technical information was not that plentiful. Every time I went in my jobbers store I checked for any "P" sheets that I did not have? They immediately went into a three ring binder when I got them home.

For some reason, keeping up with the technology has always been fun and challenging for me.

John
 
I'm lucky. Barely knew the basics of paint. I learned difference between rattle cans & real paint here. Yes i admit that lol.
We take for granted the internet & this great spi site. I'd know nothing if it wasn't for ya'll & it.
Shine- not sure what to say about your new avitar heh.
 
Remember K200. I really liked that stuff.
I liked it then, also. I have a feeling I would despise it now. Sanded pretty hard, if I remember correctly, but it's been a few years:) Remember giving a helper one of his first jobs. It was a Suburban primed complete, roof and all, with K200. Gave him a 9" 3m rubber block and some wet or dry 400 and told him to sand it by the end of the day. Surprisingly, he stayed with me for 7 years, and we are still friends to this day.
 
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I still have a full can of K36 or K200 on the shelf downstairs. I forget which. I guess it has been taking up space for 15 yeqrs.
 
how about a 1 gal paint can full of red paste for buffing . i always swore it was river mud from red river .
 
Yea, And old laquer paint jobs many times were hand rubbed. Try that with a modern finish. AAMOF, try that with a modern acrylic lacquer.

For a long time you knew people were BSing you when they would talk about how many hand rubbed coats of paint were on a car because you knew hand rubbing became impossible.

John
 
the only hand rubbing i did was after the synthetic wool pad. then you broke out the diapers and got after it .
 
I had forgotten about Kondar. That 1K was like a high build lacquer primer, almost like sprayable red cap spot putty:)


I still have a full can of Kondar, never opened! I still occasionally shoot lacquer for one of my Corvette buddies, and I figure that I will probably still use it some day. Nice thing about lacquer is it never goes bad. I still have some full cans of PPG DDL colors for early Corvettes.
 
The most durable lacquer paint job I ever did was on a 50 Ford coupe I drove to work every day.

After the car was prepped, I shot 4 coats of black Ditzler on it. Every night after work I would color sand one panel. Took about 2 weeks. After it was all color sanded I shot 4 more coats. Then every night I color sanded another panel until the whole car was color sanded again. After that, I buffed one panel when I got home from work each night. Two weeks later the car was buffed. I guess it took a couple of months total to paint the car.

Through all that, I drove the car to work every day, working on it at night. The car really looked good for a driver but more importantly, it held up really well. The lacquer had time to breath, letting all the solvent out. It never did crack or craze as long as I knew the car.

With all that said, I would not shoot another car with lacquer if someone gave all the material to me. No way! The first enamel job I ever did was with Sherwin Williams acrylic enamel with Polysol polyurethane catalyst. It color sanded and buffed like lacquer and I was immediately convinced there was a better way for a car that would be driven and subjected to the riggors of regular use.

To this day, I am fascinated with the technology. It used to be there was no more durable finish than what came from the factory. No longer is that the case.

John
 
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