Lighting issues and could use some advice

DanMcG

DanMcG

Promoted Users
I could use some advice on lighting for painting. I'm totally new at painting and I've been applying white epoxy outside just to get some paint on the bare metal before winter.
My problem is most of the time I really can't tell where the wet edge from the last pass is when I'm shooting the next row of paint. I can see where I've been when I stand back and look at it at a low angle in plane of the parts, but that's to late. The parts are laying flat on horses and I'm just blinded by the white, even in the shade.
I've got one more truck bed side to shoot Thursday and was hoping to learn something to make it go better.
And since I've learned that painting outside sucks with wind, bugs, watching the temps and getting overspray on my work truck 30 foot away. (does anything remove cured epoxy? :oops:)
I think I'll be needing to build a temporary booth in the garage, and if anyone could direct me to some good info on proper lighting I'd appreciate it . thanks
 
DanMcG said:
I could use some advice on lighting for painting. I'm totally new at painting and I've been applying white epoxy outside just to get some paint on the bare metal before winter.
My problem is most of the time I really can't tell where the wet edge from the last pass is when I'm shooting the next row of paint. I can see where I've been when I stand back and look at it at a low angle in plane of the parts, but that's to late. The parts are laying flat on horses and I'm just blinded by the white, even in the shade.
I've got one more truck bed side to shoot Thursday and was hoping to learn something to make it go better.
And since I've learned that painting outside sucks with wind, bugs, watching the temps and getting overspray on my work truck 30 foot away. (does anything remove cured epoxy? :oops:)
I think I'll be needing to build a temporary booth in the garage, and if anyone could direct me to some good info on proper lighting I'd appreciate it . thanks
Click to expand...
I have low light vision issues so I bought a set of Harbor Freight 24 Ft x 12 bulb string lights to supplement the already overkill lighting in my garage. They come with 24, 18W incandescent bulbs. I bought a box of Amazon Basics "Daylight White" 100W equivalent LED bulbs (about 10W each) and populated the string with them. I hung the string from the ceiling using 1/2" conduit "P" clamps. I have not started painting yet but with 2 strings I can create a rectangular ceiling lamp around the perimeter of the space I will be painting in. With two strings you will have about 2400W of bright white lighting. You could also string them at vehicle or floor level if needed.

Keep in mind I am a COMPLETE novice who has never painted anything and am visually impaired. This was my solution to get more light in my garage.

Cheers,
Emil
 
I have actually used a handheld light in my left hand and gun in the right hand before when painting in a garage with poor lighting. A clay bar works pretty good to remove the overspray.
 
White is difficult even in the best of light. What I try to do is maintain a consistent pattern to my painting. For instance if the first pass covers a body line by 2", I log that away as an indicator of where I should be on the next coat. Same with the top and bottom edges of the panel.

I use a 50% overlap so that helps me as well to know where I'm at. If my spray pattern is 6", I simply move down 3" for the next pass.
 
Evil_Fiz said:
With two strings you will have about 2400W of bright white lighting.
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Thanks Fritz I'll look into the light string I will need something, I think my issue is to much light outside
Gmills said:
I have actually used a handheld light in my left hand and gun in the right hand before when painting in a garage with poor lighting. A clay bar works pretty good to remove the overspray.
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Man I don't know if I have the coordination to do the flash light and paint, lol and thanks for the clay bar tip, I'll give it a try sometime.
'68 Coronet R/T said:
What I try to do is maintain a consistent pattern to my painting.
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I try that 68 but I think being a new guy at it, I got to many other thing to concentrate on. I guess the skill will come to me sooner or later.
 
DanMcG said:
Man I don't know if I have the coordination to do the flash light and paint
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What I have done is held the light in my "other" hand and when I completed a pass I would shine the light and I would know where to start ,overlap-wise, and gauge it that way. I couldn't paint and follow the light either. I'm panting black and it's dark down low.
 
shine said:
you can go to lowes and get 2 double led 4ft lights for 24 dollars .
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Thanks for the help shine, I set up some lights and I can see what you're saying, it really helps me a lot. I have a ton of strip light fixtures from indoor vegetable starting, I'll just get some new lamps when I get my paint room set up.
 
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