Spraying a truck box, inside and out

That changes things some. You would only be dealing with dry spray then. FWIW, I've only ever seen one guy (who was 6'5" and had really long arms) be able to successfully and nicely do it all in one go.
 
So here’s how this ended up.


I sealed the inside with epoxy and then was not going to have enough activator to seal the exterior. So I taped off the floor, seam sealed and then painted.

Where I got into trouble was the tape actually pulled up the seam sealer around the edges, so that’s a mess I’ll need to trim.

To go back to my other thread on gun adjustment, I did spray this floor 2.5 turns out (on the first pass) and it was spraying on way too dry. I think I just spray too fast for that low of fluid. So I backed out to 3 turns for the subsequent two coats but there is more texture on the floor than I’d like. I’ve got the infrared lamp on it today (having sprayed it this early afternoon), and tomorrow I’ll tape off and seal and spray the rest.

Very difficult getting the gun in those corners, the cup gets in the way.

IMG_3178.jpeg
IMG_3180.jpeg
 
Also—take a look at my spray patterns on the wall. My gun was not spraying right today. Had a long tail on the top of the pattern but not the bottom.
 
Take it completely apart and check inside of everything. Sounds like a piece of dried something in a corner somewhere. Sometimes dried paint on tip of needle has caused different pattern. Happened to me sometimes.
 
elwood said:
Take it completely apart and check inside of everything. Sounds like a piece of dried something in a corner somewhere. Sometimes dried paint on tip of needle has caused different pattern. Happened to me sometimes.
Click to expand...
I do that every time I clean it. If there is something in there it would be extremely small inside a hole I can’t see.
 
I felt like that bed was the most difficult to paint on mine. A rotisserie sure would have made it easier but the corners were still a pita. I was wanting a 90 degree fitting coming off the gun to help get in tighter…
My bed is still in epoxy and is far from a perfect even spray, but I’ll be doing bedliner so do t have to get it as nice as yours.
That two part seam sealer was by far the most frustrating part of my project. Took even though I had taped everything off in advance it still took days of sanding and spot reapplications to get all the seams looking uniform and blended correctly with the unevenness of those factory pinch welds…
I just said the seam sealing was the most frustrating part but its looking like that may take a backseat to the panel gap and alignment that I’ve been screwing with now for a couple days…
 
@Lizer did you do bodywork on the bed ribs? I am thinking I need to use some filler to make it look better.. I don't plan on using the truck bed as a truck on this one I am working on.
 
1A Rock said:
@Lizer, i'm curious why you didn't paint the whole inside of the bed?
Click to expand...
I've sprayed mine the same way. I don't have a " spinner " like he does so doing it this way allows you to sit on the floor and do the sides. Easier to get in corners and those difficult areas.
 
JimKueneman said:
@Lizer did you do bodywork on the bed ribs? I am thinking I need to use some filler to make it look better.. I don't plan on using the truck bed as a truck on this one I am working on.
Click to expand...
Check out the build thread from @theastronaut if you want to see some unbelievable attention to detail, fit and finish. This page has the part where he was dong the bed floor and fabricated some plexiglass sanding blocks to fit the ribs/bed contour. http://www.spiuserforum.com/index.p...-metal-body-paint-work.6831/page-4#post-83279
 
1A Rock said:
@Lizer, i'm curious why you didn't paint the whole inside of the bed?
Click to expand...
When I was spraying the epoxy I was having trouble getting the sides (especially up underneath the top of the bed rail) when it was vertical. I decided I didn't want to have to go through that for at least three coats that really matter. It was going to allow me to get better coverage and overlap when I wasn't under physical duress to do it, and allow me to crouch or lay on my side to get the inner sides. It worked really well.

I taped off the entire floor, and then set a piece of plywood in the middle for me to sit on and shuffle around on so I didn't rip the masking paper.

IMG_3202.jpeg
 
MAKZ06 said:
I felt like that bed was the most difficult to paint on mine. A rotisserie sure would have made it easier but the corners were still a pita. I was wanting a 90 degree fitting coming off the gun to help get in tighter…
My bed is still in epoxy and is far from a perfect even spray, but I’ll be doing bedliner so do t have to get it as nice as yours.
That two part seam sealer was by far the most frustrating part of my project. Took even though I had taped everything off in advance it still took days of sanding and spot reapplications to get all the seams looking uniform and blended correctly with the unevenness of those factory pinch welds…
I just said the seam sealing was the most frustrating part but its looking like that may take a backseat to the panel gap and alignment that I’ve been screwing with now for a couple days…
Click to expand...
I prefer 2-part sealer but used a 1 part sealer for most of this floor because Chad didn't have the 2 part I used to use, and he recommended this single part on instead.

Unfortunately I forgot a lot of what I used to know about seam sealing and waited too long to remove my tape, which caused the sealer to string or lift and it looked terrible. Even more so, after I removed the tape from painting the floor it lifted a lot of the sealer in the exterior seams. I had to cut it down and re-seal in a lot of spots but it turned out fine and didn't require too much effort.

The trick is to tape off your seam, apply a small amount of seam sealer, then I run my finger along it to smooth it out, and then immediately remove the tape. It will give you a nice looking seam:

IMG_3213.jpeg


What I should have done on the edges of the bed (since I was taping off the sides first to paint the floor) was tape, apply sealer, immediately remove tape, let sealer dry, then mask. Once I had done the final spray of the entire bed and removed all the masking, I took a fine tipped modeling brush and applied paint leftover from my cup to areas of the sealer that might not have got covered due to the tape being just a little off. The paint flows out in these tiny spots and the correction is impossible to tell.
 
So to summarize how this ended up working out, my original plan was to gun it all at once. I realized during the epoxy sealer step I wasn't going to like spraying that way for the paint (which is single stage, remember).

So I masked off the sides first and shot the floor. Put my infrared lamp on it, then the following day, masked off the floor. Ran out of time that day so kept floor masked through the second day. If I hadn't put my curing lamp on the paint I might have been concerned leaving the tape on that long. Second day (which was yesterday) I sprayed four coats on the exterior and three coats on the inside. I always sprayed the exterior side first and interior last. That way the interior would have no overspray or dry spray on it and if the exterior got any it will get cut and buffed off. I will cut and buff the wheel wells and flat areas of the bed to remove nibs.

Four coats on the outside just means the first pass I only sprayed the outside. The second coat I sprayed the outside and then sprayed the inside. Let the paint set up for an hour or two then ripped off all the masking.

IMG_3208.jpeg


IMG_3203.jpeg


I got a treat during my third coat!

IMG_3201.jpeg


Things were going well and I didn't even care. Plucked him off, let it flash a little longer and the paint flowed out somewhat, sprayed the fourth coat, then made a few extra passes there, almost intentionally trying to run it to give it some fill and plenty of mil to cut and buff. After all that's why God invented sandpaper.
 
Had the same happen on the roll pan I just painted. Twice. Made me mad. Worst was an explorer hood I painted in the winter. Had warmed up my building a couple hours before spraying. Was using a propane torpedo heater and four 500 watt halogen lights to keep the building warm. Kept hearing something as I was spraying clear but didn’t know what it was. Left the clear to cure and came back few hours later to a nest of ladybugs the heat and light had woken up. Came out of the ceiling and fell/crawled all over the hood. Had to sand and reshoot. Anyways, looking good!
 
Lizer said:
I prefer 2-part sealer but used a 1 part sealer for most of this floor because Chad didn't have the 2 part I used to use, and he recommended this single part on instead.

Unfortunately I forgot a lot of what I used to know about seam sealing and waited too long to remove my tape, which caused the sealer to string or lift and it looked terrible. Even more so, after I removed the tape from painting the floor it lifted a lot of the sealer in the exterior seams. I had to cut it down and re-seal in a lot of spots but it turned out fine and didn't require too much effort.

The trick is to tape off your seam, apply a small amount of seam sealer, then I run my finger along it to smooth it out, and then immediately remove the tape. It will give you a nice looking seam:

View attachment 27742

What I should have done on the edges of the bed (since I was taping off the sides first to paint the floor) was tape, apply sealer, immediately remove tape, let sealer dry, then mask. Once I had done the final spray of the entire bed and removed all the masking, I took a fine tipped modeling brush and applied paint leftover from my cup to areas of the sealer that might not have got covered due to the tape being just a little off. The paint flows out in these tiny spots and the correction is impossible to tell.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I did all that and still had inconsistent results. Plus that stuff dried so fast I too had a couple spots that lifted when removing the tape like you did, all mine had to be sanded anyway. My biggest problem was those inconsistent pinch welds on mine. I’ve seen some old trucks that looked near perfect and others like mine that are horrible. The bends along the mating edges were not the same radius throughout… might be 1/9” radius for a few inches and then it’s 1/4” before it changes again. Then the two panels are aligned on one section and suddenly I’m 1/8” higher on one side than the other…. All factory imperfections But I don’t have the skill set or years left to get good enough to remove all those welds, recontour, weld back, etc, etc. a Lot of the stuff that theastranaut has been documenting in his work that I am in awe of…
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top