There is no way to know exactly how much paint you need to paint every car, but there are basic guidelines. Of course the bigger the car, truck or van is the more paint you will need, and if you are spraying a basecoat/clearcoat you will need both components. One good way to make a more accurate estimate…
Author: Joe Dick
Complex Rust Patch Panel Made Easy
At times rust repair can be ultra simple; cut the old rust out, cut a square of fresh metal and weld it in. But those repairs aren’t usually as frequent as we’d like. Rust seems to like to creep into a curved area or into a body line that takes more care to repair. I recently decided to tackle a large rusty area of the rear portion of the floor on Project Pile House.
Selecting the Right Air Compressor
An air compressors is a tool, specifically it is a tool to run other tools, unless you just need a volume of air compressed for a SCUBA tank or to inflate a tire. What sort and how big of a compressor you need is going to depend a lot on what sort of tools you need to run with it. A body shop running DA sanders and a paint booth all day long needs a much more robust compressor than an engine shop running impact guns and occasionally a media blast booth.
C-10 / C-20 Trailing Arm, Coil Spring Perch Rebuild
The rusty trailing arms on my 1963 C-20 were about as bad as they come, so much so I could reach my hand through some of the rust holes. About a year ago I stenciled out 3/16″ plate and welded them on both sides of the arms in order to regain structural rigidity so I could drive it safely. As you’ll see in later pictures I have yet to weld in one of the plates but it is already cut and will be welded in soon.
Adding Custom Effects to Powder Coat
Just like paint, you can create custom powder coating finishes by adding metal flakes directly into the powder . Unlike paint powders will not accept pearl additives because pearls cannot withstand the high temperatures that powder requires to cure. With that said, creating custom powders is a game of trial […]
Defining Tungsten for TIG Welding
One of the defining elements of TIG welding is the Tungsten. In fact that is what the first letter in TIG stands for: Tungsten Inert Gas. TIG uses an inert gas to shield the weld (typically Argon), a filler rod of a metal that matches what you are welding, and an electrode made of Tungsten that focuses and directs the arc. All TIG electrodes are more than 95% Tungsten, which is a rare metal used because it is hard and has one of the highest melting points of any metal. There are at least 5 distinct types of “Tungstens”, as most people call them, typically color coated based on how much of what other elements have been added.
How to Select the Right Tip for Your Paint Gun
When spraying paint with a compressed air spray gun – whether gravity feed or siphon feed, conventional or High Volume Low Pressure (HVLP) – it’s important to have the gun set up properly for the job. What you are painting is important to a certain extent, but more important is […]
Sound Deadening Paint Sprays and Mats – Benefits & Application Tips
Cars have come a long way since WWII, but they haven’t really gotten any more enjoyable, which is why we all still like to play with our old cars. Plenty of people will argue about whether a new Honda Accord could beat a first generation Mustang in a race (it probably would, no matter whether a drag strip or a road course), but no one is going to argue about how much quieter it is inside the modern car. Sure that’s both good and bad; we want to hear the 289 roar, but that freeway drone gets old after an hour or two.
How to Reduce Moisture in Compressed Air Systems
Part of getting a good paint job is having good quality air coming out of your compressed air lines. This is also important when powder coating and media blasting too. Besides the typical separator and desiccant attachments for removing moisture, there are planning, periodic maintenance, and plumbing steps you can take to help with this issue.