digidocs
Well Known Member
Just finished painting the interior of my RV with Jetflex WR and thought I would share my learnings with any future painters. At the beginning of this project I had absolutely no spray gun painting experience so much of this may be obvious to a more experienced painter.
Setup:
- SprayIT SP-33000K LVLP spray gun with 1.7mm tip ($90)
- 1.6 HP 110V no-oil compressor (Dewalt D55146)
- Clean hose
- Regulator at gun (no extra filters)
Settings:
- Diluting the Jetflex WR with 15% distilled water was about right
- 40-45 psi at the gun worked well for a satin finish
- Fluid control was opened all the way and then screwed in until it met resistance with trigger fully squeezed
- Fan was set to give a "one hand high" pattern at about 8 inches
Learnings:
1. Preparation is the absolute key. I cleaned everything off the surface with acetone, scuffed heavily with maroon scotchbrite, and then cleaned with Kleen Strip Prep-All and blue shop towels until no more residue was visible on the rag. After cleaning I primed most parts (except removable panels) with Napa 7220 and let it cure overnight. I then blew the parts off with a blow gun and then cleaned again with the Prep-All.
2. It worked well to spray about 8" from the surface and overlap 50% between passes. I did two coats and let the first coat dry 15-30 minutes (you'll be able to see when it flashes off) before the second.
3. My air compressor was able to keep up pretty well with this setup despite its limited output.
4. Masking and dust control are important. I ended up with some small debris in a few places because I didn't do this well enough. Mask everywhere on the airplane you don't want paint!
5. Make sure to get all of the red ink and Sharpie marks off the surfaces to be painted. It will show though. Also don't use a dark primer for the same reasons.
6. The Devilbiss DeKups system is well worth the cost of the $40 starter kit. It enables you to spray at any angle including upside down and greatly simplifies cleanup. You can also save mixed paint for the next session---I kept some for more than a week. For the gun above you'll need adapter DPC-11.
7. I used a 3M nose/mouth respirator with the 60926 multi-gas filters. By keeping the filters in a sealed plastic bag between uses I was able to get them to last for more than a week of sessions.
8. If this is your first experience expect that you will mess up a bit. I'd say I did a 6.5/10 job. My wife says it looks really good. This situation is probably familiar to most RV builders.
9. As soon as you finish painting, take your gun inside and disassemble it under running water in the sink. This worked great (better than soaking in the ammonia solution), but you must be quick.
Hope that helps,
David
Setup:
- SprayIT SP-33000K LVLP spray gun with 1.7mm tip ($90)
- 1.6 HP 110V no-oil compressor (Dewalt D55146)
- Clean hose
- Regulator at gun (no extra filters)
Settings:
- Diluting the Jetflex WR with 15% distilled water was about right
- 40-45 psi at the gun worked well for a satin finish
- Fluid control was opened all the way and then screwed in until it met resistance with trigger fully squeezed
- Fan was set to give a "one hand high" pattern at about 8 inches
Learnings:
1. Preparation is the absolute key. I cleaned everything off the surface with acetone, scuffed heavily with maroon scotchbrite, and then cleaned with Kleen Strip Prep-All and blue shop towels until no more residue was visible on the rag. After cleaning I primed most parts (except removable panels) with Napa 7220 and let it cure overnight. I then blew the parts off with a blow gun and then cleaned again with the Prep-All.
2. It worked well to spray about 8" from the surface and overlap 50% between passes. I did two coats and let the first coat dry 15-30 minutes (you'll be able to see when it flashes off) before the second.
3. My air compressor was able to keep up pretty well with this setup despite its limited output.
4. Masking and dust control are important. I ended up with some small debris in a few places because I didn't do this well enough. Mask everywhere on the airplane you don't want paint!
5. Make sure to get all of the red ink and Sharpie marks off the surfaces to be painted. It will show though. Also don't use a dark primer for the same reasons.
6. The Devilbiss DeKups system is well worth the cost of the $40 starter kit. It enables you to spray at any angle including upside down and greatly simplifies cleanup. You can also save mixed paint for the next session---I kept some for more than a week. For the gun above you'll need adapter DPC-11.
7. I used a 3M nose/mouth respirator with the 60926 multi-gas filters. By keeping the filters in a sealed plastic bag between uses I was able to get them to last for more than a week of sessions.
8. If this is your first experience expect that you will mess up a bit. I'd say I did a 6.5/10 job. My wife says it looks really good. This situation is probably familiar to most RV builders.
9. As soon as you finish painting, take your gun inside and disassemble it under running water in the sink. This worked great (better than soaking in the ammonia solution), but you must be quick.
Hope that helps,
David
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