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tips for applying primer?

prkaye

Well Known Member
Soon it will be time to do my first priming job... ribs and spars for the HS.
I have decided to go with a self-etching primer available in rattle-cans.
I'm wondering how best to go about spraying the parts. My first thought is to lay them down on the table (newspaper under them), spray one side, and after they have dried, turn them over and spray the other side. Then repeat for a second coat.
Another option I considered is to try to hang them somehow so I can spray both sides in one go.
Anybody have any good tips, or warnings, about applying the primer?
 
Priming

What lots of people seem to do is use some chicken wire or something similar to lay the parts on. I hang when the parts are heavy but lay down when they are light. This is because unless you tie them somehow, they flop all around in space and it becomes a pain to get even coats etc.
 
Phil,

I built a small paint booth for priming. Primarily to eliminate overspray. It is 6'x3' by 6' high. I made a removable chicken wire frame to lay parts on about 4' AGL. The whole booth is covered with plastic sheeting. I ran a 1/4" threaded rod across the top to hang parts on. Later when I am at the shop I will take a couple of pics.
 
Hardware cloth (chicken wire) over a trash can works for small jobs.
Most primer dries fast enough that you can flip the parts over a few minutes after spraying.
 
I used a very hi-tech method..... bent "pants" style coat hangars to hang off of the branches of a "low branch" tree and sprayed them as they hung. Used rivet holes and tooling holes to hang the parts. In the open air, that SE primer dried in sconds.
 
Painting tip from OSH

Try to paint horizontal whenever possible. This way gravity can be your friend allowing the paint flow outward.
Steve
 
Phil,

The best way to have all of your parts look like the morning paper is to lay parts on newspaper and spray primer on them. It is a pain in the arse to get pieces of embedded newspaper off of your parts (ok, so maybe I put the primer on a little heavy, it happens). And do you really want the next owner to know that you primed the parts the same day that Foleys had another Red Apple sale? Skip the newspaper, go with the chicken wire.

One note, it does not hurt to put newspaper under the chicken wire. In fact, I would recommend it.

Cheers,
Tracy.
 
Steve said:
Try to paint horizontal whenever possible. This way gravity can be your friend allowing the paint flow outward.
Steve

Yes... but this may be a bad technique for primer.

You want to practise for a thin coat for primer. It should not run on a vertical surface.
This is a really good way to build up unnecessary weight through heavy application of primer coats..... :(

Comment is only for primer though... good idea for finish coats....

gil in Tucson
 
Phil,

I made a table out of scrap lumber, put some casters on it and covered it in chicken wire. Works great and you can roll it outside and hang parts on it after you chemical bathe them.

Bruce Pauley
VAF #582
Kitlog
Empannage
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Paintbooth

Phil,

As promised, a few pics of my paint booth. Used 1x2, 1x3 and 1x4 lumber from homedepot. all 6' lengths, very few cuts.

paintbooth1ne9.jpg


paintbooth2zf4.jpg


paintbooth3xo8.jpg
 
Man, what I wouldn't do to have room for a booth in my garage. Right now I've got: Fuse with a wing attached, all empennage parts on wall, floor panels, seats, wheel pants underneath fuse, cowling in corner of garage, building new flaps on a table, and a Honda vtx. Not to mention tools, drill, etc. You tail kit guys don't know how good you've got it!
 
folding paint booth

Since we built the RV7-A in a 1 car garage we had little space to dedicate to a paint booth. This is why I made mine foldable. It's 4X8X8 and only takes 6 inches of space along the wall when folded.

paint_booth1.jpg


paint_booth3.jpg
 
There are already plenty of good tips. However I did first trial priming myself without having practice of spraying any paint. The results were poor and I did cleaned parts for another try. Then I asked friend of mine show how to adjust the spray gun and how to paint at all. He arrived one day and set the gun and gave it to me... piece by piece and tip by tip the priming has become easier and the layer of primer has become much thinner. I ain't any master yet but the difference from HS to VS is easily visible.

So if you know anyone who has done painting with rattle cans of such earlier I suggest to ask some help. I guess rattle can will give much more paint than spray guns normally so don't know should I say this. I did started from inner corners of any kind and then sharp edges and so. Last thing to do were flat surfaces of any kind. At least if you start with spray gun from flat surfaces, you easily end up having too much paint in flat part while inner corners are still lack of paint. Also not spraying directly to corner but instead with some angle to the direction of movement should help.

This is really learn-by-doing -things. Good luck!
 
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