Hi All,

This is my first post but I have been reading and searching through the site for quite some time. Many thanks to Chris and all of you who contribute and share your knowledge.

So I have done lots of spraying with rattle cans over the years and got pretty good at it, but I have just finished plumbing in my 80gal compressor and am ready to attempt my first project with a spray gun.



There are two areas I could use some advice in:

1. I am using PPG Shopline products sourced locally. Epoxy primer and bc/cc. The clear they sold me is JC660 Rapid Spot. They also gave me fast hardener. The line thought at the time was that since I don't have a great environment to work in and since I am spraying a small area at a time, this combo would help keep the dust out of the paint.
It will probably be mid 70s to mid 80s when I spray and I am thinking that maybe a medium hardener would flow out better even if I get a little bit more dust. Medium hardener could also help reduce potential for solvent pop and be easier for a first timer.
Which hardener do you guys think I should use?

2. I am thinking the area on the wheels in between the double spokes may be a bit hard to get into. While I have plenty of ideas on what to try in terms of spray pattern and technique, any advice or tips in this area would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Brian

I would go with a med activator. It will help with flow out. If I where doing this project I would spray from both sides. Meaning I would tape off what you don't want paint on. Then spray into the hard part from the front of the rim and the back. This will help get full coverage without the risk of buildup or sags on the face side of the rim. I hope this make sense.

Squirrel11 wrote:I would go with a med activator. It will help with flow out. If I where doing this project I would spray from both sides. Meaning I would tape off what you don't want paint on. Then spray into the hard part from the front of the rim and the back. This will help get full coverage without the risk of buildup or sags on the face side of the rim. I hope this make sense.

Thanks Squirrel, I am going to get the medium activator instead. I understand what you mean about spraying from both sides. That was my plan as I want to paint the inner barrel as well as the face.

I paint wheels quite often. If I'm just painting the front face then I prefer to lay them down, but if doing the back as well then I've found this works quite well.



Just some fixed castor wheels from the hardware store.

I think you will find that it will be easier than you think. I recently painted a set of wheels with a double spoke pattern like yours and it wasn't bad at all.
I was worried like you about getting coverage so I initially tried to paint in between the spokes with an airbrush, but that was a failure as I had dried spray all over. Then I used my Devilbiss SRi detail gun and it really came out well with no problem getting complete coverage without runs. I used base coat with a matte clear that was a near perfect match to the OEM finish.

NFT5 wrote:I paint wheels quite often. If I'm just painting the front face then I prefer to lay them down, but if doing the back as well then I've found this works quite well.

Just some fixed castor wheels from the hardware store.

That is a great idea. Do you actually use the castors to spin the wheels to make the job easier?

Thanks

fireboat wrote:I think you will find that it will be easier than you think. I recently painted a set of wheels with a double spoke pattern like yours and it wasn't bad at all.
I was worried like you about getting coverage so I initially tried to paint in between the spokes with an airbrush, but that was a failure as I had dried spray all over. Then I used my Devilbiss SRi detail gun and it really came out well with no problem getting complete coverage without runs. I used base coat with a matte clear that was a near perfect match to the OEM finish.

Thanks for the confidence boost, its definitely appreciated. Now if I only I could stop getting called into work on my days off maybe I can actually move forward with this project!

brianjk wrote:Do you actually use the castors to spin the wheels to make the job easier?

Yep.