Can an experienced painter provide a minimum list of equipment required for a backyard body shop, such as guns, compressors, ect....I want to begin painting first as a hobby and mostly motorcycles....Also, a recomendation on any usefull books, instructional videos would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bluz2001

I just want to throw in that there are great videos available on this site at http://www.autobody101.com/videos

You have a compressor, get a DA sander, a longboard(airfile)sander, cabinets to hold your bondo and fiberglass, all the accessories needed for these fillers--spreaders and graters--sandpaper in all grits(36,80,120, 150,180,220,320,400,600,800,1000,1200,1500,2000), hand blocks,50ft. airhose,a roll of green or brown paper 18", several rolls of 3M 3/4" and 2" tape or another tape brand. A good spraygun of your choice, one for primer and one for paint and clear. A 5 gal. container of all purpose laquer thinner. This list should suffice.

Is a DA sander better to use then a JITTERBUG sander?

antique wrote:You have a compressor, get a DA sander, a longboard(airfile)sander, cabinets to hold your bondo and fiberglass, all the accessories needed for these fillers--spreaders and graters--sandpaper in all grits(36,80,120, 150,180,220,320,400,600,800,1000,1200,1500,2000), hand blocks,50ft. airhose,a roll of green or brown paper 18", several rolls of 3M 3/4" and 2" tape or another tape brand. A good spraygun of your choice, one for primer and one for paint and clear. A 5 gal. container of all purpose laquer thinner. This list should suffice.

The main thing about a compressor it must have an air delivery of at least 5 cfpm at 90 psi. Anything less and you will be spending more time waiting for your compresor to catch up than actually working.
a cheap spray gun for primer and a good quality HVLP gravity feed for painting your base coats and clear.
and I have found that some heavy grade plastic sheets come in handy for covering wheels and tires when spraying around them and covering parts of your car that you don't want over spray on.
Good Luck and enjoy the hobby, I know I do.
Countilaw

Concerning spray guns, how cheap can you go for a gun for primer and what size tip? Also, for other guns such as Devilbiss, ect....Can other tips be purchased beyond what is supplied with the gun? I have searched for info on this and have not found any available. Concerning tip size, apparently this has a lot to do with personal preference. Almost all recommendations have been different. Is there a general standard as to where to start here for primer, base, and clear. I will probably use HOK products. I have read many of their tech sheets available on-line and they do not recommend a tip. Again, I intend to mainly paint motorcycles..Would a 1.0 tip size work for this?

One final question. Does anyone have a design for a home made clean air system? Materials list, ect?

Thanks for all the help.

Bluz2001