What do I need to paint my Carbon Cub?

[TroyBranch]

Great info. Thanks so much for taking the time on all this. I have a couple questions as I get my booth ready.

1. I'm looking for info on the compressor and the water separator/dryer/filters that should be used. Big difference in costs with some $500 for the separators/filters and some $10. Reviews seem to show that you can find them to work well in almost any price range. I'll only use it to paint this airplane and so don't want to spend more than required for 1 time use but don't want a screw up either. I read that you should run about 50' of air line and then put on the water filters as it takes that far to let the air cool down and make the water vapor larger to catch in the filters?
2. How important is the CFM rating on the compressor. Looks like with the HVLP systems, you are only using 25-45 psi at the gun, and you are not painting large volumes so. Smaller tank and compressor would seem to work. Some systems say to use a compressor with high CFM but they are extremely expensive to get them that high. I have one that is just over 5 CFM and was thinking of trying to make it work.

Mitch set me up with 2 spray guns. The factory will actually set them up to spray (1 for brush and spray and the other for final top coat) and ship them to you all ready to go! great support there.

thanks for any comments.

Air quality is important. I have an 11 cfm 60 gal compressor and it is works pretty hard. Painted two planes with no issues but I would like the compressor to take more breaks. I would go higher than 11cfm. I ran a 50ft copper line right out of the pump into a water tank to cool the air then into the tank. Not required, just makes better air. Cold air filters better than warm air. I use a Sata 3000B gun.

I also used the 3 stage Devilbiss filters. Finish quality will depend on the tools and set up. The more you spend will not always give you a better quality though as the user is a very big part in the end results.

[lbell]

Air quality is important. I have an 11 cfm 60 gal compressor and it is works pretty hard. Painted two planes with no issues but I would like the compressor to take more breaks. I would go higher than 11cfm. I ran a 50ft copper line right out of the pump into a water tank to cool the air then into the tank. Not required, just makes better air. Cold air filters better than warm air. I use a Sata 3000B gun.

I also used the 3 stage Devilbiss filters. Finish quality will depend on the tools and set up. The more you spend will not always give you a better quality though as the user is a very big part in the end results.

I bought a garage canopy from Sams Club. cut out the windows & taped on filters put 2 fans in the back. works ok for poly spray & brush but I'm taking everything to a paint booth for top coat. Too much time & money invested to take a chance.

[TroyBranch]

I bought a garage canopy from Sams Club. cut out the windows & taped on filters put 2 fans in the back. works ok for poly spray & brush but I'm taking everything to a paint booth for top coat. Too much time & money invested to take a chance.

I found that the cleaning of the surface is the most important. Blowing off the dust and tack ragging carefully 3-4 times is key. A booth that was not perfectly sealed was never the issue compared to a bad prep of the surface.

[Daveembry]

Air quality is important. I have an 11 cfm 60 gal compressor and it is works pretty hard. Painted two planes with no issues but I would like the compressor to take more breaks. I would go higher than 11cfm. I ran a 50ft copper line right out of the pump into a water tank to cool the air then into the tank. Not required, just makes better air. Cold air filters better than warm air. I use a Sata 3000B gun.

I also used the 3 stage Devilbiss filters. Finish quality will depend on the tools and set up. The more you spend will not always give you a better quality though as the user is a very big part in the end results.

I am going nto use the HVLP system and Mitch has sent me 2 guns pre-set by the factory to the correct setting for this. I did a little test just now.

I have a smaller, 22 gallon compressor that is rated at 6.5 SCFM at 40 psi. I understand that the pressure at the air gun should be around 30-50 PSI inlet pressure (at the gun). I set up my compressor and compressed air to about 120 psi in tank (it will go to 150) and set up the inlet pressure at the gun at 40 psi and pulled the trigger with the stop watch running. I NEVER let off the trigger so it was 1 continuous stream of air coming out as if I were painting and never stopped (which of course you do stop alot while painting).

I watched the gauges at the tank and at the inlet and when the tank dropped to around 50 psi I stopped even though the inlet pressure was still steady at 40 psi. The stopwatch was just at 8 minutes.

Not really having any painting experience and only going off my research, it seems that in this case, I could be spraying for 8 full minutes if I never lifted off the trigger and in reality....when painting......I imagine you could paint the entire fuselage or wing in less time than this....and when actually painting....you would be stopped occasionally and thus, the compressor would make a little headway as well.

So, it SEEMS to me that this compressor should do just fine at the 6.5 SCFM rating. Am I missing something? The key I think is the HVLP system that just doesn't use that much air pressure. I don't see where, in the HVLP case......the higher CFM compressors would be necessary since it isn't going to output any more air if not needed.

[TroyBranch]

It doesn't hurt to try what you have. Some people have added more tanks to the system with small compressors. I was spraying water Bourne and I was in the booth a lot longer than 8 mins. Remember it's all about flow. I ran 25psi at the gun, 1/2 lines from the compressor to the filters, all high flow fittings and my compressor would not shut off while spraying. It would quit about 30sec after I stopped spraying on the average. So it was almost big enough to allow it to have breaks with an 11cfm rating.


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[Daveembry]

It doesn't hurt to try what you have. Some people have added more tanks to the system with small compressors. I was spraying water Bourne and I was in the booth a lot longer than 8 mins. Remember it's all about flow. I ran 25psi at the gun, 1/2 lines from the compressor to the filters, all high flow fittings and my compressor would not shut off while spraying. It would quit about 30sec after I stopped spraying on the average. So it was almost big enough to allow it to have breaks with an 11cfm rating.


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Yes, for sure the compressor ran non-stop after the first couple of minutes but with the tank having 120 psi headstart, with me spraying 40 psi, the compressor was not able to "maintain" the 120 psi in the tank but it did the best it could but lost ground.....but it took the 8 minutes to get down to 50 psi. I might try it at a lower 25 psi inlet.

Funny......I bet the neighbors thought I was nuts, because I was pretending to paint the fuselage (but of course, just blowing air). It seemed as though I could spray both sides and top of the fuse in much less time than 8 minutes and I noticed at the factory that he liked to paint only 1 side/top at a time at 45 degree angle, then he would rotate it to the other side and then let it sit before doing the other side. He said he liked to let it spread out like that.

Here is a pretty good link to the DeVilbiss article on smaller compressors http://www.spraygunworld.com/Information2/CFM.htm.

Anyway, 8 minutes seemed like plenty of time to paint at least a section at a time ........then you could stop if need be to let it catch up before doing the next section or piece.

[aeroaddict]

Great information here. I'm starting the paint process as I have just completed all the covering.

I will be using a HVLP gun and would like to ask what size spray tip everyone is using for the Poly Brush and Poly Spray?

[Daveembry]

Great information here. I'm starting the paint process as I have just completed all the covering.

I will be using a HVLP gun and would like to ask what size spray tip everyone is using for the Poly Brush and Poly Spray?

Hi Dan, The poly fiber people told me to use a 2.4 tip for brush and spray. Good luck with it.

[aeroaddict]

Thanks Dave.

[jamiller]

IMG_0362-photopad-100-2.jpgThe “makeup” on my CC is vinyl striping which was designed, produced and applied by a local auto trim design company. Their design manager was a delight to work with and I couldn't believe how quickly and accurately he applied the vinyl. Amazing how a little color can dress up an otherwise plain white airplane. Vinyl makeup has many advantages, even if it doesn't last as long as paint as some say. First, you avoid the hassle, mess and time associated with painting. If the stuff fades too much or starts to come loose, it's relatively easy to remove and replace - with a different design if you choose. And the next owner, if the design is not appealing, can easily remove and have a plain pallet upon which to create his own design.
The whole job, including detailed design help through application and cleanup, was $600. I probably could have done the job with paint a little cheaper, but I sure eliminated a lot of prep, layout, masking and cleanup.