June 2011 The Paint Spot Newsletter

This is officially the one year anniversary of our newsletter, and I have to reflect on how and why it came to be. As most of you know, it was a customers idea (that's the how ) but the why was all me! Now before ya ll get the impression that the Why took more brains to come up with than the How , let me be perfectly honest ..IT DIDN T! As a matter of fact, it's so simple, that it borders on laziness and an inability to multitask (us men are always bad at that). I had to be able to reach all of the existing customers as well as perspective new customers. Since we run this place with little more than a skeleton crew, how else would I be able to keep up contact with everyone? Ideally, I should be out visiting all of you on a regular basis, but since I've put myself at your disposal for body work and paint work, it's next to impossible to do that. Example: I worked at Chopped and Diced every Monday (and a couple of weekends) for four and a half months

FOR FREE! This newsletter is a venue for letting you know that I'm here for all of you, and I take any and all questions seriously. I address things that are of concern to you, as well as come up with solutions to problems that come up in our industry. I try to give you the most thorough and cost effective way out of any situation that I think of, or you bring to my attention. There is also the added benefit of me not taking up precious time by being at your place while you're trying to get your work done. You can read this newsletter at your leisure. There s nothing worse than listening to some salesman s bullshit (just because you don't want to be rude) all the while you're really thinking I wish this guy would get the hell out of here, I got work to do (yeah, that's right, I do what you do, and I've felt that way a thousand times). Besides, when I do actually get out to your place, you're generally glad to see me!

If you're like me, you're learning how to paint again. Yes, here in Texas we usually have to learn to paint twice a year, once, when it gets cold, and once when it gets hot! I personally love to paint when it's cold. I typically use slower than normal chemistry, and when it's cold, I get the best looking paint jobs because of the added flow times. Now, since we're in the hotter time of the year, I ll share some tips for getting the paint and clears to flow out better and longer.

The first factor is obvious, but what isn't so obvious is that because of it, everything else changes. Because it's hot, the air, the gun (and how it's set up), the reducer, the hardener, and last but not least (the sandpaper s a given) The air; Air is really important. Ideally the air should have 5% or less humidity. (I can test your air and advise upon request) The more air pressure you have in a hot temperature, the faster your paint/ clear will set. I don't know how many times I've seen painters adjust air according to what it sounds like. If you're doing this

Have you ever read the P- sheet on any sprayed material? It will tell you the pressure for the gun (HVLP or SIPHON FEED) that number will be the higher of another number that is the more important of the two... The air cap ! The air cap pressure is a no nonsense , no bullshit , extremely important number, that will net you Hands Down the best results. So what is the air cap pressure, and how can we read it? The air cap pressure is read with an air cap pressure gauge . Nobody ever gets one for three reasons.

Number one; No one thinks they need one. Number two; Their expensive. Number three; Their different for every gun, and every style.

Recently, I had a customer order one. His name is Chester Wagner . Chester is a hands on guy that is in the process of doing his own restoration on an old Studebaker. I have given him tips and demos on painting on that same car, and in the process Chester has done whatever it took to get better (and he did) as well as upgrade some of his tools. In doing that, he bought an Iwata LPH 400 with a 1.3 tip from The Paint Spot and in the literature that comes with it; it recommends 8-10 lbs @ the air cap. Being the guy he is, he wanted one, so we ordered him one and it came last Friday. Now Chester I know you ll be reading this, so please forgive me for what I'm about to say. Since it's Memorial day weekend, and the gauge came in late on Friday, and I figured we d get it out to you when the long weekend was over (Tuesday), oh, and the fact that all my guys (including me) at Slix are using LPH 400 s, I would test it out on our guns first (you know, I had to make sure it worked)! WOW, I was one of those guys that thought I didn't need one either, until I saw what kind of pressure we were getting at the air cap. We were way off, and that's after I had learned a lot from Brian Lynch (Matrix). I am using a RTI diaphragm regulator on my gun and with 8-10 lbs at the air cap my regulator reads 11.5 10 at the air cap with my LPH 400, my gauge needs to say about 12.0 lbs. My son Shawn and Patches both use a SATA restrictor valve and gauge on their LPH 400 s, and their gauges both read 22.0 lbs to get 8 10 lbs at the air cap (which is dead center of the green triangle area in that gauge). Let me tell you, it makes a big difference when you bring the air back that far. You literally have to learn all over, but the reward is plenty. Paint goes on wetter, flows longer, lays out smoother, metalics orient better, and you use a lot less material. The gun; Although I prefer to use a gun with a 1.3 fluid tip, a 1.4 will actually work better in hot weather. Now I'm not telling you to go out and buy a new gun, I'm merely stating a fact. Here s for all you guys with 1.3 s (myself included). All you have to do to replicate a 1.4 is increase the fluid, dial down the fan, or decrease the air. A 1.3 can replicate a 1.4, but a 1.4 cannot replicate a 1.3. There are times when you would be money ahead to get another gun (with a 1.4 tip), and here s an example. Recently I was out at Riske Fleet . I was asked to assist Pete in painting a Peterbuilt that was completely (and I mean completely) redone. This project was what I consider to be custom , in that the frame, drive train, interior, and even the trailer was restored. Typically, in that situation the vehicle would be painted with Northstar (Imron) polyurethane, but the guys at Riske (Donnie, I'm sure you had a lot to do with it) decided to do the job in Matrix MPB base coat / clear coat (MS 42). The colors chosen were Gold and Brown. The cab and sleeper were gold metallic and the fenders were a metallic brown. Because of the excessive surface area, me and Pete split it up, I painted one side and Pete painted the other at the same time. Actually, Pete painted more because I had a bum leg that day (I screwed it up kick starting a Harley Davidson the week before). Pete was using his older model LPH 400 IWATA with a 1.4 tip, and I was using a new SUPER NOVA IWATA with a 1.3 tip. Pete got a lot better flow with his gun than I did with mine. Reducer; I always use a slower reducer than what the temperature says you need. We re selling a lot of MR 0885 (85 degree) reducer, and at Slix we've been using 95 and even 98 degree reducer for the past several weeks. Too many of you are going by the average temperature outside and not what will get you the most flow. You need to realize that the wetter your base coat is, the better the flow, and the smoother the base will layout for the clearcoat that will follow. A lot of times a painter will wish that the clearcoat had been sprayed more wet because of the orange peel , when it was actually the base that was sprayed too dry, or didn't flow out well due to too fast of reducer.

Slower is actually faster! Hardener; Here again, slower is faster. We (SLIX) are and have been using MH- 008 (very slow), The Paint Spot is selling more MH- 006 (slow) and MH -005 (normal). Now if you make the adjustments mentioned above (in the AIR / AIR CAP comments) this will net you better flow, but for the rest of you try closing the fan, decreasing the air, and slow down the hardener. Make sure you put a full coat on your first pass, as Matrix clear will not overcome an orange peeled first coat, no matter how much you put on next! I usually spray my first coat with a 70% overlap and the second with a 100% overlap (I only spray 2 coats).

Recently we took on the Transtar line, and I have to say that not everyone was impressed. Several people have said why did you get involved in that shit? Well number one .Because I could! Believe it or not, they have done extensive research on what other companies have done, and more importantly what others have not done. And since the situation presents itself, I ll let you in on an awesome product that I got my hands on and have personally tried. It s called APPEARANCE IMPROVER Part# 6487, and it's made for hot weather (90 degrees and above). Although it says for all Transtar Clears , it works perfectly in Matrix (Matrix has no such product). I wanted to give it the acid test , so I used it with the Matrix RSC 220 clear and the RSA 227 hardener. The vehicle was a Porsche 911 sc targa and a complete paint job. The booth at Slix is temperature controlled, but for the purpose of this experiment I let the temperature get as hot as mother nature would let it. It was 112 in the booth when I went in and it went down to 102 when we turned on the exhaust fan. I knew that my choice of the RSA 227 was not good for this temp and that I would normally have used the MH-008 instead, as it's slower but also more expensive. The instructions on the appearance improver say oz (less is best, especially when you don't know what to expect). The product worked just like Transtar said it would, and with no loss of gloss (like retarder would have done). It added flow time and got me a much smoother job than could have been possible with that temp, and that hardener (and I would know, I've used RSA 227 hundreds of times before). That s not to say that I wouldn't make changes next time. Next time I ll add 1oz per quart to get it even slicker . Sandpaper; If you're spraying base clear use 600 grit! (I use water) If you use anything coarser, you won't get a smooth even finish. I see a lot of you using 400 or even 320, and you wonder why metallic is streaked or clear doesn't layout smooth and glossy. Here s something else I've seen ..sanding with too fine of sand paper! I know who s spreading that bullshit, but I promised I wouldn't go there anymore, at any rate DON T DO IT, YOU LL LOOSE THE MECHANICAL BOND!!!!!!!!!

Something coming up! As I have said, we at The Paint Spot in an effort to keep costs from going up have put our suppliers on notice that we intend on doing whatever it takes to keep our customers costs from rising. Alternate suppliers, and absorbing costs are both considerations, and recently we found that the mixing cups were targeted for just such an increase. Well, I warned them, so now we have to get them somewhere else. Like so many things, something good can come from a negative situation, and that's exactly what happened! As it turns out there s a company who will match our old price and there s an added benefit, the new cups will have The Paint Spot printed in two colors on them! And because we're so excited about the added PR , we're lowering the price by 5%. This special along with some other stuff will run the entire next quarter! So be on the look out for the next sale flyer!