mljdeckard
Member
I'm halfway through my first duracoating project, and I have learned a couple of things. (It's a knife, not a gun.)
The much celebrated red solo cup is not a good vessel in which to mix Duracoat and reducer. It will melt. Get a pint-size mason jar.
Likewise, you cannot guesstimate reducer in a plastic spoon. Get some stainless steel measuring spoons. Keep a container of mineral spirits to drop the spoon in.
Make sure your connections are all good. If your air hoses have been sitting for a while, you may want to make sure that all of your connection seals are still good. You don't want your air to run out mid-spray.
Use a compressor of significant size. A little one will work, but make sure you don't keep spraying as your air depletes.
Harbor Freight sells cheap stuff. Doesn't mean it's GOOD stuff. My HVLP sprayer is leaking air, and I have to be VERY careful to make sure I hit the target with the beginning of the air shot, because it starts sputtering at the end. I really think I would be better off with a Paasche airbrush. I get good atomization at the beginning of a burst, I can't use all of it.
One reason I would prefer an airbrush, I can mix the paint in smaller amounts, and not have to commit to only using one color at a time.
When you are done with your sprayer, run a full hopper of mineral spirits through it. If you have an HOA, spray it over your rear wall into the desert wilderness behind your place. Don't tell anyone.
I ran a paracord clothesline over a non-grassy part of my backyard, and I use zip-ties to hang parts on it to spray. You can slide them back and forth out of the way. This seems to be working quite well.
Check for yellow-jacket nests in the area BEFORE you commit to spraying.
Keep more Duracoat on hand than you think you will need. You don't want to have to do a do-over and have to wait for Midway to get the stuff back in stock.
I had visions of doing this for profit, I don't know if I will ever be able to do it fast enough to make it time effective at all.
The much celebrated red solo cup is not a good vessel in which to mix Duracoat and reducer. It will melt. Get a pint-size mason jar.
Likewise, you cannot guesstimate reducer in a plastic spoon. Get some stainless steel measuring spoons. Keep a container of mineral spirits to drop the spoon in.
Make sure your connections are all good. If your air hoses have been sitting for a while, you may want to make sure that all of your connection seals are still good. You don't want your air to run out mid-spray.
Use a compressor of significant size. A little one will work, but make sure you don't keep spraying as your air depletes.
Harbor Freight sells cheap stuff. Doesn't mean it's GOOD stuff. My HVLP sprayer is leaking air, and I have to be VERY careful to make sure I hit the target with the beginning of the air shot, because it starts sputtering at the end. I really think I would be better off with a Paasche airbrush. I get good atomization at the beginning of a burst, I can't use all of it.
One reason I would prefer an airbrush, I can mix the paint in smaller amounts, and not have to commit to only using one color at a time.
When you are done with your sprayer, run a full hopper of mineral spirits through it. If you have an HOA, spray it over your rear wall into the desert wilderness behind your place. Don't tell anyone.
I ran a paracord clothesline over a non-grassy part of my backyard, and I use zip-ties to hang parts on it to spray. You can slide them back and forth out of the way. This seems to be working quite well.
Check for yellow-jacket nests in the area BEFORE you commit to spraying.
Keep more Duracoat on hand than you think you will need. You don't want to have to do a do-over and have to wait for Midway to get the stuff back in stock.
I had visions of doing this for profit, I don't know if I will ever be able to do it fast enough to make it time effective at all.
