Painting Your Airplane in the Hangar?

No one seems to be going into the plastic paint booth method. A frame work built large enough to cover the plane, made from plastic pipe and fittings (Friction fit or screws used to hold things together) or from 2X4s. Draped, stapled and duct taped with 6 mill clear plastic (big roll from Home Depot) .. Overlap slit for a door works OK. We actually installed a spring closed framed door with gasket seals around and edge flange (door opened inward so pressure didn't blow it open...gasket also worked better that way)

Booth is pressure fed with duct fan or ventilation fan ducted and  blowing through two layers of furnace filters to eliminate dust. Booth exhausts through duct that exits the hangar (or the large doors are kept open) through two or three furnace filters to eliminate paint mist.

Floor of booth is mopped down before painting and/or floor is covered with a damp painters cotton drop cloth. Many florescent lights or halogen placed OUTSIDE of the booth illuminating through the clear plastic. Tyvec suit with disposable shoe covers.

Fan does not have to be anything special because it never sees any paint solvent vapors. And with good ventilation vapor concentrations never reach anything close to explosive levels. Use good organic filtered (carbon) respirator or (better) fresh air mask from remote supply source.

The plastic paint boot was a permanent part of our winter hangar and was pressurized with a "torpedo" propane heater controlled by a thermostat. After the day's work we retired to, if no plane was present, the heated  "cabana" for cold beer.

The heater helped to force dry many projects by our running the thermostat up once the paint was shot. Some people ran the heater, cut it off, shot the paint, then turned the heater/blower back on to reduce chance of any dust flying about. Our booth produced many a dust free paint job.

jls wrote: I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar.  It looks
great until you get up close.  The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it.  Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop.  He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint.  Well, I hope.  What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there.  The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities.  The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech.   The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it?  Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

--
ÿØÿà
 

No one seems to be going into the plastic paint booth method. A frame work built large enough to cover the plane, made from plastic pipe and fittings (Friction fit or screws used to hold things together) or from 2X4s. Draped, stapled and duct taped with 6 mill clear plastic (big roll from Home Depot) .. Overlap slit for a door works OK. We actually installed a spring closed framed door with gasket seals around and edge flange (door opened inward so pressure didn't blow it open...gasket also worked better that way)

Booth is pressure fed with duct fan or ventilation fan ducted and  blowing through two layers of furnace filters to eliminate dust. Booth exhausts through duct that exits the hangar (or the large doors are kept open) through two or three furnace filters to eliminate paint mist.

Floor of booth is mopped down before painting and/or floor is covered with a damp painters cotton drop cloth. Many florescent lights or halogen placed OUTSIDE of the booth illuminating through the clear plastic. Tyvec suit with disposable shoe covers.

Fan does not have to be anything special because it never sees any paint solvent vapors. And with good ventilation vapor concentrations never reach anything close to explosive levels. Use good organic filtered (carbon) respirator or (better) fresh air mask from remote supply source.

The plastic paint boot was a permanent part of our winter hangar and was pressurized with a "torpedo" propane heater controlled by a thermostat. After the day's work we retired to, if no plane was present, the heated  "cabana" for cold beer.

The heater helped to force dry many projects by our running the thermostat up once the paint was shot. Some people ran the heater, cut it off, shot the paint, then turned the heater/blower back on to reduce chance of any dust flying about. Our booth produced many a dust free paint job.

Bruce A. Frank
=============

jls wrote: I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar.  It looks
great until you get up close.  The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it.  Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop.  He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint.  Well, I hope.  What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there.  The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities.  The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech.   The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it?  Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.


 

Bruce A. Frank wrote:
No one seems to be going into the plastic paint booth method. A frame
work built large enough to cover the plane, made from plastic pipe and
fittings (Friction fit or screws used to hold things together) or from
2X4s. Draped, stapled and duct taped with 6 mill clear plastic (big roll
from Home Depot) . Overlap slit for a door works OK. We actually
installed a spring closed framed door with gasket seals around and edge
flange (door opened inward so pressure didn't blow it open...gasket also
worked better that way)

Booth is pressure fed with duct fan or ventilation fan ducted and
blowing through two layers of furnace filters to eliminate dust. Booth
exhausts through duct that exits the hangar (or the large doors are kept
open) through two or three furnace filters to eliminate paint mist.

Floor of booth is mopped down before painting and/or floor is covered
with a damp painters cotton drop cloth. Many florescent lights or
halogen placed OUTSIDE of the booth illuminating through the clear
plastic. Tyvec suit with disposable shoe covers.

Fan does not have to be anything special because it never sees any paint
solvent vapors. And with good ventilation vapor concentrations never
reach anything close to explosive levels. Use good organic filtered
(carbon) respirator or (better) fresh air mask from remote supply source.

The plastic paint boot was a permanent part of our winter hangar and was
pressurized with a "torpedo" propane heater controlled by a thermostat.
After the day's work we retired to, if no plane was present, the heated
"cabana" for cold beer.

The heater helped to force dry many projects by our running the
thermostat up once the paint was shot. Some people ran the heater, cut
it off, shot the paint, then turned the heater/blower back on to reduce
chance of any dust flying about. Our booth produced many a dust free
paint job.


An elegant solution. Essentially, a homemade
paint booth.

Don W.

Bottom line, yes.
Reality, a minute of prep saves HOURS of finish work.

You can just about correct any mistake, but it takes hours of elbow
grease and talent.
There is a reason the pros go to great lengths on their spray rooms.

As always if you have lots more time than money go for, you will learn
a lot.


jls wrote:
I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar. It looks
great until you get up close. The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it. Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop. He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint. Well, I hope. What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there. The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities. The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech. The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:46:07 -0500, " jls"
wrote:

I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar. It looks
great until you get up close. The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it. Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop. He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint. Well, I hope. What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there. The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities. The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech. The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.


If the hangar was good enough, the spray booth would never have been
invented. That said, I've sprayed in very substandard conditions - an
old chicken coop we were using as a car club building - and got a very
good finish - I washed down EVERYTHING just before painting and hung a
clean tarp over the car to keep the ceiling from dripping.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.


If the hangar was good enough, the spray booth would never have been
invented. That said, I've sprayed in very substandard conditions - an
old chicken coop we were using as a car club building - and got a very
good finish - I washed down EVERYTHING just before painting and hung a
clean tarp over the car to keep the ceiling from dripping.

--
All quite true. That said, in southeastern Florida, we had had numerous
incidents of aircraft in nearby hangars receiving overspray and the already
overzealous management at some of the local airports have gone on a rampage
over everythig from excessive mainenance in T-hangars to storage of
not-aviation items...

Besides, if you spray polyurethane (whether Imron or any of the other names)
without all of the proper equipment, you really are committing suicide--and
that's no joke.

I recommend using that additional sanding-out and polishing time for
something more productive in one's usual area of endeavor. Then pay a
professional to do a professional job on the airplane. And, yes, I do pan
to take my own advice!

Peter
IIRC, painting is not part of any 51% rule.

Peter Dohm wrote:
IIRC, painting is not part of any 51% rule.

I believe you are correct-I don't see painting on the list in FAA form
8000-38.

"Peter Dohm" wrote

Besides, if you spray polyurethane (whether Imron or any of the other
names)
without all of the proper equipment, you really are committing
suicide--and
that's no joke.

It is worth mentioning what the proper MINIMUM equipment is, although this
has been rehashed many times...

The absolute "must have" is a total, 100% fresh air breathing equipment.
Definition of that is that the air being breathed is brought into the spray
area from outside of the contaminated area. Carbon respiratiors, or any
other respireatiors will not do the job. Breathing air that comes from an
air compressor does not qualify, because that air is contaminated by the
compressor, itself. It must be designed as a fresh air breathing source, or
it can be a homebrew low pressure (blower) supply, coming from outside the
spray area. I made a fresh air system, and it was not hard or expensive,
and I had 100% faith in it.

Also, it important to cover ALL skin and the eyes, because the bad parts of
the stuff can be absorbed through the skin.

It is a worthwhile item, to be educated as to why the stuff is so bad. It
is cumulative, (it gets into your system, does it's damage, and does not
leave) and accumulates in the liver.

I recommend using that additional sanding-out and polishing time for
something more productive in one's usual area of endeavor. Then pay a
professional to do a professional job on the airplane. And, yes, I do
plan
to take my own advice!

There is nothing wrong with wanting to, and doing the painting yourself, if
you study up, and take the proper precautions, and take your time setting
everything up, and doing the job. A fantastic, homemade paint job can be a
real, major source of pride. You have to know what you are doing, and be
willing to invest the time and effort.

If that is what you are "into," go for it. If you are not willing to invest
the time and effort, the advise to take it to a professional is good advise.

IIRC, painting is not part of any 51% rule.

True.
--
Jim in NC

clare at snyder.on.ca wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:46:07 -0500, " jls"


If the hangar was good enough, the spray booth would never have been
invented. That said, I've sprayed in very substandard conditions -
an
old chicken coop we were using as a car club building - and got a
very
good finish - I washed down EVERYTHING just before painting and hung
a
clean tarp over the car to keep the ceiling from dripping.

--

Thanks, men, to each of you for all the great advice. It was very
helpful and very much appreciated.