Painting advice

[Dranos]

Hello,

I have been doing a few PVC signs and letters but the paint aspect of the job is not going well. The sides of the PVC really sucks up paint and is not giving me the desired finish.

I had an auto spray paint specialist paint my first job and it turned out to be too expensive and long exercise to keep as an option. I actually think can spray paint looked just as good as the job he did but I'm worried about its lifespan.

Is there a better way forward for painting my signs? I already invested in a nice air compressor, can anyone recommend a spray gun and type of paint to use?

Thanks in advance.

[jerry_stanek]

We seal the sides with Auto glaze then just a quick sanding and primer and paint. The sides come out like the top.

[Dranos]

We seal the sides with Auto glaze then just a quick sanding and primer and paint. The sides come out like the top.

Can you recommend which spray gun and type of paint is best for this purpose?

I want to be able to do this in-house. Out sourcing can be a pain with the deadlines I work with.

Thanks

[jerry_stanek]

We use an acrylic auto style paint. I am not sure what gun they use as I cut the PVC and seal the edges and another person paints them. I do know it is an HVLP gun. One guy used a gun from Harbor Freight that seemed to work good. I think they use Valspar brand paints.

[mims]

I've been working at a place that does thousands and thousands of plastic signs, PVC, acrylic, you name it. We use Matthews paint for everything plastic.

[bleeth]

You may be able to get away with a Harbor Freight or Home Depot (Campbell) gun for a while but if you are unhappy with the quality or the occaisonal spitting then you will need to step to a higher and much more expensive rig. At that point Binks is a great place to start. They are the benchmark for many pros.
Strong piece of advice: Whatever you go with clean out the gun and/or lines very well and regularly. Thinner is a lot cheaper in the long run than ruined projects or destroyed equipment. This is a trade that seems a lot easier on paper than it does in practice. Setting up to properly spray on a regular basis is extremely expensive. The "automotives" are highly toxic and have many legal requirements no matter where you are. The water-borns have their own set of challenges.

[joe]

I've gone through lots of spray equipment and one of the best I've found for the sign trade is the Critter. It requires almost no upkeep. It will spray just about any thickness of fluid. And you can store all your paint in Ball Jars. And it cost $33.00 from Amazon. This isn't the kind of equipment a cabinet shop will use for their everyday work and it's not for painting cars but every sign shop on this planet should have one for general use.

One of the neat things about this spray gun is it will also spray heavy materials such as Sculpt Nouveau, and mica rich fluids and then lay down a nice thincoat of shellac. If you forget to clean it up, and leave it over night, NO PROBLEM. It's will clean up with ease. You just can't kill this gun.

10803

Joe