Hello, I’m new here and this is my first post. I am painting an airplane (homebuilt) using Axalta AF400 series paint (AF403 packaged white to be specific) and I am pretty sure it contains isocyanates. I have been using a respirator with 3M 6003 cartridges, but have read a few things recently that claim that no cartridge is really adequate for isocyanates and that a forced fresh air respirator is needed. Anyone here more expert in the PPE field than me who can comment? I have posed this question to my Axalta paint supplier, but haven’t received an answer. I suspect this may be a question they will dodge given liability concerns. I looked at the Hobby Air systems and they aren’t super expensive. Looks like I could get one with a full hood for well under 1 AMU. AMU = Aviation Monetary Unit which is $1,000. Pilots and airplane owners use AMUs as it sounds better to tell your wife that something only cost 2 AMUs rather than 2 grand. 😂

Currently working on a fiberglass bodied dune buggy. Other than the original gel coat, the body has been painted once around 2016. That paint consisted of a layer of primer (definitely not a high build) and a base color + Clear coat. I've started the bodywork, correcting the previous repairs that used a regular body filler rather than actually repairing fiberglass and using a body filler made for fiberglass. The areas that need repair get taken down all the way to bare fiberglass. My question is how far down to I need to sand the other areas. I know that there's no way to see all of the potential problems without removing the latest respray, but can I stop at the original gel coat layer or do I need to strip EVERYTHING down to the bare fiberglass? My original thought was that I'd take it down to the gel coat, cover with an epoxy primer and follow that a high build primer to block it? While I don't want to waste time sanding if it isn't needed, it would be way worse to waste the sanding time, the materials cost, AND additional time to re sand because of a skipped step that causes an issue. Any guidance greatly appreciated.

I am getting started on building my paint booth. It will be modular, 12 x 24 ft, with 6 x 8 ft panels that will be fastened together. I've got a 5000 cfm exhaust fan, and was planning to use it to blow air into a plywood plenum, through a dozen intake filters, and then exhaust out the other end through exhaust filters. This will be inside my 40x50 shop that has heat and AC. It will pull conditioned shop air in, but I am uncertain if it can be just be exhausted through the exhaust filters into the shop, or if I need to make it a negative pressure booth, pulling air out and exhausting it outside. I was thinking of using zipwalls to allow me to enter/exit, and also for the truck parts to enter and exit. I would sure appreciate any info/recommendations anyone to help me figure this all out.

So after watching Aarons recent YouTube video on bone dry air, I decided to share a picture of my aftercooler setup that I recently finished. I used a 10 x10 transmission cooler with AN to NPT fitings to connect it to the copper lines. As you can see in the picture, I put a water separator at the lowest point to expel any accumulated water each time it runs. I used a transformer from Amazon to convert from 240V AC to 12V DC, pulling off the compressor supply, converting it to 12V, so now the fan cuts on whenever the compressor receives power. The temp of the cooler intake line runs over 250F, but coming out of the cooler is only 84 degrees, and by the time it gets back to the tank, is about 75F. After 2-3 days of running here in NE Tennessee, I drained the tank and only got 1 oz of water out of it. I hope this helps someone.

A friend of mine on the other side of Finland is doing a nut-and-bolt restoration of an early ‘70s Opel Diplomat. He chose to paint the car with Tikkurila Temadur 90, an industrial 2K polyurethane that’s a single-stage silver metallic. He’s not happy with the result, mainly because of tiger striping. From what I’ve been able to find, he used a generic, inexpensive thinner that appears to have been a fast thinner. He also sprayed the car with a sub-$100 bottom-feed spray gun (probably not ideal! 🤣). He knows I’ve been trying to learn automotive painting and has invited me to respray the car. I plan to use an Iwata WS-400 Series 2.1 Clear gun with either a 1.3 HD or 1.4 HD setup. I’ll spray a number of test panels in my shop before driving over to paint the car. I’ve already picked up some slow thinner for the test panels, as I think it may help reduce tiger striping, especially since it’s a relatively large car. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I’ve only sprayed one complete car before, and that was more than 30 years ago. The doors will be installed, but the hood, trunk lid, and sunroof will be sprayed separately on stands.