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Given that  Rustoleum paint is used with both of these methods,  what differences would there be between a spray gun and an aerosol can? I’m not interested in. Personal preferences. Personal experiences, yes? Thank you!  Stay safe!

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aerosol can gives poor coverage.  Can't pump the paint quantity needed to give good coverage.  Coat is thin, one reason it dries so quickly. Spray gun can push more paint which equals better coverage and less drips, splatters and so on.

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Sprays cans are cheap, cover OK if you spend some time, and when done leftovers can be used on next projects.

Oh,  and touch up cans  are readily available. Ya know-mistakes, runs, etc. No thoughts about sanding and buffing.

 

Sprays require a compressor, a decent gun, practice, and cost- big materials $$ mostly. Others seem to have done OK with paints from hardware store though. 

 

Seriously though--

 

DJ

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Depends on what you are trying to paint. And how you important the end result is to you.  Big area of coverage, or small area?  For a big area a gun is best as you can control amount of paint and  adjust spray fan. Smaller item  can be covered easier with a can. Another thing is that spray cans tend to spray dry, that is less  thinning agent . They tend to hit and stick not flow together . Not impossible to do, but harder to get a good job especially on big areas. With a gun you can adjust the amount of thinner to suit your needs. Makes it easier(after you get used to it) to do a more in depth shinier looking job with more consistent coverage.

Edited by plymouthcranbrook
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Ya I know, I am not felling all that well today, I need to keep my thoughts to myself, sorry to all.

 

DJ

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A friend of mine back in HS decided to paint his car, and thought that using spray cans would be cheaper.  Think again.  This was in around 73 or so, and it cost him around $25.00 by the time he "finished", and it didn't look as good as one of those quickie paint jobs that you could get back then for around the same amount.

 

Couple of other options - not mentioned.  A guy I worked with painted his car with Rustoleum - applied with a roller.  I would say that it looked better than it would with a bunch of spray cans, and while I don't know, I'd guess it was a lot cheaper, too.  (Looked good from 30 feet away....  Little orange pealed up closer.  Speaking of orange peal, a guy I went to Bible college with had painted his 63 Ford Falcon with a vacuum sweeper.  You know, one of those where you could attach the hose to the exhaust instead of the 'intake'.  I actually have a couple of those "paint guns", but let the vacuum I had like that go - didn't think about it enough to keep it.  Could have also used it for a fresh air supply under a sand blasting hood.  Anyway, that pint job looked about the same as the one done with the roller.)  Paint brush.  My Dad's 53 Dodge PU was painted by a buddy of his. (Back in around 1960)  Use a really good quality brush, and a slow thinner, and it will flow out really nice, no brush marks.  Probably not too many painter who would know how to do that kind of job now-a-days.  

Edited by Eneto-55
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Story is- Ford way back used lacquers painted ( early "T" days) by brush and after several coats sanded and buffed. True? Other brands?

 

DJ

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Agree with the comments on coverage.   But the most important difference between spray cans and spray guns is the 'wet edge'    One should never apply paint to a previously painted area that  has begun to dry.  Spray cans make that extremely difficult on larger items.  The small coverage area, fast dry time due to thin paint, and slow application add up to dry edges.  And that means a rough finish.

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I have seen brush painted cars that really looked good at 10 feet or so. A good painter can really minimize visible strokes.   And about vacuum painters. The very first cars I was involved in painting  with my late Brother-in Law (paint and body man) we used a low pressure spray system similar to this but of course it was 40 years ago.  https://www.bosch-diy.com/gb/en/p/pfs-3000-2-0603207100-v35498  It really did a pretty good job considering and we used it several times until we got enough money to buy a compressor and some real equiptment. My 83 Cavalier looked like a refrigerator with all the orange peel.  We rented it from a Rental place near my house.

Edited by plymouthcranbrook
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Speaking of orange peel, my brother, who was a painter at an Olds dealership in the 80's, always talked about how hard it was to match the factory orange peel paint jobs.  (Sometimes had to do a body repair on a brand new car, like one where a car carrier ramp fell onto the roof of the car below, and he had to repair the roof, and then match the robot paint job on the rest of the car.)

Edited by Eneto-55
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I use both. Large panels or multiple large panels get the gun.  I've used the cans on small pieces, like brackets, individual parts prior to install.  One of the problems with the cans on large panels is the nozzle on the cans themselves.  Most spray in a round pattern instead of the flat pattern from a gun.  I've done larger pieces with a can too as long as I can get the paint on the entire piece wet.  Harbor Freight guns will spray rustoleum just fine when properly reduced and don't cost that much.  Flash time with that setup is slow enough you can do multiple panels even while waiting for a smaller compressor to build pressure back up.  Really easy to get runs with a can also so you much exercise patience when using them.

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12 hours ago, Dave72dt said:

I use both. Large panels or multiple large panels get the gun.  I've used the cans on small pieces, like brackets, individual parts prior to install.  One of the problems with the cans on large panels is the nozzle on the cans themselves.  Most spray in a round pattern instead of the flat pattern from a gun.  I've done larger pieces with a can too as long as I can get the paint on the entire piece wet.  Harbor Freight guns will spray rustoleum just fine when properly reduced and don't cost that much.  Flash time with that setup is slow enough you can do multiple panels even while waiting for a smaller compressor to build pressure back up.  Really easy to get runs with a can also so you much exercise patience when using them.

 

Speaking of slow flash time when spraying Rustoleum, if you wear glasses with plastic lenses, wear some type of shield over them.  First pair I had like that were ruined shortly after I got them, from a fine coating of gray paint....

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I was feeling really lazy and tried Rustoleum spraybomb primer on a motorcycle tank a couple of years ago. About a week later it was still tacky so I stripped it off and used Speedokote 2 part primer I got from eBay. It sprayed and blocked just like primer and it's only $75 a gallon. I recommend it.

 

I'm leaning toward using latex and a roller from now on, maybe a push broom for big panels..

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27 minutes ago, MackTheFinger said:

I was feeling really lazy and tried Rustoleum spraybomb primer on a motorcycle tank a couple of years ago. About a week later it was still tacky so I stripped it off and used Speedokote 2 part primer I got from eBay. It sprayed and blocked just like primer and it's only $75 a gallon. I recommend it.

 

I'm leaning toward using latex and a roller from now on, maybe a push broom for big panels..

I knew one painter that used a spray gun set on flood and had a squeegee in the left hand leveling the coat as he sprayed with this right hand...trick is painting top down..

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difference between a good paint job and a bad paint job?

The good painter knows how to fix/hide his mistakes.

got a run, run it to the bottom of the panel and let the run lay on the floor.

Edited by LazyK
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On 4/23/2020 at 2:37 PM, LazyK said:

difference between a good paint job and a bad paint job?

The good painter knew how to fix/hide his mistakes.

got a run, run it to the bottom of the panel and let the run lay on the floor.

My brother-in- law used to say just run the paint to the bottom and cut off the drips with a razor blade.

Edited by plymouthcranbrook
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  • 3 weeks later...

I recently spiffed up a set of lawn mower rims that had gotten so rusty that the tires would leak down in less than an hour.  Rims were scraped then chemically stripped, washed then soaked in Evaporust per instructions.  Applied 2 coats Rustoleum primer with a foam brush, sanding 120 grit between coats.  Then 4 very thin coats of JD Yellow Rustoleum spray can...rims looked good as new, new tires hold air like they should.  Spray cans work OK for small jobs, but I prefer foam brush and roller techniques as there is less mess to cleanup...spray gun works really well for larger panels as mentioned, and I swear make less mess than spray cans :cool:

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Aerosol cans are great for painting small parts like brackets, and when trying to paint larger parts you will get a lot of dry spots. The advantage to using aerosol cans is you can have the color your painting your car put in these cans. My project car is being painted complete so I had the color put in a aerosol can and used it to paint the locks, hinges and some small parts...

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2 hours ago, Bob Ritter said:

Aerosol cans are great for painting small parts like brackets, and when trying to paint larger parts you will get a lot of dry spots. The advantage to using aerosol cans is you can have the color your painting your car put in these cans. My project car is being painted complete so I had the color put in a aerosol can and used it to paint the locks, hinges and some small parts...

You can have mixed color placed in cans but not cheaply. I remember being quoted $20-25 per can from the local  specialty mixer many years ago.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/16/2020 at 10:08 PM, plymouthcranbrook said:

You can have mixed color placed in cans but not cheaply. I remember being quoted $20-25 per can from the local  specialty mixer many years ago.


To have matched paint put in a can now around $40 in my area.

 

This morning i researched how to paint. These quick shots were very helpful. Starting today, my focus is to set up the air compressor with required filters and pressure control gauges and get all items required to paint the Sportster. 

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