Paint spraying advice.

Right, I'm about to spray the van sides and new doors on my deepender. I'm happy with the preparation. I've got the compressor and spray gun. I've got the paint (synthetic) and thinners. I'm fairly confident that I can get a reasonable finish, having done some smaller panels with aerosol cans.
I have just 2 questions, which I can't seem to find the answer to elsewhere.
1. What ratio of paint to thinners should I use (50/50?)
2. What pressure should I set the filter / regulator to on my compressor?

All advice gratefully received.

paint spraying, air compressors, paint spray gun, power tools, pro tools Try this

Cheers Pikey.
Lots of useful info in there, but I can't find the answer to my specific questions.

About 25/30psi for the pressure can't help wiv the consistancy buy one of those viscosity cups. they'll have instructions and stuff

just found this 50/50 and 70/30 for the top coat according to these guys thinning paint

Ye'll probably need hardener too

Thanks again, but that refers to Cellulose paint and I'm using Synthetic - dunno whether there's a difference or not.

Treworgey 90 said:

Thanks again, but that refers to Cellulose paint and I'm using Synthetic - dunno whether there's a difference or not.

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No it don't, trust me. Ah used the synthetic paint on mine, and after the 3rd or 4th try ah was for giving up, ask some one who did spraying and they sed to use the 2k fast hardeners. Guess wot, they were right. I just split the thinners and hardeners 50/50. Ye might want to try a scrap bit of metal first though to see if it will set, it'll save a lot of grief if ye dont

bustersbus said:

No it don't, trust me. Ah used the synthetic paint on mine, and after the 3rd or 4th try ah was for giving up, ask some one who did spraying and they sed to use the 2k fast hardeners. Guess wot, they were right. I just split the thinners and hardeners 50/50. Ye might want to try a scrap bit of metat first though to see if it will set, it'll save a lot of grief if ye dont

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This is right. I have sprayed loads of taxis with synthetic and the only gripe I have with it is the length of time it takes to dry. Nice shiny finish though. I set the pressure at 3 bar.

Thanks for that - I've ordered some hardener as well now.
Just got to hope for the right weather now!

what ever ratio you use just remember if yer put a bit more thinners than paint you will get a better shine, it all depends on where you are going to be painting the said parts. if the ambient temperature is warm then you can afford for the paint to be a bit thinner, if its not too warm then you need it a bit thicker.yer better off puttin a blow heater behind the panels while yer paint em, that way the paint weill cling to em saving yer from great big runs

With synthetic paints they are already quite thin and only need aboot 10/15% thinner (you can use petrol as a thinner with synthetic), one quick and easy way of determening if you have the correct viscosity is to mix the paint with a thin stick or metalic rule, pull the stick out of the paint and let the paint on the stick dribble back into the pot, if there are air bubbles coming back up through the rest of the paint in the pot that is correct (only add small measures of thinner at a time). Of all the synthetic paints that I have sprayed over a 34 year period I have never used a catalyst/hardener as the paint is oil based not as 2 packs that are a polymer requiring aa acclerrant. The pressure to use at your gun should be between 45 to 60psi to give the correct atomisation of paint (less will cause large droplets, more very small droplets requiring many coats). Synthetic paint was designed to be 1 coat only for commercial vehicle painting but best to give the panels one very thin coat and let it "flash off for 15 to 20mins before applying the second and final coat (still only a thin coat)

Hmm.....bit confused now... apparently conflicting advice.
I found a merkin web site with fairly detailed instructions fer painting with Synthetic. They say 8:2:1 (Paint:Thinners:Hardener) and 3 bar pressure.
As I'm going to be spraying outdoors in the autumn, I'm worried that I'll have problems if it doesn't dry pretty quickly.
Think I'll do a trial patch using the hardeners and see what happens.