Sprayers Electric vs. Air vs. foam roller

[MYX]

Hey guys,
I am looking at not using spray paint for my cab and actually putting out money for a sprayer. What are the result differences between electric and compressed air? Furthermore, how do they compare against a good foam roller?

[Bill Mote]

I tried a Wagner power sprayer when priming the plywood for my cabinet.  I had primer/sealer tinted to a nice even gray and loaded up the sprayer.  I took the boards outside and laid them across a couple of saw-horses.  The sprayer puts the paint on very thin and it's messy.  I mean *messy.*  Did I mention that it's messy?!

I pulled out a roller and pan and was actually able to paint the boards faster "by hand."  I primed and sanded the wood 2x before applying the first coat of paint.  I have an orbital finishing sander so the job was fast and easy.  I ended up rolling 3 coats of paint sanding between each.  I'm very pleased with the finished paint job on the cabinet.

dot

[brained]

I used a Foam Roller and it turned out to be a wonderful job. Each coat with a roller takes about ten minutes; so it's good, cheap and fast. Save the money and put some bling bling to your cab 

[Stingray]

I tried some kind of cheapie electric sprayer once. It sucked ass. Real ass, not like soy ass or something.

Real men use compressed air.

-S

[versapak]

I tried some kind of cheapie electric sprayer once. It sucked ass. Real ass, not like soy ass or something.

Real men use compressed air.

-S

Yep


Though...

Unless you have plenty of other uses to justify the cost of compressed air, then a foam roller is going to be your best way to go.

[Stingray]

Being a real man isn't enough reason?

I painted my NEO-GEO with a roller. Turned out pretty nice, I thought.

-S

[MYX]

Did you get any roller marks or was it smooth as if spray painted?

[Bill Mote]

Smooth as silk.  The key is in the surface preparation.  That's why I put 2 coats of primer on sanding before and after each coat.  The surface I ended up with is incredible.  Just don't get lazy on the preparation and you'll be golden.  I put 3 layers of the final coat on.  You wouldn't believe how great it looks.

I used paint-grade (b-grade if memory serves) 5-ply 3/4" plywood.  I primed both sides of the wood, but I did not give the inside as much attention.  A buddy told me to paint the inside as it would smooth out the surface a little and it would hold less dust/cobwebs.  So far I think he's right.  The cab has been built for 1 year and the inside has stayed very clean.

Don't skip the light sanding between layers of paint.  It *will* make a difference.

dot

[DrewKaree]

First, if you're gonna spray it, you need to use an HVLP sprayer.  That's probably why dot's experience was messy.  Wagner only makes 2 HVLP sprayers that I know of, and they aren't common.  The regular Wagner sprayers are loud and annoying, and require so much thinning to not clog the dang things up, you'll need twice as much effort to achieve half the desired result.  Their HVLP sprayers are lots nicer, but are probably more than you'll be willing to spend.

The air-powered HVLP sprayer will look the nicest
The foam roller will look nice with the least amount of money spent.
The electric HVLP sprayer will look almost as nice as the air sprayer with scads more money spent than the foam roller.

If you don't have a compressor, then the air-powered HVLP sprayer will end up costing you more than the electric's.

[MYX]

If rolling works that well, I will probably go with that. Hey Dot, What grit sand paper did you use. I sanded my Ms. Pac.  LINK The only problem is that I kept getting blotches when I was spraying and when I sanded it, it seemed to make things worse. I want my MAME cab to have no blotches. Although, I am assuming that when one builds a cab they intend for it to be perfect prior to construction, but settle for "looks good enough" after they start. I am going to try to have a flawless machine. But I guess, we'll have to see.

[rlemmon]

hi myx. I also used rollers for my cab and it turned out great, smooth and shiny. I used the fine finish rollers and latex paint.
I gave it 3 coats of latex primer and three coats of black semi gloss latex. Like dot said surface preparation makes all the difference in the world. I used a belt sander loaded with fine grit sand paper and sanded everything smooth between each lair of paint and primer. It makes a huge difference in the final appearance. I also used a new roller with each coat of paint to avoid any thing that may have gotton on the rollers. It's not exactly necessary but whats a few extra bucks for extera rollers when your already sinking a ton of cash into a machine. Here's apic of my fineshed cab, You can click it to see a fullsize

[Doc Thirst]

I spent a while doing housing rehabs and sprung for a highend airless sprayer.  It set me back nearly 2K but the high psi lay on a nice finish.  Being airless, it also offered an even coat throughout all my painting projects.  There is a downside though.  First off the over-spray can't be ignored.  You MUST protect surfaces that you don't want painted or you will have a big mess on your hands.  Speaking of messes, cleaning and priming can be messy as well.  The only other downfall is the amount of paint you have to use.  I would venture to say I use 25% more paint with the sprayer vs. hand painting.

All that being said, I love my sprayer and fear the day is breaks down on me.  Although as many people have eluded to, you get what you pay for (maybe even more so with paint sprayers).  So if you don't see a need (and have the resources) to drop a few bones on one piece of equipment I suggest you don't bother.

[Doc Thirst]

Damn, spaced out one of the best stories I have about painting.  As I mentioned I did a stint in rehab (no not THAT rehab) along with my cousin.  My cousin is kind of a free spirit to put it nicely.  Well anyways I was painting in one room and had him monitoring the sprayer and paint supply in the other.  I guess in the process of dragging the hose into the other room I caused a small puncture.  Well paint was spraying everywhere so my cousin in all his wisdom opted to thumb the hole instead of just killing the sprayer.  Well 2500 psi does weird things to a human thumb.  In a split second his thumb swelled to twice it's size, filling with paint.  Instead of going to the doc he just squeezed as much paint out as he could.  Over the next few weeks his injury got worse and finally ended up with him in the hospital.  Although he kept his thumb and still has full function, it still looks really creepy.  His career as a hand model are clearly over.

[Bill Mote]

Hey Dot, What grit sand paper did you use.

Well ... it was probably 180 or 200 as I recently moved and that's all I remember seeing for my orbital.  Don't hold me to that as it's been ~1 year and I'm having trouble remembering last week.

dot

[MYX]

smooth and shiny

mmmmmmm shiny. Nice job.

I am leaning towards oil, but I think that the roller has it. My orbital sander seems to leave ruts. It is like you can see that it is sanding but there is an additional squigly line that is also left behind. I am thinking that some how a screw is poking throught he paper or something. I have touched the surface trying to find whatever is causing it but can feel nothing out of the ordinary.

[rlemmon]

"mmmmmmm shiny. Nice job."

Thanks. I worked ---my bottom--- of building that machine. I have heard people say that oil based paint takes forever to dry but i haven't tried it my self. What are you building your cab out of ? I used 3/4 mdf. I was glad i did. I used plywood for the first cab i made. I foolishly thought i could fill in the knot holes & defects with putty, Then just sand the hell out of everything.
needless to say the cab ended up looking like crap. If you cant figure out whats wrong with

[MYX]

I was reading about some stuff in Saint's book. It is like a hybrid between ply and MDF. It has several layers of ply and then is topped with MDF. It is supposed to be lighter and stronger. My hunch is that it is also about 3 times as expensive. I have not found it yet to get pricing. I am getting nervous as the cost of this thing is growing skyward at an alarming rate. I am close to 1k more on my list and I already have IPAC, Arcade VGA, Happs 3 in Track Ball, Joysticks and buttons, but it looks like I will be re buying buttons as I am attracted to things that light up. So LED lit buttons and LEDWIZ too.

The hibrid stuff would be great as I can keep a nice outside and the strength to screw into on the inside. um... that just sounded a little wierd. 

[MYX]

I am probably going to sell my Defender to pay for it. 
But I will be able to play Defender on the new Cab. 

[DrewKaree]

My orbital sander seems to leave ruts. It is like you can see that it is sanding but there is an additional squigly line that is also left behind. I am thinking that some how a screw is poking throught he paper or something. I have touched the surface trying to find whatever is causing it but can feel nothing out of the ordinary.

It sounds as if you're going too fast.  A random orbit sander CAN still leave marks if you're going too fast.  Other than that, I'd guess you have something stuck in the sandpaper or there's something you're missing on the pad.

Who makes your sander, and how does the paper attach?  Mebbe a picture of it might help too

[MYX]

It is a Makita. It is an older model. I got it for $5 at a garage sale (first clue).
I will try to get a picture up tonight. The paper has adheisive on the back and you just stick it to the pad.

[DrewKaree]

 The paper has adheisive on the back and you just stick it to the pad.

Hey, that garage sale isn't a clue at ALL brudda!  Many's the wife whose husband has passed on or divorces or what have you and "I just want all these big oxy tools OUT of my house"!  I once picked up a compressor and 300' of hose (lord only knows why he had that much) for $20, and resold it for $200!  Looking back, I wish I needed the compressor more than the cash, but such is life 

It sounds as if there was something stuck to the paper before it was thrown on there to me.  I had one of those PSA sanders, and ever since switching to a velcro sander, I can't understand how they sell those things.  The discs aren't tons more, and if you want to switch grits, you don't essentially throw away a disc that more than likely is still good and has some use left in it, so how much are you REALLY saving by using PSA's? 

Sorry to go off ranting there, but like I said, sounds like you had something stuck underneath the paper before it was stuck to the sander.

[spriggy]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35595.msg318872#msg318872

Good Luck with your method of choice.

[MYX]

Thanks Spriggy, That was a good read. I have a friend that is a manager of a big auto shop. I will ask him if there is any way to use a paint room. When he tells me no, I will probably use the foam roller. I think that I can live with orange peel.

I am also considering painting an image on the side. I got a screen capture from Toy Story. Buzz and Woody walk into an arcade. They walk up next to to cabs. On the left there is a beaver with a machine gun. I laughed so hard when I saw it. It captured the spirit of side art while being completely ridiculous. And I, my friends am all about being ridiculous. I will post a picture when I get home.

[MYX]

Here are the pix from Toy Story. I think that this would be great It is simple art.

[MYX]

I went into photoshop and worked with the colors a little to see what it would look like with blue sky. (this is actually how I remembered it untill I saw the movie again last month and found out it wasnt like this at all.

[MYX]

Hey,
Would this work for a good air sprayer? Or is this a bad idea?

[DrewKaree]

Hey,
Would this work for a good air sprayer? Or is this a bad idea?

What?  Printing out the post, rolling it up, and blowing the paint on?  I gotta say, bad idea