Brief Description: Prepping 2nd flap and aileron - visit to paint sho
Today I started to repeat the paint process for the 2nd flap and aileron by washing and PreKote-ing the pieces. The key to washing with detergent is to use a nylon brush. The difference between using a towel and using the towel followed by a brisk brushing is easily seen in the sheeting of the water run off.
I can't imagine the extra work involved with etching and alodine. The toxicity alone would make my operation much more difficult. PreKote looks to be great stuff.
I wasn't unhappy with the amount of dust on my last pieces but I wanted to improve. Went to the paint shop to get some new booth filters. Once I told the owner of my initial success with the Imron and my desire to clean things up better, he got pretty excited and took me down to his paint booth for a tour. Clearly this booth is not being used much now and I suspect the reason is the brain damage he is clearly suffering from!!! But he talked me through how he wets the whole thing down and how he gets in and out of the booth without causing dust to get kicked up. Fine points that I can now completely appreciate. He had a commercially legal booth but I noticed that there was no fresh air system. I am TOTALLY convinced that the isocyanate containing polyurethanes cannot and should not be touched without a fresh air system.
My booth is not legal. I have exposed ceiling lights, I have my blower switches inside the booth. I'm using squirrel cage blowers. But the low VOC (volitle organic compound) paints and HVLP sprayer don't create clouds of flammable vapors. Regulation has changed the technology in interesting ways. I feel safe with my booth setup. But again, the key is a fresh air breathing system. The Axis unit you can see here. The red box produces both spray air and breathing air. It requires a lot of hose but it can be handled.
Back to my paint guy. Poor guy forgot to charge me for stuff again just because the phone rang. He can't keep his train of thought if there are any interuptions. He admits it and I can se
