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Whats every one using for paint?


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With the newish low VOC rules in Maryland I was wondering what every one was using for "automtive quality" sprayed paints. I talked to the Serwin WIlliams guy today to get a feel for their product lines. I also found out its cheaper to buy the same paints from the Fisher Auto Parts store than from SW itself. Monday I plan on hitting up Mathews. Typically I use to use Duplicolor Paint Shop because of how easy it was but at the new place I need a way to colour match. This also rules out the paints I use to paint cars like House of Kolor. But I know there is a PPG and Dupont with in a reasonable distance that can match.

Do any of you people have recomendations on brands or particular lines with in a brand that works well?

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Always Matthews Get them to set you up with a mixing station then you can mix as needed and match exactly in house. It's an investment to buy all the bases but once you do that you only buy bases as you use them up. Their support is very good.

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How much does a Matthews Set up cost now a days? I spray very little metal so the initial cost of mixer and spray hood, etc was prohibitive for me.

I used a Sherwin Williams commercial division metal paint for my stuff. Self leveling, cleaned up like normally, wouldn't kill me in my little unprofessional booth and Sherwin Williams would color match it. I have red ground level signs in mountain weather next to roads for 10 years still looks decent.

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Talked to the Mathews guys today and price checked with N Glantz ( way too expensive ). Tomorrow I'm going to hit up the PPG place and see what getting it from them will cost.

As nice as a mixing station would be we just dont do enough painting to justify one. The next big expenditure I hope will be a flat bed. We do so much printing here that direct to substrate would be the best investment now. Bucket truck after that. This place has a lot of growth potential once staffing and over head are baleneced out better.

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I like latex whenever I can get away with it.

You can get some nice durable finishes with a criket spray gun and homer depot paint.

Done with all the nasty stuff in my shop

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Not sure if you might have the same option where you're at but at our local N.Glantz branch they already have a Matthews station setup so all you have to do is by the paint and they mix it for you instead of having to buy it. Other suppliers/branches might have this available as well.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Winston Churchill

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Painting properly is a big investment. Paint booth, spray gun, compressor. Then the untold gallons of paint (mix), additives, primer. But if you're going to offer your customers true custom signs. You need to invest. Oh, don't forget about someone who knows how to paint. Matthews does a school every now and then, It's worth it to send your painter/helpers to it.

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Frank, If your a sign guy I think you should stick with Axo or Mathews there supplied by your supplier. They will set you up with mixing stations, color maps, tech support, and product availability usually daily delivery's. You will then be using all the same mso data and products.

The last thing most sign shops need is a Hodge podge of automotive finishes and all the components necessary to work with the many different products. This can be a local EPA problem unless you really know what your doing.

Automotive suppliers can help you with cookers and disposal of waste, there clientele are volume users and this is where they have experience in listening and helping body shops. This knowledge is valuable to the sign industry. Your signage suppliers should know what products are code for your neck of the woods.

Love HOC a lot more signs would have some serious pow factor if the really cool stuff is used, but will people pay those cost? Cool isn't cheap and cheap isn't cool!

Be Safe with this stuff, don't be cheap with safety or the equipment needed to work with this stuff, your quality and life will depend on it!

Tks ED

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The need for a super high end paint depends on what your painting. To say all sign shops need to invest in high end Mathews is not true. Most internal sign manufactures don't need the expense or issues provided with Mathews. Most of our stuff is direct print or back sprayed onto acrylic and Mathews does NOT like being shot without a base coat or primer - in my application you can't do this and need a paint built for plastic specifically. Mathews does self level, which is great, but if you are in a high humidity area, your error rate shoots up. It's a pain in the ass to shoot properly if your not doing it all day long every day and unless you use hardeners and have a clean area for drying your 1000 sq ft of acrylic sheet before cutting, you will get all kinds of crap in it. You can't fix Mathews, you have to reshoot it - you can fix back sprayed plastic paint - or if it's to bad - it's cheap enough to cut around it and lose the piece to scrap.

Mathews doesn't chemically bond to plastic - where krylon spray paint has been chemically formulated to actually bond into the surface of the plastic by slightly melting it. Can't paint match it, but if your dealing with an accent piece, sometimes this is the easiest and best method.

Sherwin Wlliams Commercial division has been producing industry paints for over 100 years. They have hardeners and self leveling paints just like Mathews. In my area Sherwin William paint is considered "hobby" paint, so is not subject to my local legal painters issues even though the stuff is probably just as deadly if you are swallowing it and I buy 4-8 gallons a week. Obviously paint is not my bread and butter, but i do paint almost everything i manufacture, unless it's direct print.

A side note on flat beds - if you aren't running two solid to three shifts now, you probably can't afford it. Look around for slightly used equipment - there is a lot of it out there that has been used for 6 months by someone else who thought they could afford it; greatly reduced in price and still under warranty.

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The need for a super high end paint depends on what your painting. To say all sign shops need to invest in high end Mathews is not true. Most internal sign manufactures don't need the expense or issues provided with Mathews. Most of our stuff is direct print or back sprayed onto acrylic and Mathews does NOT like being shot without a base coat or primer - in my application you can't do this and need a paint built for plastic specifically. Mathews does self level, which is great, but if you are in a high humidity area, your error rate shoots up. It's a pain in the ass to shoot properly if your not doing it all day long every day and unless you use hardeners and have a clean area for drying your 1000 sq ft of acrylic sheet before cutting, you will get all kinds of crap in it. You can't fix Mathews, you have to reshoot it - you can fix back sprayed plastic paint - or if it's to bad - it's cheap enough to cut around it and lose the piece to scrap.

Mathews doesn't chemically bond to plastic - where krylon spray paint has been chemically formulated to actually bond into the surface of the plastic by slightly melting it. Can't paint match it, but if your dealing with an accent piece, sometimes this is the easiest and best method.

Sherwin Wlliams Commercial division has been producing industry paints for over 100 years. They have hardeners and self leveling paints just like Mathews. In my area Sherwin William paint is considered "hobby" paint, so is not subject to my local legal painters issues even though the stuff is probably just as deadly if you are swallowing it and I buy 4-8 gallons a week. Obviously paint is not my bread and butter, but i do paint almost everything i manufacture, unless it's direct print.

A side note on flat beds - if you aren't running two solid to three shifts now, you probably can't afford it. Look around for slightly used equipment - there is a lot of it out there that has been used for 6 months by someone else who thought they could afford it; greatly reduced in price and still under warranty.

I'm liking SW more and more. The Williams stuff just has too many specific primers for each material. And the SW guys are less than a mile away.

On the flatbed point, right now we have 2 printers running all the time. One does just banners and is an older solvent type. It however is on its way to printer heaven. I think the production manager is going to destroy it on the next head strike. The other latex printer runs all day and into the night and 1/2 of that is stuff that could be printer straight to the shocard, foam core and coroplast. My not having to apply prints to stuff would free up time to get the shop into more manufaturing.

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