Tooling gel coat application

Hi Herman I wish your colleague/friend live closer ...

 

Do you have a pressure pot complete ??
They are easy to set up and you can make one yourself ! just a few basic things to remember that are good to have and make it very versatile !!

Spraying dura tech is ok because you dont have to keep cleaning the pot and gun etc etc . You could spray all day if you wanted to one pot after the other .
To make life a little easyer i use plastic containers that fit neatly inside the pot so its one less part to clean at the end of the job . I have never taken much notice of nozzle sizes becasue all you do is up the pot pressure if you want more paint or what ever . You need to be able to regulate the air pressure to the gun as well . once paint flow and gunair pressure is set just mix each brew the same and you are away . Have never ever had any two pot paints or dura tech ever go off in any kind of gun .
When we used to spray gel coat i used a egg timer and set it for 15 minutes the moment the catalyst was poured into the gelcoat and mixed . that way you knew exactly how long you had to work with what you have and if the timer went off and you hadnt finished the pot then you still had 5 minutes safely before the gel coat would start to thicken and you had to clean the gun .
First flush i use dirty acetone and turn the air completely off the gun so only the pot has pressure and dosent make such a mess everywhere , the acetone just squarts into a container same with the second flush as well , then stripe the spray gun completely apart and I always leave the gun in bits soaking in a airtight container with acetone till next time its to be used .

One company we made shower cubicals and would have up to 8 color changes during one spray session every afternoon so started with all the white and light colors and gradually got through to Royal blue at the every end and last to e sprayed . Same method of cleaning each time .
Had schooled up a lady that sprayed all the time and she made a absolute perfect job . At the end of one year the spray gun was just like new and shiney and spotlessly clean .Each time the gun was re-assembled it got a light finger wipe of petrolium jelly like grease on all the threads so they could come apart easy and quickly if anything happened !!

The diameter of the paint supply hose from the pot to the gun is quite important !a big hose the movement of gel coat is slow through the hose so will cling on the inside of the hose and go off after the second pot so need to flush more fequantly !!.
A to smaller hose and you have to run a higher pressure in the pot , about 8mm to 9 mm dia inside ,needs to be acetone resistant semi clear plastic hose is ideal as you can see the flow of paint or gel ,and when you flush it you can see if its 100% clean .
Its all pretty basic and simple !!!.
Simple is always best !!

 

Hi Tunnels, today I will take some pictures of our pressure pot and gun it is a quite sturdy well made unita initially made for spraying other stuff but that we conveniently modified. your tips are truly interesting and true gifts since the small tricks of the trade you are giving me are not available anywhere, only thorugh experience and this is something we do not have .......... baut as applied to many other situations there is always a first time

 

Ok i will wait for the pictures ! I will take some more of both guns and all the bits as clear as i can get them to add to another posting .
Th old gun is also one the painter here took one look at and threw it in a box of junk so i salvaged it stripped everything off and soaked it in acetone for a week then gently wire brushed it cleaned every hole and greased it and assembled . Had to buy the two mini pressure regulators one day while i went shopping with the stores person . the rest is just bit from the pile of cast offs no one wanted .
Back soon

 

Once he sells his house here, he will move to Portugal...

 

ok if you look at the pictures they tell it all the air comes in on a tee one branch to the regulator for the pot with a gauge the other side is the air t the spray gun !! here i have fitted couplers because the presure regulator can be used for other jobs as well when its taken off the pot . each of the pots is identical to the other in its function . Just a differant size pot the spray gun is pretty basic flow control adjustment and a variable fan control to give wide or narrow spray ,The gun came out of the junk box no one wanted !!. There are spray guns with a flow control down on the handle ,with the air pressure regulator it gives a much much better control .
When i make things i look at what else could it be used for , The regulator can be unpluged and you can do the same with a water trap as well make it with the same fittings and it to could be used anywhere as it has a male and female ends

Ok the other pictures are the old venus gun that is the equivlent to what you have ,its the same just differant . The Orange hose is air assist for the fan spray , the yellow is for the acetone flush , the big white hose at the bottom is the air for the slide valve that operates the gelcoat and the catalyst simultaniouly . the green hose is a return to operate the inline heater system when its needed . Like i said it does the same as you gun just a little differant !! but the same the gun end has a turbulant mixer inside the end of the gun and another in the nozzle end , the last picture is the main pump and the catalyst pump

 

Hi Herman, definitely closer, and a supernice country for living with ground and houses well priced ..........

 

Just a foot note to all Ive put here so far .
When we sprayed Gel coat with a pressure pot ONE person does all the mixing and measuring of gel coat with digital scales (readout 0.000 graduation ) and a good catalyst measureing bottle . We always did a gel test before hand ! All the gel coat containers where sitting in the booth up on a bench ( not on the cold floor ) and had been there for 24 hours so was the same as room temprature !! To mix with used a cordless drill and a proper paint mixer in the drill washed each time it was used , always the plastic containers were placed in order in a line on the paper on the table so at the end gel times of each and every brew mixed coule be checked .
We were working in minus -15c outside so the room temp was set at +20c for 24 hours before we started . being able to have control over the elements is a God send .
All sounds a bit overboard ???, Once you get into a system of doing things it becomes second nature and nothing gets forgotten . Never had a failure !! ever !!! never want a failure and i am totally boring to work with !!.
Always covering my back side !!.

 

Totally agreee with your approach of always doing processes as guaranteed as possible and making a boring "film" instead of thriller is a very wise approach in regards to working with composites

 

When we do a job that takes the whole team its totally hands on all the time !,office and paper work are way down on the priority list , Phones are not welcome in the working factory and if one rings theres a red face and the person is told to go and not come back !,every one is prewarned and we take no prisoners !
Only exception is if theres family issues births deaths and children in hospital etc thats all !, then the person is given less responsability and if need can vacate at a moments notice for emergancies .

Its important to make sure every one on the team is fully awear of what is happening and how it is played out from start to finish . every one checks every one elses work including mine and when every one is satisfied then the job is over and no fingers can get pointed its complete clean up and check everything and gone to the tea room or where ever . Theres a big cultural shock coming in this workshop next week because this will be implemented . Chatting on phones and going round the corner for a quick smoke are out !standing around is another issue i have . Supervisors that sit and give instructions from the side line are about to get pissed off but i dont care that much . I see this happening all the time here but it wont be on my patch !!.