I restored a car recently and did the painting myself. I learned how to
do it by reading the forums at www.autobodystore.com and
www.paintucation.com. They sell some videotapes to help you out, also.
I also read a couple "How to Paint your own Car" books. But in the
end, until I got the spray gun in my hand and started spraying, I didn't
really learn much about actually pulling the trigger. The books are
good to teach you about prep work (cleaning and sanding) but they never
do a good job telling you what to look for when you are painting. It's
kind of hard because it is happening so fast that you just have to have
a feel for it.

If you can do a decent job with a spray can then you can do a decent job
with a paint gun. At first you'll probably make it to dry or too wet.
Too dry and you have texture in your paint. Too wet and you have runs.
But you have to start sometime so either live with the runs and
texture at first or grab some fenders or whatever to practice on.

Most people will get the hang of it almost as soon as they start, at
least good enough for spraying your welder or whatever, so don't worry
too much about it.


Grant Erwin wrote:
All my life I've been reading most technical books I've found and I've
*never* found a good primer on basic spray painting with a gun, much
less HVLP. Anyone know of a good way to learn this other than to blow a
bunch of money and time experimenting or taking an auto painting class?