Allan Cazaly wrote ... <..>
> 1) Procure an old working electric chip fryer. > 2) Procure a large paint kettle or similar to fit in the chip fryer. > 3) Put some water in the bottom of the fryer. > 4) Fill the paint kettle with the enamel boat paint and heat up the > paint until it is very hot - DON'T LET IT BOIL - > 5) Spray the paint hot. Bl**dy hell! I wouldn't try this at home :-0 I'm amazed that you didn't at the very least set fire to the whole Heath Robinson outfit and an outright explosion was very much on the cards! It may be an old coach painters tip but I'd check with the paint manufacturer first - and I'd be surprised if they approved of heating the paint to any significant extent and certainly not in a device easily capable of raising the temperature to *well* above the flash point of the solvent carrier On a cold day, I used to drop tins of signwriters enamel into *warm* water (bath water temp, no higher) to aid the paint flow and that could be a good plan for spray enamels too but raising the temperature any higher than that, whilst it might result in an apparently good finish, is probably going to create a brittle hard skin, possibly over a film of paint that never really sets off properly depending on how many microns thick each coat is. That may be why your finish chips so easily. The paint manufactuers data sheets will give the optimum application temperature and it's a really bad idea to stray outside of that range. The biggest problem with spray enamels and cellulose based paints, apart from needing respirator gear (not mentioned I notice - eek!) to apply 'em, is that the ambient temp needs to be tightly controlled during both application and drying. Not easy to achieve in your average wet dock. The other problem, IMO, is that if you get a spray paint job right the finish is far too good! That may sound daft but a high gloss coach finish a la Rolls Royce is the last thing you want on your average narrowboat 'cos it tends to show up every little imperfection in the steelwork. Personally, I find a well applied brush finish much more suitable and with a little practice a good hand with a paintbrush can achieve a very nice finish indeed (it's all in the laying off) <..> > I could no do tis, so I hired a road compressor and made up a > conversion piece from the coarse bayonet road compressor fitting to a > snap together garage air line fitting. I also put a moisture trap in > the line and had an air pressure regulater in my iar gun line, nearer > the boat. This caught almost ALL the moisure created due to > condensation in the *LONG* road drill airline. This gave me good > quality air at my disposal. You can get, and really should use, proper commercially made adaptors ... Or better yet hire a suitable spray gun compressor with the correct fittings. If you do use a site compressor then the air pressure regulator mentioned by Alan is *absolutely* essential as the output pressure from a standard site compressor is usually unregulated and you could blow a line or worse. If you've ever had an air hose suddenly burst on you, or worse still a metal fitting break (and they do from time to time) you'll know how dangerous compressed air can be! Made up adaptors can be extremely dangerous as the construction worker who lost an eye a few years ago when such a beast let go would testify (big hoo ha with HSE over that one, prosecutions threatened all over the place etc. until it was decided it was his own stupid fault) I'm all in favour of the artful bodge (perpetrated many a bodge in my time, I don't mind admitting!) but there are times when only the proper gear will suffice and compressed air kit (like gas and leccy) is on of those times Bru
