Automotive spray paint

Automotive spray painting, the process that makes use of the automotive spray paint is one of the most popular techniques for painting vehicles today. How spray paint itself comes to find application in the painting of vehicles is not hard really hard to comprehend. What happens at the core of the process in most cases is that the spray paint being employed is converted into atoms (so-called atomized) using a medium such as compressed air; with the atomized paint particles so obtained (which are basically very fine particles of the paint) being directed to the body of the vehicle being painted to come up with what often turns out to be a very smooth and attractive sheen indeed.

Application of automotive spray paint in the olden days depended on the use of hand held air brush mechanisms. But while these are still in use in some places, standard practice has nowadays been towards the use of spray guns in the application of the fine paint particles that make motor vehicle spray paint. The spray guns in question are typically automated (especially where we are looking at large scale painting jobs), though smaller hand-held motor vehicle spray paint guns are not hard to get either.

While the use of the air brush equipment in the application of automotive spray paint is quite rare nowadays, it is not altogether done away with: as the air brush is still the tool of choice for application of spray paint onto a vehicle where human artistic finesse is required, like in making of the various designs and artworks on a vehicle’s body-work. As far as making fine artwork goes, the air brush has quite no close substitute because although the spray gun can turn in remarkable volumes (and quality) of work in a very short period of time, it is not known for great artistic finesse.

Ultimately, at least four automotive spray paint application methods can be identified: namely by the use of air guns, by the use of low or high volume (with low pressure in either case), and by the use of electrostatic mechanisms. Other less well known (but still considerably good) methods for application of spray paint on at least some parts of vehicles include the use of airless spray guns, the use of electric fan and the use of vacuum coating for the painting of automotive parts that are made of wood – though there are remarkably very few such parts in modern vehicles, a far departure from the situation a few decades back when most trucks had body work made out of wood!

As far the as the application of automotive spray paint onto modern vehicles goes, though, the most commonly used application mechanisms are through the use of the air gun, and the high volume low pressure painting as well as the low volume low pressure mechanisms. In small-scale installation, where automotive painting is carried out on single vehicle units, hand-held version of all these automotive painting mechanisms are used, with the automated versions being used on large scale motor vehicle painting installations; like those found at the factories of the various manufacturers of automobiles.         

To read more information related to spray painting for automotives, be sure to read the more comprehensive article about  car paint protection