painting small parts

[Jeff Lewis]

I was wondering how to secure small parts when you are painting them. I hung my wheels from chains and they wanted to move around when the air hit them;I have a lot of small parts,interrior trim pieces etc that are light so I know I cant hang them or they will blow around all over. Thanks for any ideas. Len,your help is greatly appreciated.

[Len]

I was wondering how to secure small parts when you are painting them. I hung my wheels from chains and they wanted to move around when the air hit them;I have a lot of small parts,interior trim pieces etc that are light so I know I cant hang them or they will blow around all over. Thanks for any ideas. Len,your help is greatly appreciated.

I have several different methods for painting small parts. If I hang them I will usually hang them from two ropes that have long wire hooks (cloths hanger wire) on the bottom. The two ropes help stabilize the parts and I can grab one of the hooks if it starts to swing.

I also have several stands like the one below. I bring in a stand and put a piece of 2" foam insulation board across the top to make a table. I cover the foam with a couple pieces of masking paper to help eliminate dust from the foam. If the parts are light and could blow around I loop some masking tape and stick the part to the paper. If the parts are small I will take craft (Popsicle) sticks and tape them to the foam or push them through the surface to hold up the parts. When spraying lug nuts (Porsche) I push large nails into the foam to hold the lugs up off the surface.

It's much better to use a small spray gun for small parts so that you have better control over the paint.

http://autobodystore.net/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/TN-AP-557003.jpg
Work Stand Link (http://autobodystore.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=EN)

[Phil V]

Something I do for spraying small parts to keep them from swinging around from the air pressure is to hang several small parts from the same hook with a short pieces of wire in between. One of my hobbies is restoring old motorcycles (especially Limey bikes) and there are a lot of small parts which need to be painted.

There is no right way or wrong way to secure a part while its being painted, whatever works is the best way to go.

[Mooch]

What I do for metal parts is to screw a 1x3 into a ceiling board. I have a strong magnet fastened at the end. Depending on your magnet it will hold pretty heavy metal parts.I have several of these made up to hold different parts. Just cut the length to suit.
No movement from this system. Mooch

[Harry]

If they have a threaded assembly hole somewhere, you can screw some bolt into them and then hold it with a pair of cheap vice grips. The vice grips also double as a pedestal for supporting the piece while it dries.

Also consider powder coating for metal pieces. I blasted, primed and painted my K frame, UCA, LCA, sway bars, diff housing and some other pieces by hand. Much work. After that, I had my bumper brackets, misc brackets, and some other pieces powder coated for CDN$150. Not that much more than the blasting charge and material cost for the previous run and all I had to do was drop them off and pick them up. Have fun.
Harry

[Len]

If they have a threaded assembly hole somewhere, you can screw some bolt into them and then hold it with a pair of cheap vice grips. The vice grips also double as a pedestal for supporting the piece while it dries.



Yes, Vise Grips and clamps work well. We usually wrap the VGs or clamps with alum. foil or masking paper to keep the paint from hurting them.