How much time do you usually spend masking

Lizer

Lizer

Mad Scientist
I'm not gonna lie guys...I HATE masking, and when you look at my masking jobs it's comedy. I just hate taking the time to do it because I just want to be pulling the trigger.

But when I see pictures of cars in paint booths they're masked up so perfectly and beautifully.

On top of all of this, I'm reading all this re-mask between base and clear!

So how much time do you generally spend masking? And how do you get such pretty, perfect masks?
 
Masking is an art. I've seen some real nice paint jobs ruined by poor masking. You see it at car shows all of the time. The more you remove from the car the easier it is to mask. If you are doing production work and going from primer to clear in the same day you don't have to remask. But if you are spreading your work over a couple days remasking is the way to go. The more you do it the better you will get. Just like anything else, Practice, practice.... I spend as much time as I need to. Everyone wants to pull the trigger. You have to slow down your mind and concentrate on the task at hand. Weather it be sanding masking or spraying. If you rush any process it will show in the end.
 
It usually takes about the same time to mask as it does sand and spray, depending on the job. Even when the vehicle is all apart there is still plenty to protect against overspray. It's just one of those things that you have to get used to.
 
The car is a rolling chassis. Ok, so it takes a long time to do, even for the pro's. I'll nut up and get used to it.
 
No need to rush anything once it is in the booth.

Blows me away some of the people that will spend all that time in bodywork and blocking, only to roll it in the booth and blaze through the taping and paint.

I think I actually get slower once it rolls in the booth.. LOL.
 
I enjoy masking a car off. It probably the most relaxing part of the entire process.

Also if you take your time and do a nice job it also gives you one last time to look over all your work closely.
 
Speaking of which, anybody ever use masking paper for gift wrap? lmao.. works pretty good, even dispenses the tape at the same time. lol
 
Give me sanding over masking any day... I always forget to budget enough time for masking, which just makes it frustrating.

You're right on the comment about paint jobs being ruined by bad masking though.
 
One thing for sure is to use the right paper and tape. I was playing with some candy and pearl on a my tail gate and grabbed an old roll of masking paper out of the cabinet. Apparently it wasn't for automotive work (brown paper) because the solvents caused it to melt into the paint. Good thing this was just a practice shoot.
 
Circa 1970:
A guy I knew decided to paint his 57 Chevy himself to save money. He did not want to take the time to mask the car using tape and paper. His solution (don't know where he got the idea) was to use bearing grease on all the trim, bumpers, etc.!!!:eek
The prep was bad, the paint was the cheapest enamel available, and he didn't know how to shoot it.
That was one giant mess. I can still see the orange peel, runs and fish eyes the size of tuna:rolleyes:.
I didn't get to see how he removed the "masking" but it had to be way worse than if he just took the time to do it right in the first place. True story.
 
metalman;22510 said:
Circa 1970:
A guy I knew decided to paint his 57 Chevy himself to save money. He did not want to take the time to mask the car using tape and paper. His solution (don't know where he got the idea) was to use bearing grease on all the trim, bumpers, etc.!!!:eek
The prep was bad, the paint was the cheapest enamel available, and he didn't know how to shoot it.
That was one giant mess. I can still see the orange peel, runs and fish eyes the size of tuna:rolleyes:.
I didn't get to see how he removed the "masking" but it had to be way worse than if he just took the time to do it right in the first place. True story.
Click to expand...

He must of been in the military and got the idea from there.
I remember when I was in, this was exactly how they painted the armor vehicles. Used grease on all the vision blocks and optics.
 
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