Newbie Read This - Painting Lingo You Should Know

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How-To Painting Lingo

Painting Lingo You Should Know

Accelerator: A chemical that can be added to some paints to speed the curing time.

Acrylic Enamel: Chemically enhanced enamel formulas are the mainstay of modern refinishing products. Acrylic enamels use a catalyst to induce chemical reactions that produce a paint film of remarkable durability, chemical resistance, and gloss. Acrylic enamels can be polished like lacquer to a mirror finish.

Blocking: Sanding primer or topcoats by hand with a flat backing surface such as a long-board or rubber sanding block.

Catalyst: Sometimes referred to as activators, catalysts contain chemicals that interact with the resins of the base paint allowing it to cure.

Diluent: Another term for solvents used to thin paint.

Enamel: A general term covering a wide range of paint, including hardware store spray cans. Single-stage automotive refinish enamels were known for poor surface quality, slow drying, and marginal durability. They’re all but gone today.

Epoxy: A catalyzed paint or primer product notable for extreme durability, stability, and adhesion.

Etching Primer: A primer with ingredients that etch into bare metal for better adhesion, also referred to as self-etching primer. Primarily used to prep bare metal.


Filler: Any material designed to fill surface flaws, from polyester body filler, spot putties and glazes, to primer surfacers.

Fish-Eye: Small circular depressions nearly devoid of paint usually caused by surface contamination with oils or silicones.

Flash: The time required for the majority of the quick-evaporating solvents in the material being sprayed to evaporate or "flash" from the surface.

Flowout: The desirable characteristic of droplets of sprayed material to meld together and level into a glass-smooth surface. Air pressure, gun atomization, and the amount of material being applied as well as the mixture of the paint all affect flow.

Glaze: Material used to fill minor imperfections or improve the surface quality of body filler. Glazing putty was traditionally a single-component acrylic, although today catalyzed putties are available that reduce shrinkage. Fine grain and easy sanding are the main characteristics of glaze.

HVLP: Stands for High-Volume, Low-Pressure; it refers to the design of modern spray equipment, initially introduced to meet air-quality regulations by reducing airborne overspray.

Lacquer: The old standard for custom paint work, lacquers are a distinct paint type characterized by fast drying times and the ability to be polished to a beautiful luster. Poor durability and chemical resistance are the downside.


Mixing Ratios: The amount of various components in the proper proportion to produce the final mix for spraying.

Orange Peel: A surface flaw in which the paint goes on with too much texture. Usually caused by improper reducing or air pressure.

Pin Holes: Small pin-sized holes in the paint, resulting from too much solvent, inadequate flash time, or surface contamination.

Reducer: A solvent used to thin (reduce) enamels, urethanes, and epoxies.

Sealing Primer: A primer used to isolate the existing substrate, or to provide some filling and surface enhancement under the final finish.

Shrinkage: The characteristic of paint or filler to "shrink" with time as a full cure is reached, making surface flaws and sanding scratches reappear. Common with lacquer-based primers or acrylic spot putties.

Single-Stage: A paint system in which the color and gloss properties are both contained in a single topcoat product.

Substrate: The surface any primer or topcoat is applied over.

Surfacing Primer: A primer designed specifically to build thickness for filling shallow surface flaws by sanding.

Thinner: Solvent used to thin lacquer-based products.


Two-Stage: A paint system in which the color is applied as a primary product (basecoat) followed by a clearcoat to provide gloss and reflectivity.

Urethane: Similar to acrylic enamels, but using urethane resins. Urethane has most of the desirable features of acrylic enamel but with enhanced durability, although they generally dry slower.

VOC: Volatile organic chemicals; the VOC level of the final sprayable mix of the various paint and undercoat products is highly regulated in some regions.

Wet-Sanding: Sanding with wet-type sandpaper with water to clean away the sanding debris. Creates a higher-quality surface than dry sanding and makes the paper last longer without clogging up.

from http://www.carcraft.com/howto/24820/index3.html

[ghia@segura.org]

Also
Easy Paint and Body http://www.carcraft.com/howto/92238/

Quality Does Matter http://www.carcraft.com/howto/92238/index1.html

Single-Stage vs. Two-Stage Paints http://www.carcraft.com/howto/92238/index2.html

Later!