# Aluminium Plate Painting



## WarrenJ (Jul 17, 2013)

Hi all,

Does anyone know where I could get a few 200x200mmx3mm Aluminium Plates painted?

They would need to be painted a dark colour ( black preferrably ) using automotive standard paint.

Only need them painting single sided, I will source the aluminium, they just need prepping and painting.

There's no rush for these at all so could be painted at the same time as another job?

Thanks in advance for any info.


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## Aaran (Sep 18, 2007)

if my booth was up and my compressor running i would do this.

not likely to be in until december time at this rate. if you dont get sorted shoot me a pm, most of my restores coming in are black (honda flint black, black with a flint pearl in them) so ill have some leftover from them


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Where are you from?
Almost any body with a bit of knowledge and a spraygun would do them for you - if not FOC at minimal cost.


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## WarrenJ (Jul 17, 2013)

Cannock, Staffs.

Got no problem with posting them out though. There's no rush, but there's going to be 2 - 4 to be painted initially, then possibly a further 20. I've no problem with paying for the service, it's someones time and effort at the end of the day. Would be good to keep costs down though. A black with metal flake would be awesome but not necessary.

The main thing is, they need to be treated exactly the same as a car body panel would.


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## Paintguy (Oct 31, 2005)

I could help if you can't find anyone closer.

Would they all need to be exactly the same colour?


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## WarrenJ (Jul 17, 2013)

Paintguy said:


> I could help if you can't find anyone closer.
> 
> Would they all need to be exactly the same colour?


Ideally. Though I would need them painting exactly the same as if they were car body panels.


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## Paintguy (Oct 31, 2005)

You've mentioned that 3 times now, I get the picture  I paint anything up to 100 cars a week so a few panels would be no bother. 

Can I ask what you need them for? Not that it matters, I'm just nosey


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## WarrenJ (Jul 17, 2013)

Paintguy said:


> You've mentioned that 3 times now, I get the picture  I paint anything up to 100 cars a week so a few panels would be no bother.
> 
> Can I ask what you need them for? Not that it matters, I'm just nosey


All will be revealed soon. 

You have a pm.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Paintguy said:


> You've mentioned that 3 times now, I get the picture  I paint anything up to 100 cars a week so a few panels would be no bother.
> 
> Can I ask what you need them for? Not that it matters, I'm just nosey


100 a week - thats going some!
16 a day based on a 6 day week - 30 mins per car based on an 8hr day.
Or do you work overtime? :lol:


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## Paintguy (Oct 31, 2005)

squiggs said:


> 100 a week - thats going some!


I did say up to 100 

70-80 is more normal, but I certainly don't hang about. I aim for 30 minutes to paint each job and we have a push-through booth so once painted the car is rolled sideways on a track system into the adjacent oven so I don't have to hang around waiting for it to bake, I can crack straight on with painting the next.

We're not shy of putting the hours in too when we're busy. We currently have a shift of 5 working a regular week, then I'm leading a smaller team doing 12 hours night shifts.


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## Andyb0127 (Jan 16, 2011)

Paintguy said:


> I did say up to 100
> 
> 70-80 is more normal, but I certainly don't hang about. I aim for 30 minutes to paint each job and we have a push-through booth so once painted the car is rolled sideways on a track system into the adjacent oven so I don't have to hang around waiting for it to bake, I can crack straight on with painting the next.
> 
> We're not shy of putting the hours in too when we're busy. We currently have a shift of 5 working a regular week, then I'm leading a smaller team doing 12 hours night shifts.


Sounds like where i used to work you had to paint upto 10-12 cars a day. So.we were averaging 150-180 per month and that was a normal eight hour day with overtime if needed to get the work through, so you would end up working a 60-70 hour week. 
Having to aim for half hour for each paint job is fine if its a smaller job, but you only need one bigger job that's going to take longer to put back the ammount you can get painted.

Hence the reason i left the mainstream bodyshop, ammount of cars they want per month there more worried about QUANTITY OVER QUALITY, and I wasn't prepared to let the quality of my work drop just so they could get more work out.


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## Paintguy (Oct 31, 2005)

We're straying off topic here Andy but I hear what you're saying.

For want of a better description I work for a car supermarket and we're doing retail prep work. So no crash repair jobs or major things like that. Scuffs, scratches, transporter damage, stone chipped front ends, that kind of thing. I think we're running at around 2 to 2½ panel per car average, so fairly small jobs.

We are starting to get more and more (relatively) bigger jobs through lately though, as the quality of cars available on the market is lower than ever, mainly due to people hanging onto them longer before trading in due to financial uncertainties. It's not uncommon for us to get a few cars a day that need more or less a full paint. Once you get a chippy front end, maybe a parking ding on a door, the odd deep scratch here and there you're getting into a full paint by the time you've blended adjacent panels. These jobs obviously take longer to paint but I can usually claw some of that that back by mixing them in with some quicker jobs like single bumpers or maybe a bonnet that only take 15 minutes or so. Output is definitely lower than it used to be though as like you I don't wish to compromise on quality. And customers won't accept it either these days. They're now more than ever buying for necessity. They _need_ a new car, rather than just _wanting_ one, so are much more picky about every aspect and will find any possible reason not to buy.

Having a great booth and a good paint system that dries quickly helps massively as I'm not twiddling my thumbs waiting for flash off. Most colours will cover in 1½ coats of base and the clear can be done in a single visit if needed. Much better than the old solvent base and MS lacquer days where you'd be needing 3 coats of each with 10-15 minutes scratching your backside in-between


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