I’ve mentioned before that I run the paint shop at an exhibit house here in Portland. The other day I had my digital camera at work and decided to take some pics to share here for those who might be interested.
Most of the time – I’d say 95% – I work with paint rather than finishes. But we’re in the middle of job for Brigam Young University doing some fixtures and assorted components for a visitor’s center somewhere on campus, which is mostly stained Cherry along with a lot of graphics (pictures, murals, etc.). We’ve done a number of LDS (Mormon) visitor’s centers all over the country (NY, CA, AR, UT, HI) and have a couple more new ones on the backburner. As you probably know, the Mormon church owns BYU, so our work on this job is very similar to what we do for their church visitor’s centers except on a somewhat smaller scale. A future one in San Diego is something like a $1.5 million contract while some of the others have been about half that or somewhere inbetween. This BYU job is at the bottom of that scale in terms of the contract’s value. Anyway, these visitor’s center jobs are one of the few times I get to indulge my first love – finishing wood.
I’ve tried to title the pics appropriately so that they’ll be self-explanitory for the most part. The finish on the BYU stuff is a custom stain I developed being topped with Sherwin Williams’ vinyl conversion varnish “M”. The spray booth is actually two 20′ spraybooths put together into one giant 40′ wide spraybooth with twin exhausts. Unseen up on the ceiling is an air makeup unit which is wired into the spraybooth controls and which supplies air so that I don’t have a vacuum in the paint shop sucking dust through every door. And you can see part of the overhead track system I use to hang parts when necessary (although not on this job).
There’s a couple pics of my helper spraying varnish on some lower column parts. The one titled “equipment” is a shot of my main tools of the trade – a DeVilbiss GTI and a Satajet-90 RP gravity guns, the first is loaded with dye and the other with toner for the unpictured, darker and browner toekick parts. Below them is my 2.8 gallon Binks pressure pot with a non-HVLP DeVilbiss JGA503, which is my dedicated clear finish pot. All three are my own personal equipment too. I’ve got a couple more cheap gravity guns that I use for primer and latex that aren’t pictured. Actually the “shop” picture, which shows part of the main floor where all the main woodwork is done, shows two toekicks waiting to be brought in for finish.
The “mixing room” shots show a couple views of my mixing room where I mix paints and stains at. I’ve got a full toner bench for Pratt & Lambert paints but no longer use it because it’s actually cheaper to buy P&L paint already mixed to the appropriate color. But I do use the DuPont mixing bench regularly. 70+ toner colors/metallics along with the necessary components to make single-stage (catalyzed), basecoat and vinyl automotive paints. The other shot shows the digital scale that is part of the DuPont system. The third primary component of it is a computer program. Altogether it is a slightly downsized version of what any automotive paint store selling DuPont paints has in their mixing room. On the shelf behind the digital scale you can see my collection of SW dye stain concentrates and to the right of the scale is a manually-operate aerosol can loading station which I use to custom load aerosol cans – mostly touch-up for the install crew. I also have several paint/stain type component lines on various shelving around the room – most of which I no longer use because the DuPont system has replaced our former reliance on solid color lacquer and industrial polyurethanes (Polanes). In place of lacquer I use automotive basecoat and in place of the industrial poly I use automotive poly. Largely because the automotive is computerized and even though the components are more expensive the labor (which is where the real money is made or lost) is significantly less. There are other advantages too.
Last but not least are a few pics of my exotic and hardwood stashes along with a pic of a few of the rainsticks I make (all on my own time, of course). The pictured boards are, left to right, Zebrawood, Quilted Maple, Honduran Cocobolo, curly Claro Walnut, Panamanian Cocobolo and Lacewood. The others show curly Claro, curly Maple, Amboyna burl, African Blackwood, and a bunch of assorted other pieces of scrap (did I mention that I LOVE exotic and figured wood?!? LOL – I hate throwing even small scraps away…). The scraps actually have some value. The second pic showing the curly Walnut, Maple and Amboyna shows a tiny ringbox that my helper made. Scrap pieces are ideal for something that small.
Edited 4/21/2007 6:41 pm by Kevin
Edited 4/21/2007 6:42 pm by Kevin
Edited 4/21/2007 6:46 pm by Kevin
Edited 4/21/2007 6:48 pm by Kevin
Replies
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for posting the pics, I was very interested.
I was just wondering about a few things - In a booth setup like that can you keep the dust completely under control? Maybe most of the time it's good enough, but spraying 100% gloss I've found we have zero tolerance for dust.
Also - being in Portland don't you have temperature problems in winter? How do you control the temperature in a huge area like this?
BTW, we also use the Satajet 90. Great gun.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
In a booth setup like that can you keep the dust completely under control?
Good question, David. The answer is that dust is very much a problem because with the wide open design the entire room is effectively part of the booth, as I'm guessing you had already deduced. Adding to the problem is the design of the air makeup unit which blasts air against the West wall. It needs a baffling system to help diffuse the incoming air.
How do you control the temperature in a huge area like this?
The air makeup unit also heats the air when I need it. I have a thermostat that's built into the control panel so I can adjust the temperature. Winter's not a problem temperature wise. But Summers can be. Late Summer can get pretty warm and the air makeup draws air in from the roof. I can turn the heater off but it can't cool from ambient temps. And drawing it's air from the roof, it's sometimes a good 10 degrees hotter than if it were just drawing air from an exterior door somewhere. When it gets up near or over 100 farenheit outside then turning on the airmake up just raises the temperature even hotter. And unfortunately with that huge booth I don't have any choice.
Is that Dupont mixing system an automotive line? "Chroma"Ron
Yes, it's an automotive line... actually three automotive lines by DuPont: Chroma One, Chroma Base and the vinyl trim paint line. If I added the appropriate binders and balancers I could also do the Chroma Premier lines of single stage and basecoat too.
Edited 4/22/2007 12:51 pm by Kevin
Hi Kevin,Looks like a great shop!I'm a fellow Portlander, well close by anyway. Do you do any small jobs? I'd like to check you guys out sometime.Matt
http://www.oldgreenwoodworking.com
Hey Matt,
My employer does take on small jobs, usually of the custom variety as noncustom work can be had cheaper elsewhere.
I see from your website that you do custom wood mouldings. That's something that might actually interest my employer. We sometimes outsource custom moulding that we can't find anywhere else. We rarily make our own mouldings if they're complicated or require custom tooling.
You should stop by sometime and I could give you a tour of the place and maybe introduce you to a couple guys who might be interested in your custom millwork capabilities.
Kevin,
Maybe you should call that a paint "hangar" instead of a booth. I can't imagine the air tranfer that takes place. Must be interesting. Also must be nice to have that much room to work around.
Yeah, "hanger" would probably be more appropriate. Although I can assure you that it looks more impressive than it really is. And the main reason why harkens back to the adage about getting what you pay for. It was installed on the cheap and with apparently little forethought (several years before I started working here...).
The exhaust venting on both sides is off center, with the one on the left being the worst. Meaning that the booths don't draw evenly. The left-hand outer 1/3 of the left-side booth is basically useless because the exhaust is way over on the far right-hand side of the booth. With something like black lacquer, which gives a good contrast against the walls, you can literally watch the overspray float towards the far wall rather than towards the filters! The right-side booth is better. Fortunately it's dead space happens to be close to the exhausting for the left-side booth and so it gets evacuated... by the other booth. So I have the effective use of only about 80% of the entire booth. Most of the time we prefer to use the right-side booth because it draws the most evenly.
Unfortunately I found out this last Wednesday that my employer has functionally ceased to exist as a viable business and has been taken over by a court appointed receiver. I've been kept on as a temp to finish up the stained Cherry fixtures for BYU which were almost done at that point. But I'm basically looking for a new job now and have an interview Tuesday with a refinishing shop that's looking for an experienced finisher.
So... goodbye to that huge paintbooth. Hopefully the next one I work in will be of a better design without all of the dust issues this one had.
Kevin,
Sorry to hear about the job. Hope things turn around for you with that interview. Good luck, and keep us posted.
Lee
Thanks. To be honest the job thing is hopefully just a means to an end. I'm hoping that my rain stick venture will continue to grow to the point that I can do that for a living. We'll soon be in a second gallery and my partner is working on getting us into a small upscale gift shop chain in Hawaii owned by his wife's cousin.
My new job takes me in a new direction. I am now an M.L. Campbell "Tint Specialist" which is my first experience working for a supplier rather than as an end-user. Unlike most of their competition, M.L. Campbell uses 3rd-party distributors to get their product to the market and the one I'm now working for is Louis & Company, a subsidiary of the German behemoth Werth.
My hope... or rather the carrot that was dangled in front of me... is that in time I will be able to move into sales as an MLC wood finishes specialist. But first I have to learn the MLC system which is mostly new to me.
One highly intriguing product is their MagnaMax pre-cat. They're calling it a pre-cat lacquer, but in many respects I think it's more of a pre-cat conversion varnish. Reportedly it is unfazed by lacquer thinner once it's cured, which no pre-cat lacquer I've ever heard of can claim and that is the quality that makes me think it's more of a pre-cat conversion varnish. They sell a lot of it so it sure seems to be a popular finish.
The other interesting product is their dye line. At a time when it seems that the cutting edge of the industry is moving towards so-called universal dyes (can be reduced with water, alcohol or acetone as the user sees fit), MLC's dyes are strictly acetone-based and reduced. Their literature says that it's an extremely light-fast fabric dye. Which really doesn't tell me much. I presume it's a metalicized dye like the universal dyes out there because the hallmark of metalicized dyes is their lightfastness. If so then their choice to make it strictly acetone-based is interesting because my understanding (based on extensive use of Sherwin Williams' universal dyes) is that in a strictly acetone reduction schedule the dye can settle out of solution slightly... meaning that it needs to be agitated. But this stuff doesn't appear to settle out as far as I can tell. So I'm intrigued and a bit confused... Nothing new there. ;-)
At any rate, they're sending me to MLC schooling later this summer where I hope to find out more about the dye and get up to speed on the MLC product line.
Kevin,
Congrats on the new job. Sounds like an interesting position, and one you are well suited to handle, with the experience you have.
Keep us posted on those MLC products - I would be very interested in hearing your opinions on them, and who knows? Maybe there is a way some of us here at knots can support you by using some of those products when you climb the ladder into a sales position (you know, company credit card, expense account, luxury car, etc... ha ha)
Best of luck,
Lee
Thanks, Lee.
As a finisher I know that the products have to sell themselves. One-time sales won't generate the need for a second sales position in the local market, repeat sales will and for that to happen the products have to sell themselves to an extent. The one knock that seems self-evident to me is that MLC picks some somewhat cheesy names for their products. But the products themselves appear to be well formulated and highly competitive with what is on the market, if not somewhat ahead of the market in some respects.
In the meantime, if anyone has questions about specific MLC products I will track down answers that are as specific as I can.
Kevin,
Glad to hear you landed squarely on your feet.
I know the users of MLC products are going to be very pleasantly surprised when they have someone of your ilk to ask questions and work with.
They'll love the fact you can roll up your sleeves and show them how, if the need be.
Congratulations!
Peter
Thanks, Peter. So far most of the few that I've met seem to be reasonably knowledgable and one might very well be able to teach me a thing or two. All in all I think I'm going to enjoy dealing mostly with finishers rather than mostly with project managers as I've done in the past.
Get your boss to buy the book at http://ronbryze.com/ for you
Would you believe me if I said that he already has a copy of it sitting on his desk?
GMTA
Kevin, very sorry to hear of the demise of the business. Best of luck with the interview tomorrow - hope it turns out to be a good opportunity for you.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Thanks, Jamie. There's a slim chance that the receiver guy can sell all of the assets to another business looking to expand into the West coast market. I've heard rumors that a couple of East coast exhibit houses are expanding. If something like that happens then my preference would be to stay put. So I don't necessarily have to take the first thing I find unless it looks like a better opportunity.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled