[AMC-list] Zen and the Art of Autobody

[Joe Fulton <piper_pa20@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Last evening I put a seal coat of PPG DP50LF primer on one of the front fenders of the Rambler.  I had already done the body work use primer/filler to get the fender ready for final paint.  If you have not done body work, you will learn that you need to take all the necessary steps to end up with a good product.   Like my Dad had always said, you get out of something what you put into it.   
 
I was painting in my garage and we had just had some central coast drizzle so I knew the humidity was probaby 100 percent of saturation.   I have a water trap in the air line and a disposable water filter at the paint gun.  I didn't want to wait for dryer conditions, so I mixed up the primer and shot the fender.   Well, I got dozens of little bubbles on the surface of the primer.   I was so bummed, so I researched the problem on the internet and realized that it was either solvent pop or water that can condensed in the expanding air stream from the gun.  I could not believe there was water in the air line so I ruled that out (correctly as it turned out).   I went back to the garage and picked up the other fender for block sanding just outside the garage door. (The rain had stopped.).   There were fewer bubbles in the paint on the fender and in several places there were tiny craters where once there had been bubbles.   Things were
 looking up, but I was still possibly looking at having to lightly sand the whole piece before final paint.  
 
I finished the block sanding on the other fender, cleaned the paint gun and closed the garage for the night.   This morning I checked and ALL of the little bubbles were gone.  Where once there had been tiny craters, all was smooth.  Thank you PPG.   Patience too is its own reward.  My dad used to say that too.  I never knew what it meant.  Now I do.  
 
I finished Richard Bach's "Hypnotizing Maria" last night too, which sort of interfaces with this auto paint lesson.   I never thought I could learn body work.  I never wanted to learn body work.  Auto body work was for guys who had dropped out of high school.  I have a college degree.  I hated the smell of bondo.   But....why limit our possibilities based on how we perceive something, without looking deeper?.   
 
Joe Fulton    
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