Paint acrylic signs on a small scale

[bigben]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking to set up a small-scale paint station for painting laser-cut acrylic parts—mainly small pieces and lettering, usually under 12"x12" (rarely up to 24"x24"). I don’t need a full paint booth, but I do understand that I’ll need a proper ventilation setup and a paint spray gun.

Currently, my supplier uses AkzoNobel paints, which I really like, and I’d love to be able to mix my own custom colors and paint the pieces in-house. Since I’ll be working with small items, I want to avoid paint waste, so small batch mixing is important.

I’m looking for recommendations on:

• What kind of spray gun/system would be ideal for this type of work
• Equipment for safely mixing and storing small batches of paint
• Ventilation setups suitable for limited spaces
• Any other tips or tricks you've learned from painting small acrylic parts
• A rough idea of the budget I should plan for this kind of setup

Any input would be appreciated—especially from those who’ve done this kind of work before. Thanks in advance!

Ben

 

[spectrum maine]

get a metal wardrobe cabinet mount a 6" ducted fan in the bottom corner. use egg crating for shelves. if your stuff is occasionally bigger put saw horses in front of the open doors. after each coat shut the doors. lighting use battery powered led lights adding more until you are happy. get a bunch of small lazy susans

 

[bigben]

get a metal wardrobe cabinet mount a 6" ducted fan in the bottom corner. use egg crating for shelves. if your stuff is occasionally bigger put saw horses in front of the open doors. after each coat shut the doors. lighting use battery powered led lights adding more until you are happy. get a bunch of small lazy susans

I like the idea for that part. I found one that is 24inx50in.

 

[StarSign]

We use bakers racks to stage out painted stuff. We also use Akzo and just a FYI, mixing colors has a minimum, you may only need to paint one square foot, however, you might have to mix $50 in paint and have a lot left over.

 

[bigben]

We use bakers racks to stage out painted stuff. We also use Akzo and just a FYI, mixing colors has a minimum, you may only need to paint one square foot, however, you might have to mix $50 in paint and have a lot left over.

I like the bakers racks idea. And yes, I know there is a minimum to mix paint. I've tried to find a way or maybe another manufacturer to get smaller batch, but everyone is around the same.

I'm trying to create a checklist of everything I will need to be able to paint my stuff (all the tools and equipment). I will also need some kind of training to paint also, but I think Akzo have a training class for that.

 

[JBurton]

I like the bakers racks idea. And yes, I know there is a minimum to mix paint. I've tried to find a way or maybe another manufacturer to get smaller batch, but everyone is around the same.

We find as long as you're willing to do the math and carefully add drips/grams, you can divide a Matthews formula down to a very small quantity.
For a gun, we've been using a home depot husky, $50-100 for it, works fine. My painter would like a $1,000 devilbliss, I'm just having a hard time justifying it, as is he.
Also, I really like the Matthews, I haven't seen it fail as much as Akzo when looking at signs shipped in from nationals, but I believe most nationals use Akzo, so it could be all perception.
Oh, and Matthews has a primer that is no prep for acrylic. It saves a lot of effort when trying to sand a smooth finish on such a soft material.

 

[bigben]

We find as long as you're willing to do the math and carefully add drips/grams, you can divide a Matthews formula down to a very small quantity.
For a gun, we've been using a home depot husky, $50-100 for it, works fine. My painter would like a $1,000 devilbliss, I'm just having a hard time justifying it, as is he.
Also, I really like the Matthews, I haven't seen it fail as much as Akzo when looking at signs shipped in from nationals, but I believe most nationals use Akzo, so it could be all perception.
Oh, and Matthews has a primer that is no prep for acrylic. It saves a lot of effort when trying to sand a smooth finish on such a soft material.

Other than the paint booth, can you give me a rough cost for a starting setup?

 

[JBurton]

I really can't, since it's been years since the initial setup, and a lot of stuff gets thrown in for free, like the mixing station and stirrer shelf. Not sure where it's made, but you'll also have tariffs to deal with. When I told my rep I wanted to swap to Akzo, cause they have some really fast drying stuff, he told me the setup cost is too high for the volume we have been running, and that it's not necessarily a superior product, just some is really fast drying.

 

[spectrum maine]

do yourself a favor and get a true hvlp like lexaire. no compressor, 80% transfer efficiency sprays dry heated air. i painted a whole car 3 coats with 2 quarts of paint. learning curve is higher as you have to slow arm speed down. if you turn it up all the way it operates like a conventional spraygun faster and lots of overspray and lower transfer effiency. it sprays matthews especially well.

 

[Bradley D]

I'd recommend the 3m performance gun with 1.3mm tip.