First time painting MDF

[Sergeant_Skyrim]

Hey guys, so like the title says I'm a noob when it comes to painting MDF. I actually started sanding and priming some spare wood I had a week or two ago and am getting the hang of it all before I go all out in the car, but now I'm up to starting the actual coats of paint.

So far what I've done is sanded with 80 grit, primer, 120, primer, 220, primer, and then sanded with 400 earlier today. Every coat of primer up to this point was white and rolled on with a foam roller. After I hit this point I decided to try out a few different things. Here's a few pics of where I'm at right now:

Left to right: Black spray can primer, white spray can primer, gloss spa blue spray can, gloss white spray can.

I'm not really liking the results of the spray cans that much because they seem a little streaky, so I did a bit more research on HVLP spray guns. I saw this one referenced on a few different places and it's not much so figured I'll give it a try. What else will I need with this and is there any specific type of paint that I'll need to use? I don't know much about paint what brands are thicker, etc. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think of these 4 different coats so far please

[Pioneerchuck]

Eh for a simple project like this that gun should work just fine. But if you plan on doing a lot of painting, then I would highly recommend any DevilBliss product. In particular this gun because it is meant to spray on a wide variety of coatings so it's perfect for someone as yourself who will use it to spray some paint but might use it to spray glue on later on down the road.

http://www.eastwood.com/devilbiss-finishline-4-solvent-based-kit.html?srccode=ga220010&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=zzproduct_ads&adtype=pla&kw=&matchtype=&network=g&creativeid=15752130567&placement=&producttargetid=40408679967&gclid=CIrp2rL48LYCFYef4AodRBwAAQ

[CleanSierra]

My Primer gun is a Devilbiss, they're wonderful guns. My cousins all shoot with Sata(fucking expensive) and I've never pulled the trigger(pun NOT intended) on one. Most paint jobs are going to come down to the prep work and not the equipment. With the right prep sanding and filling pin holes, most any job can look great with an average gun. Even a guy with average painting skills

[lilone71742]

Im in the process of painting my box and looked on Youtube for a how to on the same thing. Check out this guys how to on getting a mirror finish on mdf.

Very informative and will get you the information you need. I noticed you were talking about spraying which will result in a similar finish the only difference is in the video he uses a paint brush. Rustoleum paint seems to be the choice when looking to get that "mirror" like finish.

[Sergeant_Skyrim]

Hmm...those Devilbiss guns look amazing. If only I hadn't of just dropped all this money on sandpaper/primer/paint/supplies lol. I still got some testing to do to see what color(s) I'm going with. And thanks for that video! I watched the 2nd part as well and it came out looking better than I expected with that paint brush. I may just see how well these foam rollers do if the brush managed to look like that.

And I had no idea about the whole mixing the paint to thin it down to a 60/40 or 50/50 solution before applying, should I be doing that for every coat of paint I apply or is there some sort of order I need to go like full paint first coat, then 50/50 coats after that? And does paint thinner do the exact same thing as the mineral spirits that he used? I've never heard of mineral spirits

Thanks again for the replies guys, this is turning into a really fun learning experience over the past week or so

[lilone71742]

The main thing cutting the paint does is help with the paint drying time. I dont think it matters how you aopky it. Whan you dont cut it you just have a longer " cure time".

[lilone71742]

I meant to add about the paint thinner. Any should work i think for the guy in the vid it was a preferance.

[newls1]

My Primer gun is a Devilbiss, they're wonderful guns. My cousins all shoot with Sata(fucking expensive) and I've never pulled the trigger(pun NOT intended) on one. Most paint jobs are going to come down to the prep work and not the equipment. With the right prep sanding and filling pin holes, most any job can look great with an average gun. Even a guy with average painting skills

This is very true

[Sergeant_Skyrim]

Fawwwwk, I just realized that I have been using water based primer and that I got rustoleum latex paint with a latex clear coat. I didn't know about any of this til I went into home depot earlier...

So with that being said, will all of this work together? And if it will, then do I still thin down the paint towards the end with water instead of mineral spirits/paint thinner?

[x91evo]

Oil based paint is all you should be using.
Water based paint is going to ruin the mdf. I primed with oil based primer, then went and bedlined the box.