How To Paint More Effeciently??

[jbrandon47]

I've gotten into custom painting crankbaits and trying to sell them recently. I have had no issues selling them but my question is, how are so many people able to sell custom painted baits at $10 or $15 per bait? It takes me a couple hours to paint one color pattern, which makes $10 per bait hardly worth it, but with so many people offering this price there has to be a way to speed this up.  

What can I do to speed this up? I've been trying to paint multiple baits at a time but if someone sends me a single bait to paint, it still takes a couple hours to prime and paint. Are people using multiple airbrushes, do they know a better way than me to clean the gun between colors, will I get faster as I gain experience, what's the secret?? Seems that right now cleaning the gun between colors is what takes up the majority of my time. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[21xdc]

Sounds like you are spending too much time cleaning the brush... It does take time, But not as long as you mentioned.

[CNC Molds N Stuff]

I would think the most efficient way would be to paint one color at a time on several baits.  Maybe 10-20 at a time.  If you have a 100 customs that all start with a pearl base coat do that on ALL of them first.  Then group those with each color main top coat and then regroup them again with those again to those with the same high light color. 

Finally do all of them at once with the final clear coat.  It might take you a week to do a hundred baits that way, but there is no way you could do a fraction of that many in a week if you are doing them one at a time. 

After you refine your system you may find you can do a couple hundred in a week. 

I bet you Gene Graham doesn't do his one at a time from start to finish.  I would also note he gets more than $10 each for them, but that took time for him to build his skills and his reputation before he could get more.  I have several of his hand painted hardwood baits.  The real test is they catch fish.  When the ones I have get to beat up to fish you can bet I'll be calling him up to make another deal, and because they have proven themselves he might get the better end of the deal the next time. 

 

 

 

 

[SW Lures]

When you are just getting into this, you can't expect certain things to be at a level like one who has done it for 10-20 years or more. One of these are speed, when I'm teaching someone new to anything I'll tell them, "speed comes in time, learn to do it right first".

It should not take you no more than 15-30 seconds to clean a brush between colors. As Bob L stated learn be organize first, then work on that cleaning. After painting out a color (water base) dip pour out, dip again and back flush, do that cycle again. Spray out the water and get at it again. If you do this right at the end of a paint session you don't have to do a total very often. I'll let someone take it from here.

As Bob stated too, it takes time to build a reputation. Good luck,

Dale

[bam424]

Like an assembly line. Paint 5 baits? Paint 5 baits white then main color then accents and details and so on. But only if im doing multiple in the same color.

[shlock]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=746880742143233&id=295047143993264&_rdr

Watch Dwain batey's method, cool little video

 

[CNC Molds N Stuff]

Dwain is still doing it?  I used to chat with him in a Yahoo Messenger group for tackle makers when he had only been doing it for a little while.  I have definitely got to check out that video. 

[ravenlures]

Boy that guy is fast!!!

Wayne

[Super Ron]

ITs not the  key for me is not faster, it's using better equipment, paints, and techniques I learned that has made me more efficient

[A-Mac]

On 2/12/2017 at 2:33 PM, DaleSW said:

When you are just getting into this, you can't expect certain things to be at a level like one who has done it for 10-20 years or more. One of these are speed, when I'm teaching someone new to anything I'll tell them, "speed comes in time, learn to do it right first".

It should not take you no more than 15-30 seconds to clean a brush between colors. As Bob L stated learn be organize first, then work on that cleaning. After painting out a color (water base) dip pour out, dip again and back flush, do that cycle again. Spray out the water and get at it again. If you do this right at the end of a paint session you don't have to do a total very often. I'll let someone take it from here.

As Bob stated too, it takes time to build a reputation. Good luck,

Dale

 

15-30 seconds?  Even to go from shooting black or a dark color back to white? I feel like I need nearly dissemble a brush to do go from dark back to light colors. If you can do this in 15-30 seconds, then I've spent several years doing it all wrong.

What are you dipping your brush in? Is this still effective with pearls (Createx pearl blue is always a bear to clean from a brush)?

[mark poulson]

Here's what I do.  

I dip my brush into a tupperware of clean water and shoot it with the cup submerged for five seconds, then cover the nozzle with my index finger, and backflush for ten seconds, loosen the nozzle, cover it again , and shoot it for ten seconds.  Then I  tighten the nozzle, remove the needle and wipe it down on a clean rag, reinstall it carefully, check to see if there's any paint left in the bowl (I wipe it out if I need to with my needle rag), and put some clean water with a drop of dishwashing soap into the bowl and backflush again for a second or two, to get any remaining dirty water pushed out by the clean water.  Shoot out the clean water, and add my next paint color.

It takes me a minute or so each time, but I almost never have to do a big break down and cleaning.  Doing it repeatedly has made it faster, and it is routine for me now.

Make sure your paint is thinned to skim milk consistency using 4011 or 4012 reducer, and you may have to do more coats, but you'll never have a clogged brush.

[SW Lures]

15 sec. is probably wrong but 30 isn't. I spray out, get a cup of water backflush and spray out. I then put the front part of the brush down to the cup in a water and a mild detergent, let it set. I go do something else. Then I come back to the brush and back flush and spray out. I put in the holder and let it drain for a while, while I do something else again. I spray out again and load the next paint. I don't consider the loading of the next paint part of cleaning. Doing something else consist of heat set, realigning the bait, prepping the next color, cleaning the area or whatever. 

So in actual seconds touching the brush for the cleaning of the brush...... it's about 30. When painting I move, I don't set messing around with the brush. If I have something else that needs to be done I do this during the cleaning/soaking  or draining time of the brush. I don't consider this time as working on the brush cleaning.

Now if we are talking about a total cleaning.....that's another story/topic.

Dale

Edited February 25, 2017 by DaleSW
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