Quick GMC

I was told that Acetone is an unregulated solvent and is the primary part of lacquer thinners in CA. I had to go WAY out of my way to find a non-acetone, slow thinner in CA and it cost me $40 for a gallon. The Klean Strip brand lacquer thinner from Home Depot is pretty potent, if that's not working for you, then you have other problems.

big companies, or any companies that ship a lot get special rates. One of my vendors' standard default shipping is 2nd Day Air for $13.95 on literally anything except freight and hazmat shipping. I can order 100lb box of tools and have it in 2 days for $13.95. It depends on the company and what kind of discount they get.

last update. After sitting for a while, the o ring I put in the new slow thinner shrunk back down and returned to its original size. I am super happy and should have no more issues.

looks great

I have no idea

I will drill holes on the mating surface, then lightly superglue a toothpick in the hole and then stick it on foam board. Stick toothpicks through holes, like on brake rotors, oil filters, etc.

So I got the new thinner in. Turns out they are in San Diego, so one day shipping for me. I did the test again and the o ring got a little swollen, but nothing like before. This should make the o ring last a lot longer. I haven't used the airbrush yet, but after a few uses I will take it apart and report back. This is after about 10 minutes in the thinner.

I forget the brand, my dad has the brochure at his office, but my mom got him a $900 office chair a couple years ago. Seems stupid, but holy BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH it is worth every penny. My dad has owned his own business for 35 years and I can remember growing up, on several occasions, watching him take his office chair out back and just beat the hell out of it. He has had dozens of chairs over the years and this is the first one he has really enjoyed.

any time you increase the diameter on the same spindle, the outer part of the disc is always going to increase in speed to keep up with the inner part of the disc. RPM does not tell you how fast it's going.

I just bought from them without issue. I emailed a couple times, received responses right away. One of my bottles was sweating a little, not leaking. I mentioned it as was immediately offered a replacement. I pack and ship for a living. With UPS, USPS and FedEx. Things happen occasionally. I have had UPS just flat out not come some days, even though I pay a monthly fee for a guaranteed daily pick up. I have had FedEx and USPS flat out lose packages. Some to show up later, some to never be seen from again. With a business like Gravity, I would assume he has USPS pickups done and does not make runs to the post office every day, it would be cost prohibitive and waste more time than it's worth. If he does have pickups, it is very easy for small boxes to get misplaced. It's unfortunate you had a bad first experience, but yours is the first I have heard of so far.

do you have pictures? I have some of the Brandywine paint but have been hesitant to use it

Dave Mirra is big time in the BMX, X Games, video game world, etc. He raced cars and started boxing as well. There are theories that he may have been suffering from CTE, like football and other professional sports players. Junior Seau, HOF linebacker for the Chargers killed himself and shot himself in the chest and left a note requesting that his brain be studied. CTE can make people do crazy things. This CTE thing is starting to snowball. They just outlawed youth soccer allowing children under 10 years of age to use their head to hit the ball. Dave Mirra was a well rounded, stand up guy. He was really good to his fans. He was a good dude.

took me forever to find it the first time http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005T8N3YI/ref=biss_dp_t_asn

I placed the order on Amazon without issue, let's see if it gets kicked back or not. This is what I ordered: http://www.tcpglobal.com/RSP-LT85-GL.html#.VrvbgFgrLhE I'll start with that and see what I can do from there. If that doesn't help, I'll start calling o ring companies and find a solution. Once I find the fix, I should be good.

I have been trying the local auto shops for slow thinners, but so far they are all restricted in CA, figures. I am trying to place an order for one on Amazon right now, we'll see if it goes through. Here is a good article I found that lists all the different ingredients that are used to manipulate the speed of thinners http://news.thefinishingstore.com/index.php/understanding-solvents-part-iii-laquer-thinner/

I forgot the most important pic. They fit!

I got sucked into the hype and bought the new Revell 29 Roadster. The kit is extremely nice, except for the shocks. I couldn't bring myself to use them, so I had to make new ones. The nice thing is that it is fairly easy to separate the shock caps from the body. I didn't intent to do a tutorial, so some pictures are lacking, I apologize. Meh Bought a styrene rod/tube combo pack from Evergreen First I measured the lengths of the kit shocks so I know where I would need to be when done with the new ones. Choppy Choppy. i used a PE saw to carefully separate the caps from the bodies. I then carefully sanded the flat part of the shock caps flat and level. I made new bodies out of the styrene tube I made a mockup to check the overall length. Perfect I started with copper wire, but realized I would have to paint it. I tried solder, it looks like natural metal, but it's hard to handle without squishing the springs. I used the same rod as the shock bodies and wrapped it around, then straightened it out. I left them compressed like this so I could match the lengths exactly. I then carefully sanded the ends flat like normal springs. I left the solder springs on the plastic rod as a support while sanding, otherwise it would just bend all over the place Then I used the shaft of a pick to put in between the coils and spin it. This spaces the coils evenly. I also made shafts that go in inside the tube and will mount inside the holes I drilled in the caps. This way they will be sort of pinned in there with glue for a secure bond. Also, this will keep everything together and elminate the chance of any bending of the solder springs. Here is the finished mockup. I will still need to paint the bodies and caps. I wanted to do the body from Aluminum tube, but didn't have the right size. This is the right solder size for these shocks

I use SF paint, but haven't tried the clear. I just tried some 2 part clear from Gravity Colors and it worked really well.

Ok, so I have learned a lot about lacquer thinner in the last few days. I knew there were different brands that would vary, but I never knew that there were different "speeds." Nobody has every mentioned this before, until I talked to the Grex rep. First of all, Grex rep talked to me for 45 minutes on the phone and it was one of the most incredible customer service experiences I have ever had. He was very interested in finding a solution to the problem. Turns out he uses the same brand and same can of lacquer thinner as I do. He insisted I ship my airbrush to him for a thorough inspection and rebuild. He ended up not replacing anything except the o ring and one other sliding part that I didn't know I was supposed to put grease on. Other than that he said it was in great shape. If anyone is considering Grex, I would highly recommend it because of their customer service alone. I shipped the brush to them on Thursday, they called me Friday morning and had it apart and put back together already. This particular seal I am having trouble with is made of Viton. I was informed that Viton is fine with most solvents, except Acetone, which will definitely destroy it. It was also pointed out to me that the Klean Strip thinner from Home Depot is a fast thinner, or has a high concentration of Acetone. I will now try and slow thinner that has much less, or no acetone. This will supposedly solve the problem. I bought a second Grex Tritium after shipping my airbrush to them as a backup/second setup. They have a new fan tip I want to use for bodies. Normally wouldn't be the smartest thing to double down on my issues before I find a solution, but I know there is a solution, I just have to find it. So using my brand new out of the box airbrush, i had the same problem, which is what I suspected would happen. After 2 uses, the seal wen bad again, which is actually what prompted the response above, from Grex, about the acetone. I decided to do a test. I normally use Scale Finishes lacquer base coat, which is what I did here. Then I used a 2 part urethane clear for the first time. I have heard these can be a problem too. So I found a o ring from Grex made of the same Viton that I didn't need and cut it into 3 pieces. Then I mixed up some clear the same way I did when I sprayed the body, lacquer thinner in a cup and some Scale Finishes paint in a cup. I let them sit 10 minutes, then pulled them out. Paint did not have any effect. The clear may have had a slight affect, probably due to the part of thinner that was added. The Lacquer Thinner is clearly the culprit. here in the same order, the piece in the thinner is easily twice the size that it started out as So there it is. I don't blame Grex. It is what it is, and they say they have had a very small amount of people with o ring issues. The seal should be replaced every 6-12 months they say, which is perfectly acceptable to me. When not having o ring issues, the airbrush works incredibly well. I will be ordering a slow speed thinner and I will report back.

fill it with super glue and sand flush.

The o ring measures: ID: .05" OD: .13" Thick: .03-.04" It's tiny and i have not been able to find one elsewhere.

Not soaking. Putting it in the cup to spray through after finishing with a color, or when I am done using it. I spray it through, then disassemble the airbrush to wipe down what I cant I have one left. I can measure it. i will check that out, thank you The rep told me 2 times, without a doubt, I can safely use lacquer thinner through the brush I had a massive improvement after replacing the o ring the first time. But I have replaced it 2 times since then and only have one left. I use the blue Iwata lube. I pull the trigger back and apply the lube through the side directly into that packing screw, then slide the needle through, just like you described. I apply the lube every other time I use the brush. There is a nylon washer in the body, then a packing screw with an o ring on the end of it. The other o rings are out of harm's way I will check them out, thank you Here is a picture of the o rings. On the left is the unused new one. On the bottom is the one that has seen no more than 2-3 sessions. On the right is one that was used for half a dozen or more sessions. The only thing i put through my airbrush is Klean Strip lacquer thinner from Home Depot, Vallejo acrylic thinner and 91% Isopropyl Alcohol.

I have the absolute worst luck with airbrushes. I am stil having issues. Painting bodies has been the biggest obstacle for me and it is pretty much the reason i don't finish builds. I have a Grex Tritium TG airbrush. I was told by the Grex rep that I can spray lacquer thinner through it without issue. This isn't true. The packing seal o ring, the tiny o ring deep inside the body, starts to deteriorate and swell. This allows air/paint blowback to get past the needle seal and I am having a really hard time laying down nice paint. I'm sure this isn't the sole issue, but this needs to get fixed before I can move onto figuring out what else I can do to improve. I have 2 uses since I did a complete teardown and rebuild with all new seals and o rings. The o ring is swelling and coming apart already. What will clean lacquers that I can use instead of lacquer thinner? Isopropyl Alcohol is not working, at least on the Gravity Colors I was using tonight. I am honestly ready to just sell all my BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH an move on. I enjoy building more than actually finishing, but I would like to finish a model here and there. I would honestly just buy another airbrush, but I already started getting arthritis and cramps in my hands and this airbrush makes a massive difference, since it has the pistol grip.

Thanks Tim. I'm glad to hear that it is a significant difference in feel over the previous model. I don't want to go drive one just yet, but closer to Summer I will start going to the dealers. I am hoping to time it right to get a little better price once they start getting the next year models in.

I have been going back and forth with myself for years about what to do with my truck. I have a 2006 GMC Sierra 1500. I build a tranny for it, it's got a shift kit, high stall converter, headers, custom tune, etc. I have a camshaft on the bench I never installed and I'm afraid to tear the motor down over a weekend without a backup vehicle. I am at 95,000 miles right now and there are a lot more to go IMO. I am looking at about $3k in repairs in front suspension and miscellaneous work, but other than that this thing has never had a problem. I need a truck for work and I was going to get a new, nice loaded truck. After thinking about it, I need a truck for work, but why buy a brand new truck and risk it getting damaged when loading it for work and putting a ton of miles on it driving to trade shows etc. I am somewhat attached to my truck since I bought it brand new and have put a lot of hours into it myself, including removing and stalling the tranny 3 times in one day. I have been through hell and back, but every time the work was done correctly, this thing has been solid. I always wanted to build a motor for, just a solid N/A 6.0 iron block as a sleeper that would run in the 12's with a traction kit. But as I continue to use it, the interior is getting worn more an more, little by little I see new dings and scratches. I hav a lot of medical debt from when my son was born. We have insurance, but he was sick and we have been racking up CC debt for the last couple years. We are started to take big chunks out of it now and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So my plan for this year is to get rid of 80% of our debt, get my business CC paid down, make sure the truck is repaired properly and buy a new Mustang by the end of the year. August will be the 10th year of owning my truck and I think that is a reasonable amount of time to own a vehicle before splurging a little. We aren't having any more kids, so it's just the 3 of us, the car seat will fit and my wife has a Ford Edge for the road trips. Not sure if it's going to happen. Even though I am giddy at the thought of getting this car, getting rid of debt is my priority this year. Last year was my first year on my own with our new business. It was part time before and stepping away from the family company, and going full time grossed us 70% increase in revenue, which I hope to replicate this year, at a minimum. If anyone has one of these, I would like to hear about your experience. I want it with the GT Package, black with black wheels. I really want a Ford Focus RS, but I am too big to enjoy them comfortably. it is the exact same price as the Mustang I built online.