Fellow Strippers...it's been awhile since I opened the box!......starting to stripe again after 6 years of absence ...Stripping my own 32....glass body.....heres the dumbass question. How do I get rid of static electricity on the brush? Lol
Try mixing your oneshot a lil thicker, Spend some time palleting the brush before your start laying lines. Practice on a ole magazine before ya hit the car and see whats gonna happen... I had a simular problem doing a surfboard. I just made the paint a little thicker then normal and it worked....GOOD LUCK
I pinstripe a ton of stuff without thinning the 1shot at all and it still happens, seemed to be better when I wipe down the area pinstriping also.
Fiberglass is hard to ground and it can literally pull the paint right out of the brush. Try cold water and pat dry because rubbing will just create more stitic.
The static is on the part your striping, not the brush. I dont know how to stop it on fiberglass, other than maybe keep touching it till its done poping.
Just as a side note, I also have a glass car and the static electricity produced by the fiberglass is always a problem. Hang a ground strap off the frame and when you wipe it down use a static free cloth. It sounds stupid but when I painted my car I wiped it down with dryer sheets. Still got some dust but it helped alot.
Dryer sheets win again... If you eat dryer sheets, you will never be struck by lightning. I saw a lady on TV that had a problem... she would eat dryer sheets all day. She had never been struck by lightning.
There are a number of tips to eliminate the static electricity. My favorite is to wipe it with a wet chamois (squeeze out the excess, of course). If you don't have one, a damp clean paper towel will work, it just leaves a film of water that you can slowly wipe off with a dry paper towel. (If you rub it hard, you'll create more static) Also, plain old denatured alcohol will remove static and it evaporates right now. Another tip I've used over the years, right before I spray a 'glass car, or helmets, parts, etc.I'll spray a light coat of denatured alcohol over the whole job. Static is gone, instantly. I've done this for years. The sweet part with spraying it is that there's no chance of creating more static by rubbing it afterwards.
Fiberglas is bad, but plexiglas/lexan will drive you nuts! Lettering or striping on that material has always offered challenges. As mentioned above, water or alcohol will take care of the static issue for short periods, but be prepared to treat it fairly often especially if you're working in a warm, dry environment. (Try it in winter with a forced air heat system!!!!!) I used to do a few plexiglas display boards for car shows and had pretty good luck leaving a wet paper towel on the back side of the sign. Even that wasn't a full cure.
I've been doing that for years and it works great! Works on Plex-e glass car show signs and snowmobile hoods to! It's a freakin wonderfull thing!
Actually, the dryer sheet sounds like a logical solution. When used for their intended purpose, in the clothes dryer, they eliminate static cling in your laundry. Vinyl LP records also used to suffer from static buildup. There used to be a battery powered "gun-like" device available that was used to neutralize the static charge on records. I've heard of them being used by sign painters and pinstripers when working on plastics or fiberglass. I think they were called a de-ionzer gun and were sold by companies like Discwasher. Claimed to work by shooting an invisible stream of negative ions or some such thing. May have been hokum but they were sold for quite a few years. A bit of Googling should turn up some info.
I work for a plastic extrusion company. We have those deionizer guns on some of the production lines. Great sales concept!
I use a special cloth I bought at a Gullwing rally some years ago.It looks like a standard terrycloth face cloth but has been treated with some type of chemical.The guy I got it from did a graphic demo by taking it and wiping a large amount of dust from his black trike so I could stripe it.He said thay use them in the hotel cleaning industry for dusting.You can launder it in the washer but you can't use fabric softener or it will not work.For what it's worth I've just rinsed it out with warm water occasionally and keep itdamp in a plastic bag.works great! I've also used a damp paper towel and it works just as well.On plexi signs,I usually wipe the BACK of the sign down if the static comes back while I'm working. When I first experienced the problem back in the late 60's painting fibreglass race car bodies I used a spray product called,"Anti-Stat" which was used to eliminate static on photographic film.
Thanks for all the help guys!...I've tried the water and windex tricks....plexiglas is a headache!....will give the other ideas a Shot! Now if I can take those drier sheets without nobody tellin on me!.......
i use a 50/50 mix of de-ionised alcohol and water misted on with a very fine mist perfume bottle (straight outta the Alan Johnson book) then one clean wipe with a microfibre cloth. works a treat, i do alot of striping on plexiglass and a little on fibreglass and have never had a problem using this method
There is a product that the silk screen printers use called of all things " Anti-static spray" I buy it from the sign supply co's . I've used this for about 30 years , works great . Spray some on a shop towel and slowly wipe over the part . If the static returns while you're working , I just give it a quick light spray and it goes away . I buy most of my stuff from McLogan Supply in CA.
I always used a wet (water) cotton rag and whipe the area I'm going to stripe.....I found the static was caused mostly from wiping the car down with mineral spirits or wax remover before I striped it....let it dry after the wet rag and stripe away...you can run your arm (hairy side) down the side about 1/2" away and it will make the hair stand up if any static is in the body........Now, here's a story I about a drunk and striping a Glass Car.....He staggers up and wants to know how I can pull a line down the side so long with that little brush......I wiped the top of the fender with a clean rag real hard, stroked my Old Mack 00 a few times through the paint board...then I helt it right up to the fender and squeezed my hand like I was mashing paint out of it...I told him the handle was hollow.......he staggered off and said.." I knew it was a trick to it".....he's probably told a hundred people the brushes were hollow from that day till now......the wet rag always worked for me and I still use it till this day............Since 1971
Thanks for more tips!...sorry about the spelling! Fat fingers don't work well on the I pad! Lol. The lady that eats drier sheets!,,...well at least her hair won't stand up!....
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