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Color match spray cans in Calgary?

C

calgaryguy

Chris
I'm restoring an old piece of machinery and want to color match the paint on the machine. Nothing 'off the shelf' will match and I've heard that there are shops that will make up a custom color matched spray bomb based on a color sample I bring in.

Does anyone in the YYC area have any suggestion as to who might provide such a service?
 
calgaryguy said:
I'm restoring an old piece of machinery and want to color match the paint on the machine. Nothing 'off the shelf' will match and I've heard that there are shops that will make up a custom color matched spray bomb based on a color sample I bring in.

Does anyone in the YYC area have any suggestion as to who might provide such a service?
Click to expand...
I think even Lowes does that don't they?
 
I just went through this exercise recently. Two places I visited were Calgary Body Shop Supplies & Advance Auto Color. Mostly because they were located in my quadrant & open on Saturday. I suspect they are quite similar to other auto paint supply places. You bring in your sample. They attempt match first using hardcopy swatch catalogs with a hole in the middle of each color to visually judge vs your part. That corresponds to some (typically automotive) recipe which they then mix. Alternately they have this kind of electronic scanner gun & comes up with a unique recipe. I believe in both cases the end result in the can is acrylic urethane which by itself is medium gloss at 25-28$. I ended up not being able to match so can't tell you much more. I've also heard big box hardware stores will do similar but I haven't investigated. It might be enamel based, but I'd only be guessing.
 
PeterT said:
I just went through this exercise recently. Two places I visited were Calgary Body Shop Supplies & Advance Auto Color. Mostly because they were located in my quadrant & open on Saturday. I suspect they are quite similar to other auto paint supply places. You bring in your sample. They attempt match first using hardcopy swatch catalogs with a hole in the middle of each color to visually judge vs your part. That corresponds to some (typically automotive) recipe which they then mix. Alternately they have this kind of electronic scanner gun & comes up with a unique recipe. I believe in both cases the end result in the can is acrylic urethane which by itself is medium gloss at 25-28$. I ended up not being able to match so can't tell you much more. I've also heard big box hardware stores will do similar but I haven't investigated. It might be enamel based, but I'd only be guessing.
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Thanks!
 
I too am not 100% positive on the Lowes thing but am pretty sure it was them or home depot that did such a thing. Now I would also guess that the selection of paint they would have would not match the automotive quality available elsewhere but possibly some of the acrylics or enamels they do have would be ok?
 
Neither HD or Lowes here does any kind of aerosol paint matching.
 
This is the kind of service I've heard about at big box stores. Not sure what kind of chemistry
www.myperfectcolor.com

Custom Spray Paint in 250,000+ Colors‎

Looking for how to get Custom Spray Paint? MyPerfectColor can make any custom color in an aerosol spray can for you. Simply find any paint color from any paint brand, and MyPerfectColor will match that and ship it to you ASAP.
www.myperfectcolor.com www.myperfectcolor.com

Duplicolor which you can get at Canadian Tire is acrylic lacquer. I cant say how they compare on toughness

Perfect Match® Premium Automotive Paint – Duplicolor

www.duplicolor.com www.duplicolor.com

Hmm, I'm pretty sure the auto match guys told me acrylic urethane but my head has been swimming with paint types lately.

Lots of changes in systems over past years. Even the catalyzed 2K in spray bomb (typically only clears though) which have life of a few days after activating with button, now there are some 2K that have long term pot life.
 
The duplicolor isnt a 'paint match'. Its original factory colors in premixed spray bombs.
PeterT said:
This is the kind of service I've heard about at big box stores. Not sure what kind of chemistry
www.myperfectcolor.com

Custom Spray Paint in 250,000+ Colors‎

Looking for how to get Custom Spray Paint? MyPerfectColor can make any custom color in an aerosol spray can for you. Simply find any paint color from any paint brand, and MyPerfectColor will match that and ship it to you ASAP.
www.myperfectcolor.com www.myperfectcolor.com

Duplicolor which you can get at Canadian Tire is acrylic lacquer. I cant say how they compare on toughness

Perfect Match® Premium Automotive Paint – Duplicolor

www.duplicolor.com www.duplicolor.com

Hmm, I'm pretty sure the auto match guys told me acrylic urethane but my head has been swimming with paint types lately.

Lots of changes in systems over past years. Even the catalyzed 2K in spray bomb (typically only clears though) which have life of a few days after activating with button, now there are some 2K that have long term pot life.
Click to expand...
 
Auto paint supply shops will give you any colour you want. Only thing is you will have to activate it, ie. Mix paint, accelerant and thinner and spray with a spray gun. Cost last time I had sone mixed is about 150 per quart. BM and Para specialty shop can also give you spray cans in an enamal formula, expect to be a commercial customer (or make good friends with the shop).

In order try BM, Para and then ask body shops who there paint suppliers are (ask bringing coffee into the shop, for the employees).
 
i second advance auto color, ive been going to those guys for years when ever i need automotive paint, seems like an ok price...automotive 2k stuff is expensive no matter what
 
calgaryguy said:
The duplicolor isnt a 'paint match'. Its original factory colors in premixed spray bombs.
Click to expand...
That's true, but just so you understand, the auto paint suppliers typically have access to a much larger range in their catalogs to offer you vs literally & physically 'off the shelf' say like at Crappy Tire. So you may find a close match in their swatch catalog, but it still corresponds to a factory color & they use that defined recipe. Failing that (or if you insist) they will use the scanner. I heard some places charge for the scan service but the two places I mentioned built that into the price of 'in a spray bomb' however it comes about AFAIK. The cost is in the mix & raw materials regardless of how many squirts of this or that.

Also know that even with the scanner, there are limits to how close they can get. I would guess for most typical machinery colors, chances are good they can hit it pretty close. But no guarantees. I think some formulations originate from specific paint types that just don't have an close equivalent in the typical auto world (which is the specific supplier type we are talking about here). Car panel matching can be more discriminating because of other variables; UV fade, degradation, metallic or other additives... even gloss level or lack of can influence perceived color. Guessing that wont apply to what you are doing, just peripheral information.

When you get into what I'll loosely call custom paints, like bright colors, fluorescents.. you typically hit the limits of what they can mix (ie. no good match). Last week I was on the hunt for a magenta which is available in common manufacture single stage urethane PN & they couldn't match anywhere close. Back when I sprayed Endura, which caters to a lot of different industrial applications, they had all kinds of weird stuff on the color wheel. I saw company names with extensions like tractor green, fleet yellow... Maybe because it's polyurethane & different mixing computer? I dunno. But I don't think they spray bomb theirs & its 2K system etc. so outside the conversation scope. Guessing that wont apply to what you are doing, just peripheral information
 
Tom O said:
I’d like to know if they sell spare tips for the spray cans fr when they clog.
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I always use a shot of carb cleaner to spray through the tip when done, keeps the tips perfectly clean, but the inside tube can still eventually clog.
 
Tom O said:
I’d like to know if they sell spare tips for the spray cans fr when they clog.
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I wish I could say where they originated from, but I have several that I got out ouf a bulk bag from work a few years ago. So, I would suggest that the paint supply stores should have some....
 
There are multitudes of spray can nozzle types, not just in the body types which can be non-interchangeable also the spray orifice itself. If you want spares for your job I would recommend buy them at the same place you get the can. I'll find the link of where I got my spares but it was a Grafitti paint supplier & you have to cross reference the can/paint vendor.
 
DPittman said:
I always use a shot of carb cleaner to spray through the tip when done, keeps the tips perfectly clean, but the inside tube can still eventually clog.
Click to expand...
I use spray adhesive a lot but only intermittently so clogging is an issue. The 'regular' spray nozzles can be removed & I soak them in acetone which thins & dissolves it so nie & clean for next time. But modern paints can be weird depending on the type. Most of the regular old school rattle enamels & lacquers seem to clean up nice, but some of the newer formulations do weird things like coagulate, so you have to experiment with the thinner. Kind of unrelated but some of the water base base paints I sprayed in the Createx line (AutoAir, Wicked...) you would think would be easy to clean up with hydrocarbon based solvent. Even lacquer thinner which normally goes after everything didn't work as well as it does on regular auto paints. They sell an airbrush restorer which I thought was marketing but it actually did work better, so something different about the chemistry.
 
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