Industrial product painters use spray painting guns or coating equipment to apply paint or protective coatings, such as enamel and lacquer, to the surfaces of manufactured goods and equipment. They work in factories, plants and business that focus on industrial painting.
There are several different ways in which you might perform the job of an industrial product painter. If you are covering smaller objects, you might find your self inside a spray painting booth, applying the paint using a spray gun. As an industrial product painter, you paint objects by hand, perhaps touching up something that was missed. You also prepare and apply stencils or decals to items. You may be preparing and cleaning surfaces for painting. You may be mixing the paints as well as applying them. In shops that do a lot of custom work, there may be a specialist to select and mix the paints.
The objects to be painted may be stationary or they may be moving on a conveyor belt. With a stationary object you may be responsible for the whole job - cleaning, priming and colour coating. When you work at a conveyor belt, however, you may be part of a team. As the product travels along the conveyor belt, two people spray the priming coat on, each of them responsible for one side. The object then travels through an oven, baking as it moves. Leaving the oven, it continues along the conveyor belt between two more people who paint it. Then it enters another oven to be baked.
You will also be responsible for preparing, adjusting, cleaning and maintaining the equipment you use. Your equipment varies with the nature of the work. Yo may use a gun to spray paint on, or you may tend an automated machine that dips objects into tanks filled with paint.
As an industrial product painter, you are paid hourly with opportunity for additional work and overtime pay.
Industrial product painting can be challenging. To do it well you should be reasonably well coordinated and have a knack with machinery. You will have to learn about paints and solvents, as well as about he equipment, how to prepare pressure setting, and how to develop the right motion with the guns. It's an ongoing process and depending on where you work, there may be workshops offered to upgrade your skills and to learn to use new technologies.
Employers look for people with a positive attitude and common sense. They also want people who are reliable and show up for work on time every day. If you are working on conveyor line, you have to remain focused on what you are doing. Since the objects are always moving, there's only so much time to get the job done. Safety is also important. Repeated exposure to the paints without taking proper precautions is dangerous. As a safety precaution, you may have to wear safety gloves, a shield, a respiratory mask and a visor. Wearing safety equipment while handling heavy pray guns all day long can get tiring. It requires a certain level of fitness and strength.
What You Need
Many high schools have paint shops, and you can gain valuable experience there. Industrial product painters often start off as labourers, then become painters' helpers and finally Industrial product painters. Community colleges only offer courses in automotive painting, but the skills learned there can be applied to other types of industrial painting.