Painting a Radius

Alright I know that this is going to sound foolish, but...I am having a difficult time in painting a radius. So i could use some good suggestions on how to do this. Because a radius in a parking lot is a whole lot different then doing one on the road.

LD, you will get lots of ideas, but my simple opinion is to practice. Your machine can dictate how well you can paint a radius. There are things you can try, like placing spray gun at the rear or raising the front wheel, raising the rear wheels. What works best for me was found by trial and (lotsof)error, and that is to slow the pump pressure down which allows you go slower. But still, I put down some wavy radii. With all the talent gathered on this site, I wish someone could come up with a solid method, with or without a Linedriver. BTW, does anybody know who striped the new WalMart in Forney, Texas? The BEST job I have ever seen!!!

LD - What size radius?

use a string nail and mark out chalk mark it out and then paintit Dave

You do swing the gun around to the back wheel don't you? It's impossible to paint a nice curve with the gun in the usual position at the front of the machine.

Robert wrote on Feb 19, 2006:Go to #5

You do swing the gun around to the back wheel don't you? It's impossible to paint a nice curve with the gun in the usual position at the front of the machine.

This was exactly how Mick showed us @ the CLT showed last week!!! He showed a short video, simple!!!

I've heard of many methods but never lifting a rear wheel. Robert was the first of I ever heard about placing the gun at the rear wheel. Worked so well for me is why I started using it for straight lines, too.

\\\STRIPES/// wrote on Feb 20, 2006:Go to #7

I've heard of many methods but never lifting a rear wheel. R

emember changing the handle bars around to the other side of your machine? You would lift the rear wheel then to paint radius work. Ez-liner machines are built that way. Two wheels front, one at the rear, guns mounted off the front axle. The older machines were fixed rear wheel and you lifted to paint radius. The newer designs may have a castor, should not have as the ones I used were loose. I did actually see a company using that machine platform with a LineDriver, I would never have believed it if I had not seen it myself.

jpanz has something to put the gun in the back of the machaine and it looks like it will work great dave

LiLine--- You are mixing apples with oranges. Jpanz's machine is for doing the half circles at the end of double lines.... a tad different than larger radii.

Yellowstripe, You had me curious so i looked up the location of Forney. Near the Dallas area i see. The guy that did all the new construction Super Wal-marts in east and southeast Texas was Lloyd Labarge. Hope the spelling was right. I doubt though if he did that one so close to the Metroplex they probably had a local area contractor, But i met Lioyd once in Lufkin, Tx. while he was doing their new supercenter, and he named off a dozen other stores he had done, and said he traveled anywhere in east Texas doing the W-M Supercenters. Real nice older gentleman doing his own stripes with just 2 mexicans for helpers holding lay-out chains only. The neat thing was it was the first time i had ever seen anyone using sash chain. And he had tags along the chain where his marks were. He used 1 set for start and 1 set for stops, he painted in between with nothing to follow, just the tags he set on the chain like a pre-marked tape. So since the Wal-Marts he was doing had the same angle and width stall, these chains made quick work of the lay-out, since he didn't need to snap any lines.

WOW! I'd like to meet him as well. Sounds interesting. Thanks for the response though. I, like all of ya'll, look at every striping job with a curious eye and am amazed at what I see. Most of the markings in my area are average at best. When I see one that is good, I admire.

Neat! I am a one person (woman) operation and love the idea of the chains at the start and stop points. I never snap lines as it is, I just make tic marks at the start and stop points and shoot the lines. By laying premarked chains, though, I don't even have to make the tic marks. That saves even more time!! You gotta love that. I have been in the striping business for 12 years and went to my first NPE last weekend. It was great to talk with a lot of you guys and get new ideas on how the job can get done. I'm new to PLP too. Love it!! Thanks.

Use cables instead of chains...all the advantages, but chains can kink & get tangled and also if you get paint on them they "gum up" throwing any pre-marks off. Also cable "by the roll" is cheaper than sash chain. Ah...when I was young...you said this was an older fellow and 20 some years ago before people discovered cables, sash chains were the norm.

Use neither! Turn the pressure down and the tip upside down. Make iddy-biddy tic marks as you are driving the radius with the gun on the back wheel. Then pressure up and paint away. You can have it painted before you can get a cable reel out of the truck.

That's my kind of striping, Ken! Mark it and paint it. Quick & easy. Having the gun on the back axle is a huge help on these.

Don is right. Although i mentioned the chains as an idea of what this guy was doing with his lay-out, i use cables and string-lines instead. we like to use strings, or depending on the job other methods, except on radiuses we pull out the cables, and just pull them into a radius arc and paint. STRIPES, I THINK OUR METHOD TAKES ABOUT THE SAME AS YOU PAINTING THE TICKS, we're just setting the cables, then we paint. TICKS are good for 2 lay-out guys that are working ahead of the painter. In this case they would swing an arc with a cable, tick it, then move on. The painter would show up, usually after he finishes with that blunt or joint in the port-a-potty.....LOL...Hey i had that happen to me with my own darn cousin. After his 2nd trip to the potty i walked to the back of the site, and smelled it coming from the Port-a-potty, i knocked on the door, heard some coughing, and i said "come on we ain't got time for the bull$#%^" I scolded his butt, because of lay-out mistakes, on the last job, i then knew his getting high was causing it. Needless to say he was replaced quickly, and he is now in jail for the past 4 months.

Whatever works foryou is the right way to do it.!!! You should have seen my video at the EXPO of moving a port-o-potty with a Lazy Liner. That would have gotten his attention! I'll add it to my shared files and send it to you.

Can someone tell me what kind of cable is typically used to make a radius? To me, the word cable means wire. I can't imagine any kind that would be good to use for this purpose. Looks like the gun would blow any such thing out of the pattern of the radius. Seems like the sash chain might work, tho.

that's a good idea what kind and size and stock number chain do most of you use? thanks