Industrial Spray Painter
What the work is
Operates spray painting equipment to paint and apply other industrial coatings to manufactured items.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Prepares surfaces for painting by cleaning, sanding and masking
- Mixes and prepares paint colours to achieve desired results
- Sets up and operates spray painting equipment, ensuring proper pressure and nozzle settings
- Applies paint and other coatings to manufactured items using spray guns or other application methods
- Monitors and adjusts paint flow, coverage and thickness to achieve desired finish
- Inspects painted items for defects and touches up as necessary
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a metal fabrication shop with a blasting bay and a spray booth, finishing steel frames and trailers. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A rusty steel frame comes out of the bay clean and ready, and the coat goes on perfectly even
- A finish so smooth that the customer runs a hand over it and smiles
- A tricky colour match that no one else could get right
Hard days
- A heavy respirator and protective suit in a warm booth for a long shift
- A big job that has to be redone because a tiny speck landed in the wet coat
- Being told to hurry a coating that needs time to cure properly
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 731131, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.