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Ultimate Guide to Spray Adhesive for DIY Upholstery Beginners

Old School Auto Upholstery Techniques

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In this detailed DIY upholstery tutorial, I’ll show you how to use a spray gun for glue application, a crucial skill for beginners interested in upholstery. With almost 50 years of experience, I demonstrate the proper technique for applying contact adhesive to foam, fabric, and other materials, ensuring a flawless finish every time. Learn how to use spray adhesive for foam without over-saturating and discover essential tips for maintaining your upholstery spray gun. Whether you’re restoring furniture or working on a car upholstery project, this video covers everything from choosing the right spray gun to cleaning and reactivating your glue. Watch now to master glueing foam, fabric, and more while avoiding common mistakes in your DIY upholstery journey!

Hello! This is a video about How To Use A Spray Gun For Glue For Beginners. Featuring Technique Numbers #71, #98 and #634.

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Today is the making of seat upholstery with many of the techniques I have used and developed after doing auto upholstery for almost 50 years at this point in my career! Please support my new YouTube channel by Liking and Subscribing, Ring that bell! I have a working upholstery shop where I do something different every day. I am posting videos often. Stay Tuned if you want to learn more. Hit the subscribe button, and check back in as I upload more videos showing the closely guarded techniques I have developed over almost 50 years! Please like and subscribe to my new channel, Thanks! As ALWAYS, No sponsors were begged to for the making of this video. I paid for everything!

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20 Comments

@oldschoolautoupholstery Creator 2 years ago (edited) Pinned

Your donation at 👉 BUY ME A COFFEE will help support my YouTube channel and will be much appreciated!
NEW! Support my channel 👉 BUY ME A COFFEE Here: https://coff.ee/oldschoolupholstery ☕
Upholstery questions will only be answered by a 5, 10, or 15-minute personal phone consultation through Buy A COFFEE. Based on the level paid. Please leave your phone number.
Please hit the "$uper Thank$ Button." I don't think it's working... And the LIKE button while you're at it! Thanks a bunch! 😀
https://www.rudolphsupholstery.com

@nuttinbedder2do70 2 years ago (edited)

I have worked in orthotics and prosthetics for twenty years. We shape legs, mold leather, and sew. Before your tutorials, I never knew my skills transferred to upholstery. Thanks for doing your channel. It's greatly appreciated. So far, I've fixed my kid's driver seat and done his headliner.

@tonyrusso9088 2 years ago (edited)

Great explanation! I worked in a shop for several years during high school and college, mostly doing headliners and vinyl roofs for car dealers back in the 70's. We used an ancient De Vilbiss gun that my boss had purchased in the late 50's. It worked wonderfully! We never cleaned it or emptied it, and aside from the occasional clogged tip, it never failed. The only maintenance it ever got was when it started shooting strings of adhesive (usually after sitting for the weekend or holiday), we'd put a finger over the nozzle and pull the trigger. It only used 30-40 psi, so it never hurt us, and if it stayed plugged, a little gas on a rag and a quick scrape from a thumbnail, and we were back in business! Nowdays, I'm doing my own upholstery and the cheapo Harbor Fright siphon guns work excellent! Thanks for sharing your expertise, your technique is spot on!

@venvnco6259 2 years ago

When I started in 1981. That 5 gallon can was $30. Times sure have changed,

@clintprice2123 2 years ago

Another nice tutorial Richard!
For those who like trivia, the 3men😉 company started out as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

@chrstphrr 2 years ago

I slapped my forehead when I realized that using a spray gun for the adhesive had just as lazy a maintenance and clean up routine as I'd tolerate. To think, all these years I'd dismissed the idea of a more "professional" setup, when it's just as easy to use as a spray-can, but with better results. Face-palming again.

I love the random-number tips, Richard, almost as much as I love learning from other people's experience/mistakes to avoid some of them myself.

While everyone learns #98 really quickly, but ... I've already suffered from not realizing how important #71 was. Lucky for me, I was mounting foam or sound deadening materials to the BACK of panels that no one could see nor touch.

Probably best that absolutely, positively no one else knows even now. Erm... except you... me, and.... anyone else on the internet that reads this!

Thank you Richard for your videos, as always!

@sydneychase780 2 years ago

If you are not using for a time, put whole gun in refrigerator, i have a small bedroom fridge for the shop. Works good when it's really hot like phoenix 110'+, also for painting I do more paint keeps the dry spray down. Life hack to share with all of you! God Bless.

@EdwardJackson-zo8mr 2 years ago

Hey Rick,
Thank you so much for these videos!!! They have been a great help to me. You are a good soul and wonderful teacher. I am a little long in the tooth to be learning another trade but I seem to be developing a talent for marine upholstery which is basically all I do. I also have a great teacher up here in northeastern mass. Well, patient at the least.!! A quick video of your sewing table showing how you do the actual stitching would be a huge help to me and probably many others. Any little boost at my age could make a world of difference in speed and quality. Thanks again my friend.
Yours, Irish Eddie

@whiteyfarm 2 years ago

hello Richard. I finally finished part of my first upholstery project, the front seat re-foam and sewed new cover for 39 Chevy front seat cushion. It turned out fairly good with welted seams and half inch foam backed pleats. I am also learning to sew too and I had a couple of seams that were the first to be sewn that opened up so I had to go back and resew them. Consequently it is slightly crooked. It still looks pretty good and I had to get the tape measure out to make sure they were crooked. I think I have got my industrial machine dialed in and using 135 thread and it is sewing good now.
in relation to this video, I at first sprayed the back of the polyester velour with glue and got it on so thick that it soaked through and stained the front side. It was a small piece and the first time I sprayed glue and it wasn't too bad a thing to throw it away. Now I spray at a distance as you tell us and it works out fine. Sometimes I give it two light coats.
`Please keep up the good videos. I just wanted to let you know that you are teaching me and anyone watching important lessons and you are spreading knowledge. Thank you. I will try and send a pic of the seat when finished.

@tracyrenko4171 2 years ago

I enjoyed learning more about how to spray the glue

@abcardenas35 2 years ago

Thank you I'm learning 🙏

@toddselph5992 2 years ago

Great information! Thanks for sharing it!

@fire1777 2 years ago

My time was 1976-1987. Prime vinyl top years. Smelling that old green glue and gasoline for cleaning. Surprised I still have brain cells.

@joewolf4483 2 years ago

Great info ... helps alot ...

@Vladviking 2 years ago

I've found that the glue that has made it inside the foam cells dries a lot slower than what stays on the surface. When the wet gets forced against the outer dry as what happens when sticking the pieces together it reactivates the dry which then stops being sticky again. At least that's my theory. As you say better to stick the two together right then and give and/or it much more time to dry completely.

@jbrodie9901 1 year ago

Rudolph man! Dude we met in AZ before covid in Tempe. I was looking up a video for my employees to watch since we hardly ever use glue in commercials work and I was all like man, I think I know this guy... Then in another video you mentioned AZ and bam! Tried to call you but looks like you dropped your old #. Anyway, great videos, glad you're doing well.

@Recon77 1 year ago

love these videos thank you

@nyquistsenior2634 2 years ago

When that glue you sprayed at me came out of my monitor and hit me in the eyes, mineral spirits didn't work to unglue my eyelids...Technique 1630 didn't work on me so what do I do now? :) Always enjoy your videos Richard. I appreciate today's lesson and yes I will keep watching and liking !

@deankay4434 2 years ago

Let it dance and fall onto the fabric baby! Be smooth as ice cream on a hot day. I don’t do much upholstery but when I am spraying, I got a cute detail gun. It too is stored full but in a zip lock bag so no solvent evaporation. You are excellent in explaining and perfect in execution of tips, techniques and procedures. The “NCIS Jeffro Gibbs” of the upholstery world. I thank you kindly for your sharing of wisdom & experience!