energy pro 250
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Just got a gallon of energy pro 250 to try out. I’ve seen in the past that quite a few people spray this clear. I have sprayed 4 small jobs with it so far. I think I will like it when I get it figured out. Any tips on making this work in a cross flow without heat? The rep that demo’d it the other day left me with the impression that this was pretty close to a wet on wet system, but after reading the tds I am finding out different. Should I wait until the first coat is hand slick before applying the second? The tds says 5-10 minutes but with the temps today that would have left the first coat still stringy. Can you accelerate this clear? I was told yes but I don’t see any reference to it in the data sheets. And what kind of paint hours can I expect with this clear. I was told that 100 hours is not uncommon. And what about technique with this clear? I spray with a w400 lv4 with a 1.4. I was told that I could switch to a 1.3 and I would get more paint hours, but I am concerned with not having enough clear if I need to buff. I am trying to find one clear that I can use year around .and make work by just changing out the activator. Sorry for being so long winded, but I would like to accelerate the learning curve with this clear.
Chuck
I’ve used this clear and its really nice but I found out from the Rep that Energy Pro 250 is made for shops that don’t have bake systems. Its great if you’re clearing same parts because it flashes off really quick, but not if you’re doing large parts or completes in a heated booth. The way I sprayed it was a light medium coat, waited till it was stringy and then a full wet coat. Sikkens has Autoclear HS + LV and the regular Autoclear HS that are pretty good if you have a heated booth.
There are so many good clears out there now. Seems like everyone is making them now and it used to only be a few to choose from in my area. Nice to have some options. How much is this one for a gallon kit and now does it mix?
[quote=”kustompainter” post=34580]There are so many good clears out there now. Seems like everyone is making them now and it used to only be a few to choose from in my area. Nice to have some options. How much is this one for a gallon kit and now does it mix?[/quote]
Its about 300.00 or so for the clear plus the hardner and activator. It mixes 3-1-1. It seems to go a lot farther then what I was spraying.IMO its not a very good clear,we used it for one year and got rid of it,for the cost of it you may as well use superior 250.I am not sure if it is approved over solvent now but it was a waterborne only clear.The best way to spray it is 2 medium coats with no flash,obviously when it is cold you have to be careful and allow some flash time.We found it was good for about 3-4 panels max,you would have a tough time doing a complete with it.We had lots of dieback problems so it just wasn’t worth it for us to continue using it 😡
I went in today and did a few jobs with it. All of them were small jobs, 3 panels max. Everything turned out good but I gave it about 10 minutes to flash in between coats. It was pretty cold this morning and I don’t have heat in the booth, but as the day went on I was able to sped it up some. Everything looked good when I left, so we will see what they look like on Monday. I was told that the superior 250 would have a hard time without a bake booth and alot of airflow. One of my main concerns is running the booth fans to long and killing all the heat in the shop. I did that the other night and panel temps dropped real fast and my clear was wanting to take off on me.
Chuck
What are you using it on autobase plus?
i have used superior 250 off an on on small stuff in the shop for a few years now. i am in a standard crossflow booth. nothing special and i dont bake. it does work fine and you dont have to run the fans. i shut the fans off when the overspray clears. it is a slow clear though. if your not baking and you spray in the morning you wont be removing the parts from the booth until the next morning. i am not a production shop so i can get away with that but if you need to move things through then forget it. i have tried the energy pro a while back but i dont remember if i liked it or not. i did recently try the PC clear and thought it was fantastic…atleast on smaller motorcycle parts. i dont know how it would do on an overall. maybe a bit fast for that but it looked every bit as good as the superior when it was done and you could sand and buff it no problem where superior is a PIA. superior works just fine over solvent.
Yeah spraying abp
You can do what you want but I can assure you akzo has done no testing of energy pro or superior 250 over solvent to see if it will last.I have been told numerous times by many tech guys, reps,training center etc not to do it and they will not warranty it.I sure wouldn’t want to run the risk of using it in a production shop and have 100 jobs come back with delam problems that have to be fixed for free.Energy pro will die off , we have looked at many jobs that were a year old they didn’t look good.Just my opinion take it or leave it :cheers
I wouldn’t use it over solvent,you would be better off with lesonal proair.No point in using a low voc air dry clear if you don’t have to IMO.
We are a sherwill shop but we always keep some 250 on hand for jobs that need to go the same day they are painted, I think it pretty great for bumpers, we accelerate the clear so within 2 hours it’s hard as a rock, and if there’s any imperfections they can be polishing out very soon after. That’s about all we use this clear for
[quote=”Tylerbrooks12″ post=34649]We are a sherwill shop but we always keep some 250 on hand for jobs that need to go the same day they are painted, I think it pretty great for bumpers, we accelerate the clear so within 2 hours it’s hard as a rock, and if there’s any imperfections they can be polishing out very soon after. That’s about all we use this clear for[/quote]
If you are a sure will shop how come you dont use the HPC clears for stuff like that ?
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