Sikkens Autowave MM
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So, after two weeks of spraying Autowave, I am struggling a bit with laying out and blending some of the high metallic colors. I have sprayed water before (NEXA, and DUPONT), so not a total noob to water. But Sikkens seems VERY sensitive to application when it comes to the colors that have the 888DC & 888DF toners in it. The color match is fantastic! But even after 15+ years on the gun, I am really uncomfortable walking into the booth on some colors. I know that it takes a bit of time to figure it all out, but I would appreciate any guidance from all of you Sikkens guys on here! I am spraying base with a DeVilbiss Tekna, 1.4 7E7 tip. The clear has come out fantastic with my Sats 3000RP, I am just struggling with mottling/blending with the base. Please, any suggestions??? :cens
The Tekna works better for me than the Supernova and the Sata HC. Some things that work well for me are to reduce tough colors no less than 35% and usually around 40% if it’s warmer. I will go higher if needed. First coat goes on wet. Don’t just stop the color either. Make sure to pull the gun away and not leave a abrupt stopping point. Second coat goes on around 75% of the first. I will flick my wrist without triggering off the gun for my blend. I will put a 3rd maybe 40% wet coat on before my control coat if the color has any mottle in it. It doesn’t take much paint. Then for my control coat I will drop my gun pressure to 18-19 psi and back up and give it a nice even coat. Not wet but not dry. Think of a peppered look.
I fought mottle on tough colors for awhile with the Sata HC. Steve Baran recommended the Tekna to me and gave me these pointers and honestly I have almost no trouble anymore.
[quote=”ryanbrown999″ post=21076]The Tekna works better for me than the Supernova and the Sata HC. Some things that work well for me are to reduce tough colors no less than 35% and usually around 40% if it’s warmer. I will go higher if needed. First coat goes on wet. Don’t just stop the color either. Make sure to pull the gun away and not leave a abrupt stopping point. Second coat goes on around 75% of the first. I will flick my wrist without triggering off the gun for my blend. I will put a 3rd maybe 40% wet coat on before my control coat if the color has any mottle in it. It doesn’t take much paint. Then for my control coat I will drop my gun pressure to 18-19 psi and back up and give it a nice even coat. Not wet but not dry. Think of a peppered look.
I fought mottle on tough colors for awhile with the Sata HC. Steve Baran recommended the Tekna to me and gave me these pointers and honestly I have almost no trouble anymore.[/quote]
I’ve been spraying Autowave for about 6 months now (with the Tekna, same setup). I had the same issues and first, but with a little fine tuning they virtually are non-existant now. I more or less do as Ryan does. 1 wet coat, 2nd coat a little less wet 3rd coat (if needed) a little less wet. The drop coat goes on just as he said, kind of sandy looking. If you watch it carefully though, you notice it isn’t “dry”. The drop coat is done at about 12″ gun distance. I was originally dropping my gun pressure to 19 PSI. The rep told me not to bother. Now I keep my pressure the up on the drop coat. Looking at my older and newer spray out cards of the same colour, there doesn’t seem to be any difference.
When I spray, I spray at 24 PSI. As Ryan said as well, fan the gun well on the blends (I am sure you are doing this)…whatever blending method works for you. I highly recommend using the 666/wetbed.
Jayson M mentioned to me the importance of getting each coat right (getting the 1st one nice and wet, second a little less wet etc) in metallic control. If these aren’t followed from the first coat, then the drop coat won’t take care of your issues you will have by that point.
I haven’t had any issue with mottling or striping in severl months. Just sprayed a gold Buick yesterday and it came out excellent.
Good luck! :cheers
[quote=”Ben” post=21077][quote=”ryanbrown999″ post=21076]The Tekna works better for me than the Supernova and the Sata HC. Some things that work well for me are to reduce tough colors no less than 35% and usually around 40% if it’s warmer. I will go higher if needed. First coat goes on wet. Don’t just stop the color either. Make sure to pull the gun away and not leave a abrupt stopping point. Second coat goes on around 75% of the first. I will flick my wrist without triggering off the gun for my blend. I will put a 3rd maybe 40% wet coat on before my control coat if the color has any mottle in it. It doesn’t take much paint. Then for my control coat I will drop my gun pressure to 18-19 psi and back up and give it a nice even coat. Not wet but not dry. Think of a peppered look.
I fought mottle on tough colors for awhile with the Sata HC. Steve Baran recommended the Tekna to me and gave me these pointers and honestly I have almost no trouble anymore.[/quote]
I’ve been spraying Autowave for about 6 months now (with the Tekna, same setup). I had the same issues and first, but with a little fine tuning they virtually are non-existant now. I more or less do as Ryan does. 1 wet coat, 2nd coat a little less wet 3rd coat (if needed) a little less wet. The drop coat goes on just as he said, kind of sandy looking. If you watch it carefully though, you notice it isn’t “dry”. The drop coat is done at about 12″ gun distance. I was originally dropping my gun pressure to 19 PSI. The rep told me not to bother. Now I keep my pressure the up on the drop coat. Looking at my older and newer spray out cards of the same colour, there doesn’t seem to be any difference.
When I spray, I spray at 24 PSI. As Ryan said as well, fan the gun well on the blends (I am sure you are doing this)…whatever blending method works for you. I highly recommend using the 666/wetbed.
Jayson M mentioned to me the importance of getting each coat right (getting the 1st one nice and wet, second a little less wet etc) in metallic control. If these aren’t followed from the first coat, then the drop coat won’t take care of your issues you will have by that point.
I haven’t had any issue with mottling or striping in severl months. Just sprayed a gold Buick yesterday and it came out excellent.
Good luck! :cheers[/quote]
Yes I have heard that you can use straight 666 as a wet bed for tough blends, I have not tried it because im not sure of the process involved. Could you go a little further into detail the process of laying out the 666 for your blend?
Thanks :cheersIt is pretty simple. You can take the 666 and spray a medium-wet coat on the panel either to the edge or a little ways past where you will be blending your furthest coat. The 666 can be sprayed as is or reduced with the WB activator (up to 30%”ish”). Once it has dired/flashed you spray your base/blend as usual. The 666 is basically just clear base coat. You can also add more of the 666 to your base to make it more transparent in your later coats to aid with blending.
I think Ryan mentioned before about using it similarly to DuPont as well, where you spray your base, then spray a coat of the 666 over it to help melt in the overspray of your blend.
Right on thanks for the info!
666 works best reduced around 20%,I would not use it straight out of the can,it will look like corn on the cob :clappy Be careful with it ,if you have any contamination you will find out fast 😛 A nice close fast medium coat is all that is needed.I’m also a tekna convert,used to use a sata 3000 hvlp 1.4HC and struggled with some colors.wait until you try a color with 888 EC :stoned If you are having trouble with a grainy look with your blends it could be a couple of things.Your control coat is not wet enough,that peppered look is bang on,touch your masking paper when you are done your control coat,it should be wet enough to get paint on your glove when you check it with your finger.I am at least 14 inches away at similar pressures as ryan.If you don’t drop your pressure for your control coat you run the risk of a dry grainy blend,pearls on the other hand you can do it like Ben and keep the pressure the same.When you do your blend if you are still having trouble you can cut your ready to spray AW 50% with your ready to spray 666 mixture and do your blend.But do not do your last control coat over everything with this mixture,it will mottle.So do your drop coat,cut your paint with 666 mix,then do your final blend.Since I started using the tekna I haven’t had to do this since.For metallics I will reduce 30% right off the bat,more if it is hotter.Since I started with the tekna I have 0 issues with mottling.
Thanks for the replies guys. I am doing things as most of you have suggested, as that’s how I was trained by the Sikkens tech rep. It is getting better, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t still struggling with the tougher colors. :cens It is a tough adjustment for me seeing as I always sprayed at lower air pressures and moved a bit slower than recommended with Autowave. I am getting comfortable with the fast, closed, wet first coat. but still trying to find my groove on the second , and drop-coat. Seems like I am either too wet, or to dry on these, which is forcing me to put on multiple medium coats to achieve even metallic orientation. I am also finding myself running a bit farther into my blend areas than I want to because of this. I will be going to the training center in a few weeks, and I hope to pick-up some more “hands-on” instruction there to help me become more comfortable. I can see that it is a very good product, with awesome color-matches. I am just getting very frustrated with myself for not being able to pick it all up a bit quicker than I am! :chair Just out of curiosity, how far from the panel are you guys with your 2nd coat? And how wet should it really be? :teach
The training center application course will help you a great deal,the one up here is a 2 day course.Don’t use multiple medium coats for metallic control,this will cause your surface to be very rough,your first coat should be 100% wet like clear or single stage,you want to see the metallics “swimming”believe it or not this is the most important step in getting your metallics even.Second coat is medium wet or 75%,remember with autowave the wetter the better.3rd coat reduce your pressure to 18-19 psi and stay 12-14 inches away from the panel with slow even passes,full trigger,you want it to look peppered or like the beach sand when it starts to rain ,it should be wet enough that the paint will be wet and transfer to your finger,if it is to dry it will be grainy,your tack rag should glide over the area with no rough areas.First coat and second coat I am 3.5-4.5 inches away,close and fast is the key,you can slow down on you second coat a bit.Your first coat is your most important if this is off your control coat will not fix it,hope this helps you. :rock
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