Charles Smith
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Just finished my first week with the universal clear. Mixing it with the Sikkens activators and using the lesonal clear hardners. This was recommended to me by my Sikkens rep. I love this clear. You dont have to pound it to get it to look nice like I had to with the pro air. I am mainly using the rapid activator in most of my jobs and using a little accelerator when it gets cooler out just to get it out of the booth faster. (I am spraying in an old crossflow and am challenged with heat) The medium activator lays down a little flatter than the rapid. But I guess that can be expected. I have not tried it with the lesonal activators yet, I might try that later. The only problem I am having with it is it runs way easy compared to the pro air. I think it has alot to do with the temps that I have been spraying in, its been kinda cool during the eve hours and I have been mixing it 3:1:1.5 per lesonals mixing instructions in cold weather. I might have to ease up on my first coat, then spray a full wet coat for my last one. But all in all I am real happy with how it handles and buffs the next day. Any recomendations on gun setup, techniques etc on the run issues would be great. I am using a w400lv4 with a 1.4 for clear. About 6 in from the panel, 20 lbs with the trigger pulled back, fan set 1 turn in from wide open and fluid adjustment cut back to about 1.5- 2 threads showing. The runs I am getting are not huge, but I am getting enough of them to know that I need to change something. I have picked up my speed quite a bit, almost reminds me of spraying an old binks 7 now. With the pro air I had to slow it way down and get in close to get it to lay as flat as I wanted. It also buffs really easy the next day, so much so I can hit my dirt nibs with a piece of 1500/2000 wet and then buff, no real need to get the 3000 out unless it was a larger area. Thanks for the help and sorry for being so long winded.
Chuck
Welcome aboard, this is a great place to learn, alot of experience here! I know that its helped me out alot. Take advantage of any training that you can get your hands on. Some places dont want to let you go to any schools.
Chuck
Its not a real good idea to sand and buff single stage metallics, you will normally be able to see where you buffed at and it will move the metallics.
Thanks Jayson, I will try some next week and post back how it goes.
Chuck
What brand are you spraying. Some single stage paints lend themselves very well to sanding and buffing. Sometimes you can run into issues with lack of uv protection after a good cut and buff. Your tech sheet should tell you what the recomendations are. And I am sure that someone here will have some experience with what you are spraying.
Chuck
If your plan is to fix the bad spots then reclear, you could save yourself some time by going to 600 or 800 on a da. I think that reclearing over 1500 grit scratch might be a touch to fine, plus it makes it kinda hard to cut anything flat with 1500 grit.
Chuck
I think that I will try a gallon next week. Any recomendations on spraying it? I spray my clear with a w400lv4 with a 1.4. How does it respond to adding reducer to it? I sometimes add about 5% to my pro air and it lays down real nice, but then the gloss might suffer the next day. How does it do in the summer months, I have noticed that pro air will pop on you if you dont let it tack real well between coats.
Chuck
Wet sanding and polishing will sometimes make the spot look worse, not better, really depends. If you opt to repair the area again, you might want to give it a day or two before you jump into it to give the fresh paint time to cure out. Sometimes you will have recoat issues. Check your tech sheets, most of the time it will tell you. What paint system are you using?
Chuck
I have been using microfibers from Sams Club, like 10.00 a bag to wipe after skuffing and to wipe the jambs and wheel openings then use tork towels to wipe down right before it goes in the booth. At home I just use the blue paper towels that you get from auto zone.
I would see if you can demo one before dropping any coin, I have heard good things about the ls400 and the ws400 but I haven’t heard much about the hybrid. Saw some on eBay for decent prices though.
I have seen quite a bit of this, and from what I have found most of it is due to the bogyman hammering the primer on without letting it breathe. Kind of keep an eye on what the body guys send you and you will notice trends, some guys will finish their work off better than others. And maybe try using a dry guide coat, not that it will prevent the shrinkage but more of an insurance policy to know that you did everything that you could to make sure it was going to be right.
I have shot a few jobs with the solvent, sprays real nice and the color match was real good, price is good. I really like the ms clear. Lays down really nice, very forgiving and buffs great. Will run on you though if you push it to hard.
I will try the razor blade trick again, I have done it in the past but have had a hard time getting the rest of the scratch out from the blade. I think I used 1000 grit paper to sharpen the blade. I will try the 1500 or 2000 grit and see if it works any better for me. We mainly use pro air clear at the shop and I have noticed that with this clear it’s kind of funny about when it likes to be sanded/buffed. Seems to have kind of a waxy shell on it till you get it opened up, loads up the paper kind of quick. Might be just me though.
What’s the name of that and where did you get it? I tried to google it and all I seem to get is the motor guard one. When I do get runs I normally use the finishing putty method to get them out but it seems like this tool might be a bit easier at times.
Chuck
The wax tip is good to know. The boat that my buddy sprayed the other day dried real sticky. I think I will pass on the regelcoating the pool slide. I need to play around with this stuff a bit before I jump in and mess up some guys fancy pool. Thanks for the tips Jim that’s what makes this site such a good place to frequent.
Thanks
Chuck