Charles Smith
Forum Replies Created
- Posts
Any additional blend time that we need all we have to do is take picture of it in the booth taped up and send it in and we get paid for it. We still do alot of freebes though, alot of stuff my boss wont let out of the shop,But it blows my mind how paint times change between the different insurance companies. I am hourly though, so it all pays the same.
Chuck
Painted the vette today, everything blended out great and hopefully the peel will look fairly close to the rest of the car. I painted everything apart so I will have to see what it all looks like tomorrow when it gets put back together. I will try to see if I can figure out how to post pictures of it, other than the normal nubs that have to be taken care of I think that all is well.
Thanks for all the advice/comments. I brag on this site all the time when guys at work ask where I learned something new. 2 1/2 years ago I walked into this job as the new wash boy and now I get to paint all day. Cant think of anything else that I would rather do.Thanks
ChuckI am spraying Sikkens solvent and when I looked it up it only shows it as being a normal base clear. Did a sprayout today when I jambed out the hood and the color looked good, but it didnt have the pop or depth that a tri stage would have, so what do I need to do, add some base to my clear? I might call the help desk in the morning and see what they say as well. The last two jobs in the shop were the same color but they were blended out as normal and looked fine, didnt tint the clear or anything.
Chuck
I understand your pain. What we do to deal with our heat issue is to try to only run the exhaust fan when needed and we have a torpedo heater running when we are using the exhaust fan. That and accelerator in every coat of clear. I cut my fans off once the overspray has cleared out of the booth (some clears dont deal with this to well) And I use alot of the super productive clears that are designed to dry quick. The biggest thing that I found that helps is to make sure that your sheetmetal is warm before you even start spraying. I have seen some people stick torpedo heaters right in the booth, I am not real crazy about that idea but what I have done in the past is to run ductwork off a torpedo heater and then run it into the booth that way you dont have open flames in the booth with fresh solvents.
I would just try a few things at a time and try to document or at least remember what conditions you are spraying in, gun settings etc. This way if you have issues you can back up and readjust.Chuck
You mentioned that all you have to do is to clear this job, not sure if I understood that right, but if your base has sat for more than 24 hours you might have to lightly skuff it and apply one more coat before you clearcoat it. If you have waited more than 24 hours then look at your tech sheets and it should have something that will address this.
Chuck
Another trick I learned from an old timer was to take a cloth and place it under your hand to feel for highs and lows, alot of times when you think that your panel is good you will do this and any problems will jump right out at you.
Chuck
You can use the 3m powdered guidecoat or you can use rattlecan, the powdered guidecoat sands better, dont load your paper like some of the rattlecan ones will. Or for larger areas you can spray different color primers, for instance the entire panel gets convered with black epoxy then do your bodywork, when you are happy with your bodywork give it a couple of coats of 2k primer in a contrasting color then block the panel, if you start seeing your black primer underneath you will know that area is high
I would refer to your tech sheets, it should have a recoat window or a max recoat window. Most of the time it is max 24 hours but always read the tech sheet. Some basecoats you can sand on and some you will have peeling issues if you sand on it. What I like to do when painting out of a garage or less than ideal conditions is to shoot my base one day, let it dry then lightly sand any trash, then shoot one more coat, let it flash then clear. What I would advise is for you to get a few old panels and try out your materials on it first, this way you can get your gun adjusted and have some idea on how everything is going to react. Especially if it is your first time spraying that type or brand of paint. Their tends to be a learning curve in every paint system and every paint gun and to practice on an old hood or fender is always a good investment. If at all possible add some clear hardner to your basecoat, this will make it handle alot better if you have to go in and repair an area by sanding or recoating. I am sure that some of the site pros will jump in and give you some more advice. Good luck and have fun!
Chuck
Been using the universal with the sikkens activators for about a week now on everything, been trying different ways of spraying it and have gotten the runs under control, it has been a little warmer than it was a few weeks ago so that has helped. Still not real comfortable with it though, havent quite figured out how far I can push it but it will come in time. Noticed that the finish and DOI are much better with the medium activator and about a 1/4 ounce of accelerator in it than with the rapid activator. I did try to spray a light coat for the first followed by a full coat for the second and it left me with more peel than I would have liked. Nothing that a buzz with 1500 and a buff wouldnt fix, but I am trying to get away from the buffing as much as possible. But all in all it buffs way better than the proair that I was using before, and give it a little more time I think that I can get the peel the way that I like it. I have really noticed that it goes alot farther than the pro air as well, it dont need to be pounded on, I have to keep reminding myself that when I mix it or else I always have some left when I am done.
I think that my biggest challenge in the next few months is trying to keep the temps up in the booth when I am spraying, neither of my booths are heated and I have to rely on the building heater to keep the temps up. Thanks for all the advice and tipsChuck
I have one with a 1.2 and I love it. Works great for small jobs, spotting in fenders, trimming out doors, touching up small stuff. Shoots everything that I need it to with no problems. Sealer, base and it lays clear flat. Plus it cleans up so easy.
Chuck
I had to deal with this very same problem today, added about 10% clear hardner to my base to get things to stop lifting. Gave it plenty of time in between coats and turned out fine.
Chuck
Another tip you can use is to use cardboard on your edges, between doors fenders etc. Just take a cardboard box and cut it up and put it in the gap next to the panel that your working on, you wont go past it and it works good when priming to keep primer out of your jambs.
Chuck
Went in today and sprayed two jobs, used the rapid activator on both of them. No problems to speak of, decreased my distance to about 4 or 5 inches and picked up my speed and kept the mix at 3:1:1 instead of 3:1:1.5. I will try that for a few days and post back at how things are going, Thanks for all the tips. Its good to have a place to go to when you have to troubleshoot these things.
Chuck
My runs tend to be in the middle of panels, I never stop my clear on the edge of doors or any panels to try to prevent buildup on edges. My runs seem to be where my overlaps are from the first panel to the second ( if that makes any since) I have been walking the entire side trying to prevent this and it has been helping but I think that I should be able to adjust my gun/spraying style a bit to help as well. But I have noticed the runs tend to occur more around the indentations of door handles/ locks etc basically where I have it taped off from the backside. I am going to try just keeping my mixture 3:1:1 and see how that does, I think that the extra activator is making this clear easier to run. And I am going to try to figure out what the panel temp is as well, this seems to happen more when the temp drops. Has anyone had any experience with those infared guns that tell you panel temps? I think harbor freight has them on sale this weekend. I want to get this figured out before it really gets cold here. Like I have said before it is a real challenge to keep heat in the booth while spraying. Thanks for the help folks
Chuck
What are your thoughts on overlap? I am about 75% most of the time, should I cut it to 50% to decrease film build?
Chuck