Painting my 450

[rustybronco]

a couple more pointers if I may...

first, if you let the paint sit for a bit more, tape off that white near where the red base got pulled off by the tape, then take a bit of cardboard stock and make a small cutout the size of the damaged area to spray through, take your smallest touch up gun and shoot some paint through that cardboard held off the surface 25mm or so.

I removed the masking after about half an hour:

The reason for holding the cardboard above the surface is so you don't get the hard edge you see when directly taping around the repair.


The next time you shoot the clear, back off on the amount of material being sprayed (turn the knob in). that should break up the paint a bit more and make for a little less orange peel. don't get me wrong! it looks pretty good for 'most anyone's' first time.

so whats the next plan? wet sand it and hit it with 2~3 more coats on Monday?

***edit***
is the compressor keeping up with your gun? or is the pressure dropping to where the paint isn't atomizing properly. the reason I ask is, some pieces the orange peel is minor, on others it's greater.

I can't lean over your shoulder, all I can do is interpret the pictures.

I've got a spray gun now so will be doing something similar to my tank and rear tail section soon, WAY better than pressure pack!

With the photos you will never get a good shot in that setup, you will need to get some natural light on them so maybe wait till monday when you can move them and open the garage door and get some photos.

BRAVO BRAVO

A sand and a polish to get it smooth and that is going to look better than super sweet, congratulations on a job well done, you must be as happy as a dog with a belly full of pee and a street full of lamp poles.
I am really so chuffed that it all came together and worked out for you in the end.
Now go and you deserve it.

[pete]

looks good pete, what are the marks in the middle of the front guard?

Cheers Josh! If you're referring to the round one just in front of where the mounting area is, that appears to be something to do with the moulding of the guard.

[pete]

So I guess now it's waiting time until Monday. Then I can work out what needs to be done next.

While they all look really glossy, there definitly is some lint or cat fluff or something in there which needs to be removed somehow. At this stage I'm thinking light sand, cut, and polish...

I need to work out what the deal with this camera is too. If I can sort it out I'll try to get better pic's up that actually display a true representation of the clear coat...

looks good pete, what are the marks in the middle of the front guard?

[pete]

So on with the first coat of clear:





And after the four coats, and again sorry these are all so hazy, you can't see what they really look like and just how glossy they really are:

[pete]

Ok, so the weather decided to cooperate today which was awesome. Started at 92% humidity this morning but apparently it was 62% by the time I actually started any spraying, and the clouds also started to separate a bit allowing a bit of sun through occassionally.

Anyway, pulled the touch up gun out of the packaging and cleaned it up for first ever use only to find it was busted... the bulbous bit that sits on the needle for the trigger to pull was loose on the shaft, so pulling the trigger didn't release any material (in this case gun cleaner).

I managed to do a bit of a dodgy with some tape to hold it in place to get the little repair done:



Then I got the area to spray isolated with cardboard as per Dale's recommendation and I also went the paranoid route of putting masking paper over the length of the tank just in case:



Then I got 3 coats on that area... and by that I mean basically three instantaneous pulls of the trigger at about 15 minute intervals:



The reason for the spatter there is actually related to this:



My repair of the touch up gun failed and instead of not being able to open the needle to allow material in, it was staying open and letting it run out constantly...

That happened at the beginning of the second coat but I managed to bodgy it up again to get the second and third coats done properly.

I removed the masking after about half an hour:



So now it was time to setup the gun for the clear. I said bugger it and stuck the gun at about 53 PSI and tried a pattern test:



The bottom right is what I went with, maybe not perfect but I increased the fan out as you can see and there seemed to be plenty of material there without runs.

I then ran some clear across the galvanised steel and it seemed to go on ok although it's a bit hard to see:



Sorry but the pic's from here on in seem to get a bit hazy as I think I was getting in with the camera before the vapour in the air had settled down enough. Just hope I don't actually have a thin layer of clear on the camera lens

[pete]

Be careful, if you don't have enough clear on, you might sand or polish through to the base coat. that's where experience becomes a good teacher.

(we don't know what your idea of a 'coat' is)

Ok cool, makes sense.

Don't worry, I had no idea what my idea of a coat was either, although I do now... pic's uploading

Hey Pete, thats Looking great now!
I found i was sh1t scared of getting runs, so i wasnt putting enough on in each coat, you have it sorted though.
I love the stripes, awesome job.

Thanks mate! I've been sh1t scared of the whole process to be honest! I really wanted to do that Tranzac pipe and head and cylinder wet blasting work justice, and I really didn't want a crappy paint job to take away from them.

I think I'm at least in the ball park now though...

+1. Don't stop at just 2 coats. I guarantee you'll go through..and that opens a whole new can of worms. I would recommend at least 4. Wait a good 20 minutes between coats. Let it dry overnight, open it up (just scuff it) with 600, let it set another day to breathe, then add another 2-3 coats. That should be enough to sand it safely before polishing.

Makes sense also Larry, and I did see this message before starting the clear so I did end up doing 4 coats 20 minutes apart.

Once these pic's upload I'm sure we'll all have a better idea if I need to do more than a light sand, cut, and polish...

[nvr2old]

Be careful, if you don't have enough clear on, you might sand or polish through to the base coat. that's where experience becomes a good teacher.

(we don't know what your idea of a 'coat' is)

+1. Don't stop at just 2 coats. I guarantee you'll go through..and that opens a whole new can of worms. I would recommend at least 4. Wait a good 20 minutes between coats. Let it dry overnight, open it up (just scuff it) with 600, let it set another day to breathe, then add another 2-3 coats. That should be enough to sand it safely before polishing.

Hey Pete, thats Looking great now!
I found i was sh1t scared of getting runs, so i wasnt putting enough on in each coat, you have it sorted though.
I love the stripes, awesome job.

[rustybronco]

I think I'll do the sensible thing... two coats as per spec's, then do the wet sand and polish Monday and see how it turns out.

Be careful, if you don't have enough clear on, you might sand or polish through to the base coat. that's where experience becomes a good teacher.

(we don't know what your idea of a 'coat' is)

[pete]

Pete, play around with the pressure. if it sprays well at 45~50~55 go with what works. the TDS says you can reduce it up to 10% if needed.

two coats will work although it might be better to spray two, wet sand, spray two more, wet sand and polish. all within the MFG's spec'd wait times of course. it all depends on what you are after. more depth, more coats and more sanding in between.

piling on too many coats at once can lead to solvents getting trapped and that is a problem of and in its self.

Cool, that all makes sense, and I think I'll do the sensible thing... two coats as per spec's, then do the wet sand and polish Monday and see how it turns out.

I'll run the clear over that scrap metal first after setting the pattern and see how it looks.

I'm hoping by now my eyes are a bit more tuned in as to what to look for... and there's two sides to that metal so I can try different pressures fairly easily too

Logging off now to go take care of stuff and take my wife to work then get stuck in if the weather's still ok... wish me luck!

[rustybronco]

Pete, play around with the pressure. if it sprays well at 45~50~55 go with what works. the TDS says you can reduce it up to 10% if needed.

two coats will work although it might be better to spray two, wet sand, spray two more, wet sand and polish. all within the MFG's spec'd wait times of course. it all depends on what you are after. more depth, more coats and more sanding in between.

piling on too many coats at once can lead to solvents getting trapped and that is a problem of and in its self.

There I go again... should leave this sort of thing to those that do it on a professional basis.

[pete]

Don't be afraid to crank up the pressure as it sounds like that HS (high solids) clear is quite thick. your either going to have to crank up the pressure or reduce it a bit to get it to come out of the gun properly.

they write those tech sheets for a reason...

http://thegsresources.com/_forum/sho...47&postcount=1

Okely dokely... 55 PSI with all toes crossed is the go then

Thanks again Dale!

Here's the write up on the clear:

http://www.debeer.com.au/products/clears/ms-clear

It says only 2 coats too... I'm guessing I can safely go three for some extra depth though?