Painting my 450

[nvr2old]

Actually here's a silly question... do I use wax and grease remover before the clear coat or is just the tack cloth ok? I thought just tacking was right but thought I'd best check...

Not to dispute anyone because the advice given throughout this thread has been pretty good, but as you said, better safe then sorry. It would probably be OK not to use the wax and grease remover, but remember, you've been handling the parts. If your hands were surgically clean, then no problem, but your fingers have natural oils in them, so it wouldn't hurt to lightly wipe em down one last time before you tack and clear coat it. Wipe each piece clean separately and dry it immediately. You don't want the cleaner to be on there any longer than necessary.

[pete]

Not to dispute anyone because the advice given throughout this thread has been pretty good, but as you said, better safe then sorry. It would probably be OK not to use the wax and grease remover, but remember, you've been handling the parts. If your hands were surgically clean, then no problem, but your fingers have natural oils in them, so it wouldn't hurt to lightly wipe em down one last time before you tack and clear coat it. Wipe each piece clean separately and dry it immediately. You don't want the cleaner to be on there any longer than necessary.

I shall do that very thing Larry Will spray the cleaner on one clean cloth, wipe down, wipe clean with a separate cloth...

And thanks again

[rustybronco]

55 PSI hey? Wow! The clear does say 55 PSI on the tech. sheet but I'm not sure if I'm game to go that far... might go to 50 and keep my fingers crossed...

Don't be afraid to crank up the pressure as it sounds like that MS (med 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. http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/t...t=IMG_3484.jpg

they write those tech sheets for a reason...

http://thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1233847&postcount=1

Let me start of by saying it isn't HVLP! it's just a conventional full size gravity gun. the guns recommended spraying pressure of 50-70 psi is above what is normally used on a hvlp spray gun. as an aside, the handle is marked "maximum 45 psi" inlet pressure, which makes me wonder if the gun they were trying to copy had it same markings?

I would recommend as a good starting point, 55 psi with the trigger pulled...

[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?

[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]

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]

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)

[landshark]

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.

[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.

[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...

[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]

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:

[Woodsy]

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

[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.