Afew First Time Spraying Questions

[Homie]

It is Jet Black Acrylic Lacquer, always has been.

Acrylic Lacquer? Really? Okay, somehow I didn't pick up on that. Can't hardly get that stuff here in the States anymore thanks to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Well then, from the sound of things, it seems as if things are progressing quite normally. Lacquer won't gloss up on its own. You have to carefully wet "color-sand" it smooth and then buff it to make it shine. The buffing is what makes it shine - you don't have to put any clear over the top of it if you do it right.

Remember, lacquer is very "thin" - it has practically no build and shows every little sand scratch. The more coats you put on it the better - if you don't have enough coats on it you can easily sand through an edge while color-sanding. After each coat you want to scuff it down smooth. When you have put your final coat on it then you have to progressively color-sand it down to at least 1500grit or finer. When you are done with that you buff it being extremely careful around any sharp breaks or edges where the buffer could "burn through" the paint. It should shine up like a diamond. When you are done, you can clear it if you want to. The clear will add "depth" to the shine and help protect the lacquer.

[Woodsy]

Here is the finish on it, as you can see its pretty textured, i did sand between coats too, Bonus is its glossy, which it should be. I dont know wether to sand it again and give it afew more coats or to wet sand it as is and polish it in afew weeks.

[Nessism]

Your spray is too dry. Possible solutions include adding more thinner to the mixture, tweaking your gun to shoot more material, and adjusting your spray pattern (gun movement) to throw more paint down on the surface. I'm not sure which is necessary in your case, but I'd play around more with the spraying and paint mixing process until you get the paint to lay down smoother. If you are using lacquer, you can just shoot more paint on top of what you have with no risk.

[Homie]

That's a pretty rough looking texture! Dry spray for sure. Paints not getting a chance to flow out before it starts setting. Gonna take a lot of sanding to smooth it out. To quote myself.......

If the finish is coming out rough and textured, here are some of the most likely causes: a) gun air/fluid control knobs incorrectly set - too much air and not enough fluid; b) holding the gun too far away from the work while spraying; c) too fast of a reducer/solvent for the temperature - paint starts drying before it can "flow out"

Nice thing about lacquer is that it's easy to fix. Sand that puppy down smooth using progressively finer sandpaper. Don't try and hog it all off at once - you'll wind up with noticeable sand scratches that will show. Once you got it as smooth as a baby's behind, start over again adjusting your gun, technique and thinner to produce a nice "wet" coat. I'd rather be too wet than too dry. If you get a run or drip its no biggie. cut it down with a nib file and sand it out. Sanding out a run or a drip is a lot easier than sanding out a tank full of dry spray.

[Woodsy]

Thanks for your help fellas it is much appreciated.

Tank was sanded down this morning, still cant get the gun setup right, paint i am using is mixed 1 part paint to 1.5 parts thinner, for use between 50-72psi, i had the paint adjuster wound all the way out and was still getting dry spray, so i played with the air pressures and spray pattern and was starting to get runs in the paint, so i'll adjust my speed and distance and go from there, the weather has now turned bad so no more painting today, going to try and find another larger nozzle for this gun, but getting them for any spray gun around here is quite hard, its probably easier to buy another gun.

[Homie]

For lacquer a 1.3 tip is ideal but you can probably get away with the 1.5 tip. You know the Hawaiian "shaka" hand sign with the thumb and the pinkie extended all the way out laterally? Hold the gun that distance (tip of your extended thumb to the tip of your extended pinkie) from the object you're painting. Adjust the fluid knob out a couple of turns and then the adjust the air knob to get a good elliptical pattern as tall as your "shaka" and a third to half as wide as it is tall. On your test panel, once you think you got it right you should be able to fully hold the trigger down for a full second and form a good wet pattern without it running on you.

I don't know if you're using a siphon cup gun or a gravity feed gun. If you're using a siphon cup gun a problem that I encountered once that resulted in dry-spray was the cup vent orifice that was clogged with dried paint. With the cup vent clogged no air could enter the cup to equalize the pressure which resulted in diminishing paint flow being drawn up the siphon tube and hence the dreaded dry-spray.

[Woodsy]

Okay i finnnnalllly had some luck spraying, paint was going on wet and realllllly glossy, i am still going to wet sand and buff it then the white line will either go down the middle or i might paint the sides of the tank white above the crease if that makes sense?

[pete]

That looks much better... I think.

I'd still go the white line... but that's just my opinion

[Woodsy]

yeah i think once i have the white suzuki stickers on it will look abit less black

[Woodsy]

okay, laid afew more coats down, i think this is the best i'm going to get it off the gun.

[nvr2old]

You might need a slower reducer. It looks like it might not being flowing out as much as it could, drying too fast. A slower reducer is a little trickier to spray, but is less work to sand. Just a thought.

[phatphony]

hey champ its still to dry. is the air hole on the lid of the gun blocked. run a little wire through it while painting. could be the gasket seal on gun piece that goes onto the pot (usually white)