Aaaah dang it!

[mrbill5491]

Paint job is an epic fail. Not sure what happen, Paint went down fine, wet sanded with 1,000 grit finish, cleaned and laid down clear coat. Its rough as hell and no gloss to it. WTF happened...

[rustybronco]

Wrong temp reducer or hardener for the conditions you were spraying in.
Not enough reducer or too much hardener.
Incorrect gun set up.
Insufficient air pressure.
Gun held too far from the surface being sprayed.
Hardener too old.
Krappy gun.

Lot's of things...

1000 grit paper is too fine of a grit paper to be using under clear coat.

[spyug]

Insufficient air pressure.

When I first was experimenting with spraying using HVLP equipement I missunderstood the concept of gun pressure versus tank outlet pressure. I thought that the pressure provided to the gun was at the lower end of the scale i.e. 10 to 15 psi. The result was exactly as you describe. I was also not aware that pressure from the tank drops off dramatically as it travels the hose (even a short one) to the gun. Crank up the outlet tank pressure to 60+ psi (especially on small home compressors) and regulate the painting pressure at the gun. If the gun is not equiped with a regulator it likely will not matter much as the pressure will have likely dropped to the working range anyway.

Sand her down and try again. You'll get it.

Good luck,
spyug

[mrbill5491]

Wrong temp reducer or hardener for the conditions you were spraying in. --

Not enough reducer or too much hardener.

Incorrect gun set up.

Insufficient air pressure.

Gun held too far from the surface being sprayed.

Hardener too old.

Krappy gun.

Lot's of things...

1000 grit paper is too fine of a grit paper to be using under clear coat.

-- Paint and clear coat were both with in the tech specs for temp and humidity 70-80 degrees, 11% humidity.

-- Ratios were spot on per tech sheet and a professional's recommendation.

-- Gun set up was checked and adjusted before each application.

-- Air pressure set to tech specs.

-- Gun was held from surface between 6-8 inches.

-- Clear coat hardener was fresh.

-- Gun was new though the HF HPLV cheap one. Other folks here have used the same gun with excellent results. And yes the gun was taken apart and thoroughly cleaned before using.

1000 grit was recommended by the same painter. Paint was smooth as a baby's butt.

I took great care getting things set up right being this was my first attempt at a paint job.

FYI, paint, reducer, clear coat and hardener were all matched Dupont's Nason materials. One thing, the hardener wasn't recommended for the paint because of the plastic parts. Painter said if the paint is too hard it wouldn't flex with the plastic causing spider webbing and cracks. That is what pretty much happened when I had it painted the last time. Paint was too hard though lasted 28 years, it eventually began to crack and spider web on all the plastic parts over time..

[Nessism]

FYI, paint, reducer, clear coat and hardener were all matched Dupont's Nason materials. One thing, the hardener wasn't recommended for the paint because of the plastic parts.

Something not right here. You say the materials were matched, but then you say they were not. What's the story?

I've never used any flex additives when painting ABS plastic parts such as sidecovers or tail cowls since it's not needed. Flex additive is for soft plastic parts like bumper covers on cars and such.

If all the materials were correct, and the paint is supposed to be glossy, then most likely you laid it down too dry. It takes some time to get the hang of a new spray gun, particularly if you are spraying an unfamiliar material. No worry though, just scuff with gray scothbrite and shoot again. Needless to say, play with the settings and make sure you are applying the appropriate amount of material. More is better than less in my experience. Hose it on.

[mrbill5491]

When I first was experimenting with spraying using HVLP equipement I missunderstood the concept of gun pressure versus tank outlet pressure. I thought that the pressure provided to the gun was at the lower end of the scale i.e. 10 to 15 psi. The result was exactly as you describe. I was also not aware that pressure from the tank drops off dramatically as it travels the hose (even a short one) to the gun. Crank up the outlet tank pressure to 60+ psi (especially on small home compressors) and regulate the painting pressure at the gun. If the gun is not equiped with a regulator it likely will not matter much as the pressure will have likely dropped to the working range anyway.

Sand her down and try again. You'll get it.

Good luck,
spyug

That was one thing we made sure of was the pressure, I would trigger the gun and check the pressure then adjusted it to where I kept the recommended (25-45 psi) working pressure at the gun. It never fell below 35 psi. Even though HF said the gun was HVLP gun, the Nason recommendation for pressure for such a gun was 8-10 psi at the cap, the gun just would not operate for crap until I jacked up the pressure to 35psi, It then started working fine, no spitting or splatter. I do know one thing, the little inline filter in the gun didn't like the clear coat at all. Would plug up.

[Nessism]

The "at the cap" pressure is about 25 psi lower than the air inlet air pressure.

[mrbill5491]

Something not right here. You say the materials were matched, but then you say they were not. What's the story?

I've never used any flex additives when painting ABS plastic parts such as sidecovers or tail cowls since it's not needed. Flex additive is for soft plastic parts like bumper covers on cars and such.

If all the materials were correct, and the paint is supposed to be glossy, then most likely you laid it down too dry. It takes some time to get the hang of a new spray gun, particularly if you are spraying an unfamiliar material. No worry though, just scuff with gray scothbrite and shoot again. Needless to say, play with the settings and make sure you are applying the appropriate amount of material. More is better than less in my experience. Hose it on.

The materials were matched, just no hardener for the base coat. There was a hardener for the clear coat. I never said anything about using a flex additive. The painter said not to use a hardener for the paint. The hardener for the clear coat was enough.

There is a pin stripe under the clear coat.

[rustybronco]

-- Ratios were spot on per tech sheet and a professional's recommendation.

Usually you can add up an additional to 5% reducer to help it flow a little bit better without any ill effects,

-- Gun set up was checked and adjusted before each application.

Did you do a spray out on a separate panel before hand?

-- Air pressure set to tech specs.

Every gun will be different.

-- Gun was held from surface between 6-8 inches.

Clears shot with some guns need to be sprayed in as close as 3~4 inches.

Other folks here have used the same gun with excellent results. And yes the gun was taken apart and thoroughly cleaned before using.

Wasn't concerned about it as I recalled you mentioned it once before (??)

1000 grit was recommended by the same painter. Paint was smooth as a baby's butt.

And that can cause issues with paint adhesion.
He's does it for a living, I don't... Other than for removing small dust nibs, personally I wouldn't.

I took great care getting things set up right being this was my first attempt at a paint job.

As you should.

[rustybronco]

35 psi at the inlet? Way too low of a starting pressure.

http://thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=161543&highlight=47016

I would recommend as a good starting point, 55 psi with the trigger pulled, 2 turns open on the fluid adjustment (rear) and 1-1/2 turns on the fan adjustment (side). that should give you a fairly good 9 to 9-1/2 inch pattern with evenly distributed metallics.

Depending on the clear you 'may' have to crank it up even more.
***NOTE*** I said 'with the trigger pulled' and air flowing through the gun.

I do know one thing, the little inline filter in the gun didn't like the clear coat at all. Would plug up.

Remove it and use a proper paint strainer.

Hose it on.

[mrbill5491]

Did you do a spray out on a separate panel before hand?

.

Yeah, had a large white panel to check the spray pattern and such.
3-4 inches on the clear coat hmmmm.

Here is a pic of the tank, not sure if you can tell.

[Nessism]

The materials were matched, just no hardener for the base coat. There was a hardener for the clear coat. I never said anything about using a flex additive. The painter said not to use a hardener for the paint. The hardener for the clear coat was enough.

There is a pin stripe under the clear coat.

Base coats almost never use a hardener. And both base coat and clear coat is "paint".

Sounds like you sprayed the paint too dry. As Dale alludes, more reducer and a better spray pattern may help. Consider turning up the flow too.

Scuff to flatten the orange peel on the clear, but don't cut through to the base and/or hit your stripes. Should be easy enough assuming you put down a reasonable amount of material.

EDIT: photos showed up while I was typing. In reviewing the photos, looks like the paint is way too dry. More flow for sure, slower pass maybe, hold gun closer, more reducer. You need to play around with all this until you find a technique that works for you.

[mrbill5491]

One more pic of the front fender.

[mrbill5491]

Base coats almost never use a hardener. And both base coat and clear coat is "paint".

Sounds like you sprayed the paint too dry. As Dale alludes, more reducer and a better spray pattern may help. Consider turning up the flow too.

Scuff to flatten the orange peel on the clear, but don't cut through to the base and/or hit your stripes. Should be easy enough assuming you put down a reasonable amount of material.

Okay cool, I did use about a quart of base coat to cover all the parts, that should be plenty no?

[rustybronco]

http://www.hotrodders.com/articles/spraygun.html

Read what the man (Brian) has to say about tuning a gun...