[kevin1533]

I painted clear over my base with 2 light coats then final full coat. basically some parts didnt get the super thick coat of clear on it and its not perfectly smooth when i run my hand along it. should i wet sand with 1000 to get the surface even down and then try it again? or do i spray over one more time to get it all smooth then sand before buffing?

-kevin

[jcclark]

You need to sand it before re-clearing.
You could even use 600 grit to smooth it first.
If it has enough clear on it you could sand it and buff it out now.
Just depends on if it's got enough to not rub through.

[duallybuster]

wet sand with 600 but becareful not to go into the base.
Apply a tack coat of clear let it flash then follow by two full wet coats.

Tack coat is very important because with wet sanded clear it will have the tendency to run very easy, the tack coat will help give the new clear something to bite to.

Good luck

[kevin1533]

thanks guys for your wisdom
I wet sanded down 400grit to the basecoat(orange peel was pretty bad and went past the clear) to get a smooth surface to brush on some basecoat and clear again. ill post some pics after i do it tomorrow...
heres what it looked like before i sanded it down. lot of orange peel and clear is off too.

-kevin

[kevin1533]

update
I put tack coat then 2 full coats of base and same with about tack coat then 2 coats of clear. Unfortunately as things have been going... nothings seems to go right.

1st newbie blunder while shooting the base my, I realized my pattern was alot smaller... -then after i shook the gun half way thru, it sprayed fully... i was like no.... is this ***** stuck with gunk? anyway i realized it was the cup which wasnt screwed in all the way hence airpressure suffered...
so basecoat wasnt as done as well as i wanted it to be. But i went over lightly with scotchbite and did another coat.
clean up surface with water/ajax then sanded wet 1500. rinsed. air dry.

clear coat. i did brush coat, then 2 full. halfway thru my second full my air hose somehow managed to get choked for the first time and I got some orange peels thanks to that as i had to go over the uneven areas one more pass in panic

I will wait for clear to cure then
a. sand with 1000 then reclear. or
b. sand/buff.

hopefully orange peel can be sanded away...
Check out the pics guys. any input would be great. thanks

to be continued...

[Bee4Me]

Your not getting enough air to lay the clear out slick.Your spraying globs instead of clear. Either crank the fluid in and go slower or crank up the psi to bust the clear up more.
Thats a LOT of peel to deal with and I'm afraid by the time you get it flat enough to buff,it's gonna be thin in a LOT of places.
I would sand it down and let it gas out for a day then figure out how to make your gun spray right and hit it with a couple more coats of clear.
Your getting a lot of build and unless you give it some time to gas out,it's gonna start popping on ya or several other "bad" things.
What clear are you using anyway?

Funny that people come here with problems and don't bother to say WHAT they are using and spraying it with WHAT. Members answer and don't have a clue as to WHAT your using.
How can you HELP someone and DON'T even know WHAT they are using.
Products ALL differ and there are "some" general guidelines BUT.......

[kevin1533]

hey thanks for the reply.
Im using kustom shops 2k urethane clear from tcpglobal.com
I think u got it right in that my pressure is too low. Im using a devilbliss finishline 646 gun psi recommended 23 at the gun. My regulator says 25 psi and i set my compressor at 30psi. do you set the psi strictly around the recommended or do u usually aim a bit higher? Im guessing higher since it might not be consistent air flow and u rather want overspray than not enough atomizing.
-kevin

[esahlin]

Remember that the 23 psi at the gun means that it must be 23 psi at the gun with the gun's trigger pulled all the way in. You'll probably need at least an 80 psi setting at your compressor to achieve that.

[kevin1533]

Originally Posted by esahlin

Remember that the 23 psi at the gun means that it must be 23 psi at the gun with the gun's trigger pulled all the way in. You'll probably need at least an 80 psi setting at your compressor to achieve that.

omg im such a newb... i had it set at 25 without the trigger... no wonder!.... ok i feel better now.. there is hope...

btw about reducers... the urethane clear i got has a 4:1 clear to hardener mix. and stated that you can add 1/2 reducer into the mix if you like. Im reading alot of people add alot of reducers to the clear...

why would this one then not require reducers in the mix?
does everyone add reducer in clear?

[esahlin]

kevin 1533.....Dont feel bad....I made the same mistake on my first paint attempt....I didnt know that the 23 psi meant with the trigger pulled.....alot of the spray gun directions dont even mention that the desired psi at the gun is with the trigger pulled....how is a newb supposed to know if the directions dont specify?

[Bee4Me]

Those Finishline guns don't really do to great spraying clear even with recommended settings but there is hope.
The recommended psi for an HVLP gun is to keep it compliant to EPA regs which require 10 psi at the cap. Technical talk for how much air is spraying,not how much to use.You need a cap guage to actually know this and as long as the gun is getting the set psi & cfm,"should" be 10 at the cap.
Basically tech jargen and just something else to confuse ya.
ALL spray guns are set with the trigger fully pulled as some guns,especially Iwata's LV series drop dramatically when you go from air to fluid.

Reducing clear is usually kept to 10-20% which if you notice on your mixing cup,You have your 4:1 ratio then you will have a 10 & 20 line to the right and above of them. Once your 4:1 is mixed at the desired amount look right and add reducer to the amount you want added. Going more is possible but you run the risk of the excess solvent "popping" during or after spraying.

After you get this mess sanded down,let it sit for 24 hr and gas out to be sure you have most of the excess solvent out. Use this time to play with you gun settings on some cardboard or an old piece of metal to get the best finish you can with this gun. Sure your using extra clear product but how much have you already wasted?

Bumping the psi up above recommended is almost mandatory for spraying clear as it's a lot thicker than paint. 10 above recommended is about the max because it is possible to have too much air for the gun and your test pattern will reflect this.

I would really consider reducing your next clear shoot the 10% as this will help the clear break up easier and lay out slicker with that gun.
BUT,
I would do some test pass's on some vertical material first cause you can run it easier and this will give you a better feel of how it's going to spray so you can adjust your speed.

[kevin1533]

Bee4me, thank you so much btw saw ur projects... pretty cool stuff..

I just wet sanded with 400 all the junk.. it was a pain in the behind... ill update with results tomorrow night hopefully.

-kevin

[Countilaw]

I would increase the pressure, open the fluid adjustment, and reduce the clear starting at 10 % and used a "slow" reducer and activator.

Frank

[kevin1533]

Thanks everyone for ur input.

Its been about 10 days and Ive been through alot of headaches one again. After the I sanded the junk I had in the last post. I cleared with the correct gun pressure and the results were very encouraging at last. I had alot of dust in my clear(my eagerness to paint made me forget about cleaning up/preping the garage).

so I sanded with 1500grit and buffed with my dewatt with cutting foam pad w/ meguir cutting compound...
Funny thing is I watched a random orbital video... and pretty much did the same slow motion with my dewatt polisher and pretty much burned thru the paint.

So i decided to wait till I got my fresh gallon of paint which came today.. single stage - jet black from tcpglobal.(picking out of color chart was half the price of ordering with color code)

Definitely could do better but at least no noticeable junk fell on the finish... bit of orange peel still if u go close to the car. I used a 4:1:1 mix of reducer/hardener using 1.3 tip devilbiss finishline at about 25psi shooting from about 12 inches going slow like shooting clear...

Here are some pics guys, let me know if that orange peel is workable. Im gonna be taking a break for a while either way.. so burnt out from messing up and sanding everything over...

[Bee4Me]

How many coats of the SS?
What RPM were you buffing at?
How much paint you got left?
How much beer you got?

Can't say your not trying huh? It's all part of the curve bro. I hate to recall all the sanding I've had to do,and still do. Paint is a fickle mistress and she's good somedays and a real bitc,uhhhh,not very nice somedays.
Same as before,Sand it flat and reshoot it.
Next time,over reduce the SS 10% just like clear,bump the air up to 28 and get closer than 12",more like 8. CLEAN the area up a DAY before and wet the floor down before you shoot.
Get a cheap pair of coveralls like Tyveck or something. A LOT of trash comes from the clothing your wearing.