Hello well since my last post I re shot the cab to make sure I have enough paint to cut , buff, and polish out any runs or flaws, and as you can see in this pic Im knocking out the other pieces, this is todays work, tomorrow Ill hit the running boards with top coat and 2k primer the back fenders. I just spent $300 on a set of 3M buff polish #1,#2, and#3, compound, polish, and ultra polish with matching pads ect. I also found a decent polisher for my needs at Northern tools. for $79 including shipping I got a Klutch 11 amp 600-3000 rpm 5/8 spindel 7" unit wich brings the total for this paint job to about $1,300 ouch, but as ive said b4, It will be Me all the way, good bad, or ugly, Id do it all again. IM learning and picking up tools as go. So onward and upward next i need to master buffing and polishing.

 

I had never heard of a Klutch brand sander/polisher but having looked it up it seems like a good unit for the money...about a third the price of my Makita. $1,300 is a drop in the bucket for a decent paint job, looks like you are doing it right. Good luck with your venture!

 

OK Jim, here's your tip for the night. Put a strip of masking tape on all of your panel edges before buffing. It's really easy to knock the paint off the edges of your doors, fenders, etc., with the buffer, which obviously will ruin your work. Do the same thing with any sharp edge or body line. The masking tape will prevent that and save you a lot of aggravation while you learn. Good luck.

 

Looks great!

 

Thank you Wayne for the tip, Ill take any tips youve got, this one probably saved me a lot of grief.

 

The same principal applies to color sanding.... try to stay away from edges. If you have to sand up to an edge, go carefully. Sanding through an edge will ruin your whole day.
Also, make sure you sand and buff within the paints "window".....when it is not too hard or too soft. Check the data sheet or ask your supplier about dry times. Have fun....

 

Thanks Tinman , I take the help you guys so graciously pass on to Me very seriously and follow your advice to a tee. Thank you very much.

 

If I ever take on another paint prodject , Ill invest in top of the line guns. My DeVilbiss starting line guns seem inconsistant to me, I Know I Know an expierienced painter can shoot a miricle with a crappy gun, however a novice can make a mess useing the best gun in production, ( im not saying anything against DeVilbiss I know, its Me Im just thinking a better gun may help a little)

 

There are lots of variables when spraying paint...the gun is just one, well maybe three. The type of paint, how it is reduced, the temperature, the humidity, surface prep or lack thereof, and most importantly how the paint is applied. Do a test panel before you begin. Get a large piece of cardboard, preferrably white so that you can see the spray pattern. Load up your gun and spray a test pass on the cardboard. You want the spray pattern to be even, both in symmetry and in density. The spray should be oval and the paint should be evenly distributed...not darker or lighter in any one area. As for the gun you have a spray pattern adjustment, a trigger pull or density adjustment, and you have the air pressure to consider. Most paints will come with instructions on how to setup the gun...these are good starting points but each varies with how you spray the paint and the environmentals.
There is a good reason that most professional painters stay with one brand of primer, paint, reducer, etc...once you learn all the ideosyncracies of one brand you will hesitate to experiment with another brand. The agony of defeat is both humbling and costly. Don't give up, you won't master this technique in a single job...sometimes I wonder if it can be done in a single lifetime! Good luck, you are on the right track.

 

Thank you for the info. Ive tried adjusting the gun(top coat 1.3 HVLP) and cant seem to get a nice dence fan pattern, by adjusting as instructed, the temp is spot on, the air pressure check, I mix paint as tech sheet sez , move fast, move medium, move slow, observe flash times and i still tend to get runs. Im not complaining, im having a good time it just gets frustrating at times, every one is so nice and i so appreceiate everyones input. Ive been told by several guys that I should be abel to wet sand, buff, and polish out ,any problems. again thanks for your help,I just needed to vent a little I guess

 

If you are not getting the coverage (density) that you think that you should and you are still getting runs...then you may have the paint reduced too much and are compensating by moving the gun too slowly. I don't know which paint you are using but most are reduced 2:1...2 parts paint to 1 part reducer.

When I paint I am looking for a fan height of about 10 inches when the gun is about 12 inches away from the surface I am painting. I spray with a 50% overlap, that is, each pass overlaps the previous pass by half. I always shoot a tack coat first, light coverage that is allowed to flash and get tacky so that the next coat has something to hold it. Second coat should give you almost full coverage, that is, little to no basecoat showing through. The third and last coat gives you a nice finish and should be laid on heavy enough to allow the paint time to flow out. If it looks like the paint is not going to flow out then I will give it another coat with twice the amount of reducer and that usually takes care of the flow issue.

If you lay the first coats on too heavily then you will have issues with orange peel...this happens when the underlying coats of paint haven't had time to gas out (each coat must have time to let the reducer evaporate) before the next coat is applied. As you stack on the coats you end up with a stratification of the paint where there are layers of wet and dry paint, the dry pulls and causes dimples in the wet.

 

My paint is an acrylic enamel with hardner its made by northstar and is there best grade suposedly a ppg klone. It mixis 8 paint/1 hardner, and 25% reducer, im not laying down a tack coat, maybe do a tack coat, and add less reducer? When i tried a lighter coat it came out sandy like the paint wasnt being fully itomized, oh and my fan is about 10 inches with a distance of 6 to 8 inches. Thanks again for your help. Also thinking about it My fan is tighter than i said its maybe 8 in and im spraying to heavy to overlap by 50% at 8 inches.

 

Jim, when you mix your paint up in the cup, is it kinda thick like motor oil, or thin like water?.(every brand of paint seems to mix differently) If it is kinda thick, you may need a bigger tip in your gun....like a 1.5 maybe. Just an idea.....

 

Hello Tinman, Its more thin than thick , maybe the cosistency of milk or half and half.

 

I am not familiar with this product but I did find the specs on it and while the 8:1 ratio is correct for the hardner, the reducer can be added at a 10-25% level. If you are adding a full 25% then you might have found the source of your density problem. I would back off on the reducer...try going at the low end of 10% and see how it works. As you have said, this product is thin out of the can so it may not need too much reducer to get it to the proper consistency.