What's the recommendation for reducing orange peel.

Specs:
HVLP gun
single stage
Ambient temperature between 70-80 degrees
humidity is around 55%

I've tried messing around with mix ratios by adding a little more reducer, but it just seemed to thin out the paint too much / causing fisheyes. About 2 (paint) to 1 (reducer) seems to be about the highest level of reducer that I can use.

Any recommendations on mix ratios, gun pressure, etc? Any changes to setup or procedure for base / clear finishes as opposed to single stage?

I understand that most paint jobs are going to have some degree of orange peel, but I want to try to give myself a little bit of the break in the wet sanding / polishing stage. there is a heck of alot of surface area on a crew cab with 8 ft bed.

Thanks,

Dave

 

Make sure the activator/reducer is the right one for the temp you will be spraying. If it dries too fast, the paint will not have time to flow correctly. I think you can get them in three temp ranges. As far as pressure, it depends on the gun, but always read your pressure at the gun with the trigger pulled. If you set your'e wall regulator at 30...you may only see 10 at the gun which is not enough. When you read the info on your gun, it will usually state that it must not exceed 10 psi at the tip to be 'complient', this does not mean 10 at the gun with the trigger pulled. Usually 25-35 at the gun with the trigger pulled will be a good starting point.

 

Be careful with your mixing ratios. I have always gotten better results by following the paint manufacturer's recommendations. HVLP guns require that you hold the gun closer to the surface and increase the rate of travel. Experiment with it until you get the least amount of orange peel.

 

Great advice here already but will add my 3 cents. Fisheyes are caused from surface contaiminants so, clean and clean some more with the manufacturers recommended pre-cleaner before spraying . After being sure you are using the manufacturers recommended mixing ratios for your products, and are using the right tip size and air pressure for your gun for that product, then excessive OP will go under two categories. ..

Proper atomization and spraying technique. ..

Atomization > It takes a quality gun to shoot todays urethanes to where the outcome will be as good as the paint product is. Good atomization (the mixing of air and paint product by the paint gun's cap/nozzle, so it will hit and lay uniform on the metal) is crucial for a low OP paint job. If the gun is not atomizing properly or has the improper mix/reducer in it, it will shoot the paint on too dry, too wet, or actually be drying as it is spraying out of the gun. So, the gun air /paint mix settings are important. ...

Technique> It takes a LOT of practice with a gun that you are confident in, to lay out a flat glass finish with no OP. Most paint pros try to do so, but only a few can lay out a job without some cutting and buffing of the final job to eliminate OP and dust nibs. Maintaining the same speed with your gun as your hand moves along the car is very important, too prevent sags or dry spots. Using a 50% overlap on each spray run is important. Maintaining the same 6-8 inches spacing between the gun and the metal is important. Keeping the gun spraying tip from tilting at a angle and holding it at a 90 degree to the metal, is important. Mixing each cup of paint exactly the same, stirring it well , and using filters when pouring it in your gun, is important..


Most of all, do not practice any of this on your pet project, its too costly in labor and product to make mistakes on and having to re-sand/prime/finish coat. Get a old flat piece of metal and hang it on the wall and do your gun setup and spraying technique practice on it instead. This is especially true when shooting base /clears using the same gun, it will spray different ...

How would I know this you ask ? I learned enough from internet paint forums to paint my 79 Ford truck on my FIRST paint job ever. I made a LOT of mistakes still, and spent a LOT of money on bc/cc product, wasting it while learning. My paint job turned out good, but in hindsight I wish my first paintjob has been on someone elses "not so picky" project. Good auto painting does have a long learning curve. Just figure on enough top coat mil thickness for a cut and buff, and you will be o.k. good luck on your job,

 

Thanks, I appreciate the quick feedback, I've been painting parts with rattle cans since what feels like forever, but this past year was my first opportunity to paint an entire vehicle with the "proper - I hope" equipment.

For me this project was always planned to be my practice project for future body work / painting projects. The main purpose of this truck is going to be work and off-road, so a little orange peel isn't going to dissapoint me too much, but I was hoping that this project would allow me to hone my skills so that the next project will turn out a little better. So far it has been fun, but has also enlightened me enough to know that practice and experience are the key, guys that are good at this stuff make it look too easy.

the other thing that I've found out rather quickly is that this type of work is pricey, I never believed that primers, paints, etc. could be that expensive. I had a car painted a few years back by Maaco for around $300, it actually came out quite good, which was suprising. The more suprising part for me was that I spent at least if not more money on paint for this project than I did for that entire Maaco paint job.... go figure.