Shot a test panel with paint.

[flyboy01]

I did some practice this weekend, and made up a test panel with the etch, primer, base, and clear I will be painting my car with, I also wanted to get a feel for my paint gun, and how the paint sprays out and behaves. I learned a lot.

The gun I have I bought a few years ago, HVLP, it needs 8.4 CFM at 30 PSI, my compressor is not having a problem keeping up with the gun. It has a 1.5 tip, the spray pattern is very uneven, it comes out more oval than cigar shaped, and it has extra spray out the bottom, the spray out of it is a little too coarse, I think the paint droplets need to be finer.

I have a 20 Gallon Compressor, 25 gallon, 2 running HP, oil lubricated, large piston, fast recovery. 8.6 CFM at 40 psi. My compressor is able to keep up, just fine, the problem is, my gun was not atomizing fine enough. I spent a lot of time seting up, rechecking, and adjusting the spray pattern. Unfortunately I just could not get the spray fine enough, It gets finer when I turn down the mixture, but then I am hardly getting any paint, I tried higher pressure (40psi), but it did not work as well as 25-30psi. My paint calls for 1.3 to 1.5 tip, 25-30 PSI at the gun.

I ended up doing some test painting with the best settings I could manage, I ended up with a lot of orange peel. I sprayed primer, base, and clear, all with the same results.

I am almost sure it is the gun, so I went ahead and ordered an Astro EVO4014 LVLP gun from spraygunworld.com today along with a diaphram regulator for it. Hopefully it will give better atomization, also its requirements are below what my compressor can produce it is supposed to be comparable (almost a direct copy) of the Iwata $450 gun. It came highly recommended by a lot of paint pros.

Pictures of my test panel.












I tried wet sanding my test panel today (i did the right side) and hand buffed it to see if I could get rid on the orange peel. It worked ok, its a lot shinyer now. Not perfect, but it was just a test.

[Evan]

that looks great man! Cant wait to see the dart. As far as the paint, try mixing it a little thinner. that usually works for me.    -Evan

[signet]

i see the mix is ready to spray but what do they say to use if thinning is "desired".
and if you can try to get the reducer/thinner for the temperature you will be spraying at,this can help the paint flow or flatten out.

you should try to fix your first gun to use for your sealers primers and save the good one for the top coats.

most problems are from blockages or even slight restictions in the passages and orifices.

when i first started,my job was to clean the gun after it was used,they need to be totaly disassembled,not just the old shoot some thinner through it routine.

take care.

[68_Val_Sedan]

i see the mix is ready to spray but what do they say to use if thinning is "desired".
and if you can try to get the reducer/thinner for the temperature you will be spraying at,this can help the paint flow or flatten out.

you should try to fix your first gun to use for your sealers primers and save the good one for the top coats.

most problems are from blockages or even slight restictions in the passages and orifices.

when i first started,my job was to clean the gun after it was used,they need to be totaly disassembled,not just the old shoot some thinner through it routine.

take care.

I agree ... sounds like you have cleaned the gun already ... try adding 10% more thinner in the base and primers ... the clear is going to have to be what it is ... but looks like you ogt the wet sandng thing down ... have fun with it and keep the pics flowing

[flyboy01]

I thinned the black about 20% to test that theory out, bottom line, the gun is crap. I will have the new one by this weekend.

[ls23h8b]

I thinned the black about 20% to test that theory out, bottom line, the gun is crap. I will have the new one by this weekend.

Obviously I cannot say if it is your gun or not without shooting it myself. Unlike some of the other posters on this site I am a firm believer in quality  spray guns. I have an Iwata LPH400 and love it. With todays high solids paints it is important to get good atomization and I think some of the cheaper guns have problems doing that. None the less if you want to spend more time colorsanding I'm sure you could get it pretty flat. Its really not as scary to paint a car as some people think. I'm sure you will get it all dialed in.

[flyboy01]

That is why I practiced on a test panel before, if I would have started on the car, I probably would have wet myself. I have done small parts before like bumpers, mirrors, etc, but never a whole car.

[CudaDon65]

Fly did you get your gun from eastwood? I got a devilbiss finishline hvlp 2 gun kit. Is this the same gun? I'm using the same paint as you are but i havn't painted anything yet. I will do some test panels .Keep us posted.

[motorhead]

i also , recently bought a new hvlp and have experienced the same thing took gun apart , pressures , thinned paint , changed airline regulators , water traps the whole thing from compressor out , kept getting same results , finally switched back to the old standby cannister style Barracuda and walla problem solved so , i guess i will have to practise and warm up to that hvlp another time would hate to chuck them in the scrap bin but that may still happen.

[flyboy01]

I got my gun from a buddy, who bought it from a paint supply shop. It is a no-name brand, he got the 2 gun kit on sale, 75% off for $50. To be honest, the mini-gun shoots paint out the cup, the regulator seems to do what it wants, and the big gun is great for texturing. Oh, well, you get what you pay for, I am finding out. Hopefully I will get my new Astro LVLP gun this week.

[MyCreation68]

how long did you wait before masking? I've been trying to do some custom painting on my ramcharger and when i masked I peeled the paint right off(using cheap paint and primer tho tremclad and no name primer) what brand of tape?

[dangerdawg]

  interesting reading.

[motorhead]

whenever i do tape work it has to be 3m paint tape and nothing else on paint , or some pinstripe tape as well , anything else will pull paint, and try not to leave it on for a week at a time , take it off as soon as you can

[flyboy01]

I used 3m fineline tape for edges, and the green tape for bigger areas. and I tape just before I paint, pull it off before it dries completely, it keeps the tape from getting stuck under the paint.

[motorhead]

i am not sure if i can explain this well enough but here goes , you may already be doing this but , remember when you were rolling scotch tape in art class you would make a loop and stick it on to bristol baord and then stick a picture to it , try and do your tape the same way but length wise , so your sticky side of the tape ends up on the out side , then the paint will make a wedge in to the body instead of a step , not sure if you understand my poor instructions, can be a pain to do but you will like the results better, it should help your paint peeling problem

[LAWFISH]

Mu suggestions is a SATA gun and nothing less than PPG paint, two stage. I take my primer down to a 1000 grit before I paint after blocking. I had a couple of lesser guns a Sharp cobalt, not bad, but the SATA is heaven compared to it. 

I have also shot OMNI, PPGs lesser brand which is ok for a driver but I alwaus use PPGS 2021 clear.  I did the cuda vert in STANDOX, which is more expensive than the PPG and a better paint in my opinion.

LAWFISH