My Garage job: Spraying my Caddy Diamond White Tri-Coat

[Gordonr1973]

Here are some pics of my primer & caddy diamond white going on.

Just the base coat and pearl so far, have to fix one scratch & then spray the clear coat tomorrow.

I'm using a turbine system I bought from TP Tools, thanks C-Downs for the info a few months ago, I'm pleased with the results so far.

Takes a little getting used to and I recommend using only high temp reducer with this type of set up.

Pretty good so far for my first ever paint job!

[Gordonr1973]

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[Gordonr1973]

Few more...I have a bit of orange peel on one of the speaker brackets I bought from Jeff, but it should be ok as it's going behind the seat anyways.

This mostly allows me to practice a bit with the gun settings before I spray the outside later on this winter.

[Jonce]

Thank you for posting this. I was looking for a solution on painting in my garage but I don't have 220 available. This looks like a great alternative for me.

Your parts look great so far.

[Gordonr1973]

Thanks, the TP Tools unit was a good alternative for me as well b/c I only had a 20 gal compressor and I couldn't guarantee that I could keep water and oil out of the lines.

This way, I know the air is cleaner and dryer....as well, I know I will be painting at least one more truck in the next year (my '98) so it was worth the investment verses trying to find and pay some shop to paint my truck. (Haven't found a shop up here yet that would be interested in painting this truck for under $8,000)

[john_p]

great looking job, i was outside sanding mine today, hoping to get it in that shape.. of course it was 80 degrees here..

[Gordonr1973]

Thanks guys.

Shot the clearcoat today, have some orange peel in the door sills, glove box door and the bottom of the inner fenders.

I mixed 4:1, using meduim temp activator.

It went on fine for the first few minutes, then it started to collagulate almost and I could see that it was almost shooting gobs at a time.

After I saw what was staring to happen, I went with 3:1 and 10% slow reducer. It worked ALOT better. The column turned out the smoothest for some reason?

A word of advice: if things are starting to go south when painting, STOP RIGHT THERE! :-)

If I would have stopped sooner, I'd have a lot less wet sanding to do now!! Oh well, it is still only in the not often seen spots so I will wet sand and buff next week after I get my frame back in the garage this Friday.

[Gordonr1973]

Just wondering....did some searches on the forum and didn't find anything too specific:

What would be better? If I wetsanded by hand in the sills, around the door edes and the glove box....and then re-cleared to see where it was at or just polished it out with my buffer and compound system?

I have about 4 coats of clear on the doors, about 2 to 3 coats of clear inside the cab and the parts.

[Coffin Customs]

murphy's law bites again. Of course the part that gets the least amount of eye attention comes out the best.

why not just wetsand it and buff it to see if it comes out? From the pics, it looks a little too rought to just wetsand out though.

[Gordonr1973]

Any advice on how to deal with this peel would be welcome!

[Flame Broiled]

That depends on how easily it will be to get the polisher in all those spots, personally I would sand with 800 wet and reclear with one coat.

It looks as if you put on one of your coats a little dry(orange peel) and it was magnified by the following coats.

Aaron
www.eyekandykustoms.com

[Gordonr1973]

After wet sanding with 800, would the sanding scratches (if any) show through the new coat of clear?

[Flame Broiled]

No clear coat will cover sand scratches down to 400 grit but I don't go bellow 600 grit. Depending on what level the texture started at and how bad it is, will determin what you need to do.

With this color most of the peel will not be seen out in the sun, Just to damn bright. So sand down most of the peel with 600-800 wet, being careful not to go to far and recoat in 1-2 coats of clear. When clear coating its always a fine balance between too much or too dry. I prefer to put on too much, because fixing a run can be easier than having to repaint because you burned through the dry/thin paint.

Good luck, lots and lots of practice(ie lots and lots of redo's)

Aaron

[BigDan3131]

Originally Posted by Flame Broiled

No clear coat will cover sand scratches down to 400 grit but I don't go bellow 600 grit. Depending on what level the texture started at and how bad it is, will determin what you need to do.

With this color most of the peel will not be seen out in the sun, Just to damn bright. So sand down most of the peel with 600-800 wet, being careful not to go to far and recoat in 1-2 coats of clear. When clear coating its always a fine balance between too much or too dry. I prefer to put on too much, because fixing a run can be easier than having to repaint because you burned through the dry/thin paint.

Good luck, lots and lots of practice(ie lots and lots of redo's)

Aaron

+1

I agree I like a medium wet coat with a full wet coat or coats depending on my clear. When you were painting it did you stop after full coverage or did you keep pouring it on? I hope you stopped after complete coverage, otherwise most of that peel is in the pearl base because the pearl stacked on to itself.

[Gordonr1973]

Thanks guys;

When I painted the base it was easy, full coverage with about 50% overlap. Hardly any runs and only the glove box door shows that it could use a little more coverage.

Then I waited a day & did the pearl....was okay to apply, two coats, overlapping by about 75%. Made sure not to put too much on to avoid dulling it down.

Then I waited a day to spray the clear.

There were two things that I think may have caused me the problem: it seemed to get gummy in the cup for some reason and shot out towards the end like funny string that you can buy at the dollar store, the second was that I was using a 1.0 tip.

After I remixed the second cup at 3:1 with 10% slow reducer, it went on in a lot finer mist. But I think it was the first coat of clear that caused the problem.

I started to wet sand today. I have a Hutchkins Waterbug wetsander that I used with 1000 grit for the smooth areas on the firewall & I used 800 grit by hand on the hard to get to areas.

I was pretty careful not to sand through anywhere yet. I have some time tomorrow morning where I can keep going at it on the rest of the cab and the other door.

My hinges and column are fine though, but they are the pieces that I cleared first before I had started to have problems with the clearing.

As for what was sanded tonight, is this sanded not enough or too much? I know there are still little divots that aren't dull yet, but I'm scared that those might be from the base or pearl so I don't want to go too deep.

[Gordonr1973]

Oh, PS Aaron, I love that C10 you redid on your website!!

http://www.hubgarage.com/mygarage/Ey...vehicles/66192

That bowtie in the grille is AWESOME!!!

[Flame Broiled]

Hard to tell by the photos on my phone but it Looks like you could put down two wet coats and it should be good. Wet but not running, the first coat is important wet but not too wet, second coat is a flow coat wetter than the first trying not to run. 5-12 min max Between coats. Stringy to the touch.
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[Gordonr1973]

Well my work schedule got bumped around today so I spent the day in the garage wet sanding everything over again by hand.

I took it down a lot further but managed to keep from sanding into the pearl.

After I get home tomorrow I intend to reclear it again with 2 coats.

[Gordonr1973]

I had a chance today to respray the clear.

I was VERY careful, recleaned my gun and checked my spray pattern before I started.

I think the problem the other day was I think I forgot to put the o-ring back in to the lid for my paint cup after I cleaned the cup the night before....that may be why there was no constant pressure while I was spraying.

Well, today went alot better.

I do have some runs because I reduced the clear a bit to keep it from setting too fast, but those I can buff out later along with some minor orange peel.

My sanding did not show through any of the clear, so that was good too!

Anyways, going to leave it sit for the weekend and go get my frame on Monday.

[BigDan3131]

It does look better and that Waterbug is a god sent item. For the future don't use anything smaller than a 1.3 for the clear. I tend to use something closer to a 1.5.

[von guido]

what kind of pressure are you spraying for paint and what psi for clear?

[BigDan3131]

Out of the three stage its set at 90psi and regulated down at the gun to the recommended air pressure for which ever gun I'm using and whats needed for the paint, clear, primer etc.

[Jonce]

Looks like you are making good progress, keep it up and keep sending us photos.

[Gordonr1973]

Been working on engine & wiring for the last few months but back on paint now.

Started on the high build primer done yesterday.

Started priming with my TP Tools turbine gun that I just bought last year, it worked fine then but about half way through I heard a big bang and I ran to check the unit in the other room and it was smoking...NOT GOOD!

I grabbed it and ran it outside in case she started on fire but it didn't. Not sure what the problem was but it was definitely dead. Will not run, stinks of burnt plastic, I hope TP Tools will refund my money because with extra parts & shipping I have about $1,000 into it.

So what to do with a unit that I can't get parts or warranty quickly in Canada...I went out and bought a Deblivis gun to get through the next week. It works fine and I finished yesterday, will start sanding the guide coat today.

Is there a general rule what to set the air pressure in the line at the tank, then at the gun?

[butch86]

i am no pro painter by no means but the guys that do it alot told me to go 90psi at tank and regulate down at gun for the recomended psi of the gun and paint.

i would check that but that the way i have always done it and it works great for me.