paint help

[spartanmisfit]

I'm self teaching myself to paint. I practiced on a work truck I recently bought. The paint turned out fine but when I got to the clear coat I ran into trouble. At first the clear didn't seem to go on thick enough and left a orange peel finish. So I wet sanded and tried again this time putting it on thicker and it dripped all over leaving me with no choice but to wetsand again. I then put on another coat or paint and tried to clear again and tinkered around with the gun setting for awhile and I couldn't find away around it and left a orange peel finish again. I tried several coats hoping it would help but it didn't. So I finished it by wetsanding lightly and buffing the hell out of it. Turned out decent but not as well as I would have liked. I'm going to be painting my car soon and want toa much b etter finish. Any tips?

[xiaphin]

What kind of gun are you using? Using a dryer? Filter before gun inlet? Pressure setting? Type of air compressor (how many cfm)? All of this very important

[spartanmisfit]

Ok. Omni paint and clear. Not a great gun but not bad. 20 gallon air compressor brand new. 37 - 40 psi.
Filter. It works fine with the paint but when I use the clear it comes out kinda clumpy or something.

[buentellomma]

omni clear is crap, i had to use it years ago while in wyotech. what hardener are you using? whats the temp your painting in? this can cause the clear to lay differently. also a good quality gun will help with laying down and nice smooth finish. with that omni crap i use to turn my air pressure up really high to get it to lay down nice. if i remember correctly its kinda thick to began with so i would set the psi around 60. most show cars that i have done in the past didnt come out perfectly after a few coats of clear, if you want a mirror finish your going to have to sand and buff.... expect some orange peel no matter what but it shouldnt look like a golf ball

[Big Zee]

don;t do it all in one pass ? you do multiple coats to acheive your desired clear thickness. also let it stand about 20 mins so it tacks up and the clear adheres to the other layer.

for best results, your spray your sealer over primer, then your color ( again multiple coats ) then your clear ( also multiple coats ) letting ti tack up 20 mins in a dry warm area before next spray. once its dry and "cured" ( or hardened up over 48 hrs ) then wetsand and a buff it up for the finished results.

[spartanmisfit]

Great answers. Thanks guys. I will not use omni for clear on my car than. I'm not sure which brand hardener it was either. Ill check when I get home. I put down 3 coats of clear on the truck and than wet sanded and buffed which helped but deffinetly not as nice as I would have liked. Also a friend told me that I need a better gun because clear is too thick for the gun I was using.

[ATXRB]

Get a nice HVLP gun, if you plan on painting your whole car and want the best results its a good investment. Especially if your only using a 20 gall compressor, also color sanding never hurts.

[xiaphin]

I agree with BigZee, buentellomma, and ATXRB on time in between coats and equipment but have some more info to add.

If you want a good looking finish you need good equipment and good materials. Your 20 gallon tank might not be enough because the CFM to PSI ratio is important. Just because it can produce the desired 32-35 psi into the gun, for HVLP and HVRP, doesn't mean it is is doing so at a high enough flow rate. Not enough CFM and the gun is just spitting out balls of paint, not atomized paint, so it hits the surface and splatters everywhere. Happened to me at my friends house using my SATA HVRP gun and a 30 gallon compressor. Had to repaint it at my house since my compressor is better. Give you an idea on cfm to psi, mine is 41CFM @ 20PSI, for a vertical 80 gallon 5hp Ingersoll Rand compressor. Your compressor should have a plaque on side with similar info.

If your gun has removable nozzle's you could get a larger one for the thicker clear coat.

[spartanmisfit]

Bad ass. It does have a removable nozzle. I don't know anything about guns. A local pawn show has a seemingly nice gun for 100 bucks. Ill get the info and ask if its any good or not.

[spartanmisfit]

Bad ass. It does have a removable nozzle. I don't know anything about guns. A local pawn show has a seemingly nice gun for 100 bucks. Ill get the info and ask if its any good or not.

[buentellomma]

i would use a 1.4mm tip and needle for base and a 1.8mm tip and needle for clear... but thats just what i prefer. 20 gallons should be enough, if you buy a quality gun you will be good. i painted the whole side of a tundra with a 6gallon compressor but i got years of exp and a good gun so dont try that lol you would have a serious mess on your hands. see if you can get ahold of dupont brand or even their lower NASON brand paint and clear, it buffs out nice. also what did you wet sand with? you should start with 1000grit , then work your way up to 2000 or 2500grit and buffing will be much easier on you

[ATXRB]

I painted my motorcycle with nanson paints, never had any spray problems. I did this with a 70 dollar hvlp gun kit from pepboys and a 100 dollar 15 gallon compressor from walmart.