AHHHHH!!!!!!! what happened! (Painting Woes!)

what was the airtemp when you painted it?

Orange peel is caused by the paint drying too fast. Now-a-days you can buy reducer that is made for particular temperature ranges. From PPG (and others as well) you can buy it in 10F increments. If you used 70F reducer on a 90 degree day, the solvents will flash off too fast, not allowing the paint/primer pigments to flow into a smooth layer. Talk to the guys at the paint counter where you bought the stuff. They should be able to tell you which reducers and how much to use.

If its just primer, just sand it flat and prime it again.

Paul

the temp was 81 degrees F. (infared thermometer) i used dupont nason medium full base reducer (76-85 degrees F.) the can said dont reduce the company said 4-1 (it was way too viscous to shoot the way it was)

how long should i wait to sand? i still have more primer mixed in a closed container....can or should i still use it?

You didn't mention what gun type you used, but you may have had too much or too little air pressure, and/or held the gun too far away or too close to the surface being sprayed. Tough call. Different paints have difference needs in terms of painting technique.....I don't know how experienced you are with painting either. I always experiment on practice panels if I'm spraying something 'new' I've never sprayed before.

Bob

well it was definatly warm enough.

its a gravity feed hvlp gun similar to the one they sell at harbor freight. i have an inline filter/water/oil seperator and a water/oil seperator on the gun its self i noticed when i was spraying on some plywood it wasnt atominizing well it was spraying in little droplets not a mist so i thinned it some more and it seemed to spray better. but from the results it wasnt, ill try some more on our farm truck.

how long should or does primer take to dry? i primed the door at 1:00 in the after noon and here it is almost 6 and i can still easily scratch the primer with my fingernail its dry to the touch but it is soft. so does it take 5+ hours to dry? I primed thetruck and it doesnt look much better. its still orange peel, will all primer and or paint orange peel a little?

what consistancy or viscousity should primer (or paint) be? what i tried spraying the first time was like liquid (thawed) ice cream the second was like heavy cream and when i painted the other side of the truck just now it was like 2% milk and it sprayed nicely but was orange peeled because it was too thin. i think the first time it was definatly too thick or viscous if i may. so i guess what viscousity should it be,if need be i can shell out the $5 and get a viscousity guage.

When putting primer on my car, if the primer wasn't thinned down
enough it would do the same thing.....

Stanley_P

jordan said:

the temp was 81 degrees F. (infared thermometer) i used dupont nason medium full base reducer (76-85 degrees F.) the can said dont reduce the company said 4-1 (it was way too viscous to shoot the way it was)

Click to expand...

I have NEVER sprayed a primer or paint that said it DID NOT need a thinner, reducer, hardener or activator. What brand & type of primer is it? I assume you are using an enamel or urethane based primer? Old style lacquer primers are thinned to about the consistency of water & dry very fast. While newer epoxy and urethane primers are a bit heavier and sometimes need a larger needle & tip to flow correctly. This along with gun pressure, temp, humidity, etc... all affect how the paint flows & dries.


Tom C

Good point Tom. A gun set up for spraying lacquers would not do well spraying a heavy-bodied high-fill primer. You'd need a larger needle and cup.

Bob

"Rayflex is designed to be used directly from the can with out thinning under normal envirmental and application conditions."
maybe on mars! its as thick as honey. and on the website it says to thin 4-1 its also enamel paint and the reducer that i bought doesnt say what it is for! it doesnt specify if it is for enamel, urethane, or acrylic unless it is for ful-base (but i dont think that is a species of paint) on the reducer can it says "dupont nason ful-base medium reducer" and the temp chart and warnings thats it. heres the site for the primer if any one has time to look at it www.paintforcars.com

well i figured it out! i called dupont and they said it was the wrong reducer it wouldnt thin the primer enough or stimulate the activator(s) so after primed with the (wrong) reducer would evaporate still leaving the paint plyable because the activator(s) were never stimulated to make the primer dry. makes since to me, but all the people at carquest want to do is sell me the right reducer and not accept the return for the wrong stuff (but they will once i leave )

well they accepted the return and i got the right stuff, but then i had to use about $10 for paint stripper and $10 of bondo with about 6 hours worth of work shaping it, oozed off onto the shop floor that I had to clean up. so already i am not enjoying painting! I sprayed some more primer on our farm truck and now it looks like glass in spots! hardly any orange peel (and where it was it wasnt very noticeable) but i dont think my spray gun is set up right. it suggests using 15-43 psi im using 40, but the reason i dont think its set up right is because its spraying in a circle not a vertical line, and i cant see how it will ever be a vertical line because the instruction book says to have the air jets vertical but that "pancakes" the paint stream into a horizontal line. another question is how long does primer usually take to dry? i primed the farm truck and in an hour it was dry to the touch but 4 hours later i can easily scratch it with my fingernail.

i cant believe it! i messed up on the exact same thing again! i sprayed acrylic enamel primer on my whole driverside and then i cleaned my gun with paint thinner and it sprayed really nice so i misted some paint thinner on my tacky acrylic enamel primer and it got a nice glassy shine, but then i realized what i did.....i sprayed incompatable oily paint thinner on tacky acrylic enamel primer. will it dry? will it be oily? can i degrease it? do i have a migraine coming?

?

the problem with the paint thinner resolved itself. but i dont know what im doing wrong. the primer has a matte' or flat finish and it orange peel very finely (tiny nooks and crannys [rough]) not bigger whispy hills and valleys. ive tried the right reduced primer mixture, and thin, and thick. ive tried having the spray gun close, far, and average. ive tried just about all the settings and variables but the paint doesnt lay well it is orange peel. what am i doing wrong?