Chris
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No, the basecoat is just a solvent based acrylic. Not heatproof.
The problem was that I hadn’t heated the bonnet evenly. At the front and at the sides it was warm enough, but in the middle at the back it was just a little cooler. As a result the basecoat didn’t dry fast enough and the metallic had a chance to sink down in the paint. Thus it was darker because the metallic flakes were deeper in the paint, not near the surface where they would reflect the light more.
Perhaps I should have included this explanation with the original post. Temperature of the panel is very important to getting a good match with metallics and pearls. Too cold and the colour goes dark and sometimes blotchy, too hot and it will lighten and you may get strange effects on the flip and flop as the flakes have set in all kinds of different orientations.
Solvent based Dupont L400 basecoat, using a medium fast thinner.
😆 Yeah, I do it too. It does get used up though. Same with Scotchbrite pads. I can’t stand throwing away stuff that isn’t completely used.
Do you deliver to Australia? 😛
Seriously, it’s a big step and I wish you luck. Just remember, service is everything.
Off the gun? Impressive!
Dupont recommend use of Value Shade 6 primer. This is darkish grey. This colour already contains Violet tinter so adding extra would shift the flop towards violet while the blue pearl would keep the face more blue. Would be worth spraying out a test card or panel to see if what you have in mind achieves the look you want.
:spraywelc:
Red will scratch glass. To my way of thinking that’s way too coarse to go under base.
I don’t believe that you should be using Scotchbrite to “sand’, Anders. Sandpaper, wet or dry changes the surface from rough to smooth and flattens. Scotchbrite does do that – it just puts in scratches which are fine for adhesion but no good if you want to actually flatten the surface which is what you do want to do when sanding primer – take out peel and surface irregularities.
Just hold the heat gun back from the plastic about 6″-8″ and keep moving it, playing around the outside edges of the dent. Always better to heat up less than too much. Heat from the back(inside) of the bar gently until you can “pop” the dent out. You can use the rounded end of a screwdriver handle to push the dent out or I just use a well folded cloth. Don’t touch with your hands though – it will be hot. Rub around the edges of the dent from the outside while still hot to reduce any high spots. If you are really concerned about using a heat gun then you can use a hair dryer – just takes longer.
The theory of dent removal in plastic is just the same as it is in metal – relieve the pressure on the dent (usually where the high spot is) and the bulk of the dent will just pop out with just a little pressure. Some use cold water to “set” the plastic – I’ve never bothered, just let it cool.
Once the dent has popped then sand off paint from the outside and fill the low spot as needed. Any automotive body filler will do. Plastic needs to be roughed up with 80-120 paper to aid adhesion but don’t go further than you need to with such coarse paper or you’ll end up with “hairy bits” when you prime. Smooth repair area with 400 and feather paint edges well. Prime and paint.
Sounds pretty simple? OK, now do it in 3 hours, start to finish. :p
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Factory finish on the L200/Triton was never [u]that[/u] good! You’ll make the rest of that vehicle look like crap. 😆
How did you go repairing the tailgate? Chase the damage halfway across the panel? They’re shockers. Like trying to repair a piece of paper.
Nice work. :cheers
If the clear on the rest of the panel is undamaged then, yes, just clean, scuff and apply new clear over it. The new clear needs the scratching to get a solid bond but will fill those scratches so you won’t ever know.
Yes, even though I put extra lights in, it is only just adequate. The daylight coming through the window at the end does make the camera make it look darker than it actually is, though. Really need lights down low but brick wall makes that difficult, which is why the floor has just been repainted and the walls are about to get a lick, too.
OP needs to consider this in his plan, too. Plastic walls won’t allow light fitment and they won’t reflect enough.
Pierceg, to some extent I understand where you’re coming from. Sometimes it just isn’t possible to have a commercially made booth installed. I had that problem. My workshop is two retail shops which are long and narrow with a row of steel columns in the walls supporting the floor above. A commercial booth was impossible so I had to come up with something that was worked, was safe and met the minimum standards we have (very similar to yours). This is what I came up with:
[URL=http://s589.photobucket.com/user/cprscc/media/Painting/Booth002_zps39c5be9e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss334/cprscc/Painting/Booth002_zps39c5be9e.jpg[/IMG][/URL]It’s not perfect but with a little attention to keeping it clean I can get nice clean work that, most of time doesn’t need more than the occasional dust nib removed, no worse than I’ve experienced in commercial booths. The important thing though, is that it is about as safe as a commercial booth. The panels are sandwich, like refrigeration panel, but with a fire resistant core, the brick wall is naturally fire rated and the doors are steel frame, sheeted with fibro which is also fire rated. It’s easy enough to hose out and, over time I’ve addressed most of the dust ingress points so that now the air comes in through filtered panels in the doors, as it should. My next project is to add some heating which will make it much easier in the winter (minimums here are down to around -8 deg C) when painting does become somewhat challenging.
All the building materials came to less than $1500 (panels were second hand from a building site) with the major expense being the fan, motor and plenum chamber with ducting which goes through the tenancy above and exits above the roof, in accordance with the regulations. End draught is not ideal but it works just fine as long as I keep the exhaust filter changed regularly every week (costs about $5.00, so no biggie). The plenum chamber and fan is a professionally made item, designed for the booth size, so works exceptionally well.
My point is that this probably didn’t cost much more than what you are considering and certainly much less than a commercial booth, which, here, start at around $35,000 and range up to $70,000. The advantage, though, is that it is as well sealed as I can make it, which I think might be the downfall of the design that you are considering. The other concerns I would have with the plastic sheeting you’re looking at are susceptibility to static charge and whether they would attract and hold dust.
Not bagging your idea, just saying that there are other ways of achieving the result.
LS400 is HVLP and WS400 is compliant. I researched these pretty heavily and found that some loved them, some hated them. There is a HD version for those who want a quicker gun – apparently the standard one is a touch slow. Because they use different setups for base and clear the ideal may be an LS400 for base and WS400 for clear but I may never know since I decided on the Tekna. Was a difficult decision because I think there’s not much between them and the only thing that turned me off was the few bad reviews which could well have just been inexperience with a different gun. Set up right they’re definitely right up there with the very best.
Best deals I found were out of the UK on Ebay for the WS400. VAT free was much cheaper than anywhere else.