Simon Richards
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I have a small air-powered 3″ DA handheld sander, and I use that with the Farecla 1500 and 2000 discs, or the 3M Trizact discs in 2000 and 3000 grit. I also have a 3M hard block that I use with normal wet and dry paper. I always soak the paper in warm water for 30 min minimum before use, plus add a couple drops of liquid dish soap to the water.
As what Wydir wrote, suggest you consult the technical datasheet (TDS).
Typically, it’s 2-3 coats with anywhere from 5-10 minutes flash off between coats. You need to choose the correct hardener and, if applicable also the reducer to suit the environmental conditions you are painting in. Sometimes, the flash off can be a lot longer than 10 minutes (if it’s really cold and your panel temperature is low).
The above said, if you need to ask how many coats of clear, do you really have the skill to be clearcoating something?
We never apply wax to fresh paint, as it is still de-gassing. Wax will seal up the pores which is not what you want.
I tell my customers to wait 30 days before waxing. PPG say to wait 90 days.
Absolutely. I’d say it’s a combination of the polishing system (incl. pads, compound and machines) and the technique.
Here’s a ’04 Maserati hood I refinished last week. The hood was denibbed with 2000 grit on a 3″ DA sander, then hit with 3000 trizact on the same sander (wet, both times). I then used Farecla G6 Rapid on their 6″ yellow pad at 1500rpm, finally followed up with Menzerna 106 Final Finish applied with a Cyclo dual head random orbital polisher and green pads. It looked this good in the booth, but when we took it outside, it popped even more!
[quote=”ryanbrown999″ post=20001][b]I always use the Dupont Sontara wipes[/b]. They do a good job of getting the cleaner off the panel while not linting very much. I also always wipe with one rag and dry with another. [/quote]
:agree
They’re not cheap, but they’re good.
I concur that welding is the way to go, but I have had really good luck [i]without[/i] welding.
First, I chamfer the top of the hole(s) back to bare metal with an angle grinder (just to make them a little low, and I’ll feather out the surrounding area). I take an old drum of reducer, and cut the bottom out with tin snips, which I’ll then cut into appropriate sized strips to cover the hole with about 0.75″ overlap over the hole. I rough it with 80grit, and rough the backside of the panel too. I then use Lord Fusor 108B metal bondline adhesive which glues the two pieces together at weld strength. Let it cure, follow up with Kitten Hair filler, sand back, then finish with either U-Pol Fantastic, or Dolphin finish filler. Highfill and your done……ready for top coat.
No sink back, bullseyes etc.
I use a Devilbiss GTi Pro 1.3 with a T1 air cap for base, and a Sata 3000 RP 1.3 digital for clear.
I actually have two GTi Pro’s (marked Base and Clear). I mostly use the GTi Pro Clear gun for spraying WOW primer, but on smaller clear jobs, I still like using the Devilbiss over my Sata.
I have a Seetal Low Bake (natural gas fired) downdraft spray booth (7 metres x 4 metres) that I rent out in 4 hour blocks.
Am located in Moorabbin, Melbourne, Australia.
The booth is available after hours and on weekends.
I have had really good results with [i]U-Pol Dolphin[/i] finishing putty.
You can fill dents up to 3mm deep with it, and it is meant to be used on top of (suitably keyed back) 2 pack finishes…so there’s no need to go back to bare metal with it. No shrinkage either.
Cheers,
SimeI have a 7 year old Seetal Eurocabin downdraft (side extraction). It is natural gas fired and gets to bake temperature very quickly. I bought it used from the manufacturer for $16,500 installed, and that included brand new doors, reconditioned burner, 38 new daylight bulbs and a full set of filters. New, these booth run about $55K installed. Yes, I got a great deal.
Now, the downsides…
1. It is a concrete floor booth. I frikken [b]hate[/b] sweeping the booth out all the time, and you also have to mask really well because you can get overspray kicking up under the mask plastic and getting onto the car. Biatch to remove and takes profit from the job. Now I just spend more time masking to ensure it doesn’t happen.
2. Not all the lights work all the time (4 don’t work). There’s something wrong with the electrics on the lights.
3. As the booth was used and configured originally for another shop, I had to plug a lot of little holes. Plus, the original shop that had the booth were dirty bastards and sprayed primer and paint on the walls.
4. The booth leaks, and getting service from Seetal has been harder than finding the goose that laid the golden egg. If I had a dollar for all the times they’d promised to come out and fix things, I’d be rich. My booth still leaks rainwater.
5. I do get trash in jobs, but it has been settling down since I had the booth installed 2 years ago. With the concrete floor, I wet it down before I paint and that helps a lot.
6. It’s a pretty loud booth in the spray cycle.I hear that bad service is pretty endemic with the spray booth manufacturers. Seems they’re all happy to shmoose you until they get your money, and then you get ignored as they move onto the next sucker.
When I buy a new booth, I am getting a full grate floor, probably a water floor, and will have it setup for waterborne paint. I probably won’t get infrared drying and will stick with natural gas.
I have a little 3″ random orbital, but it is air powered. Have never seen an electric one either. I use the Farecla 3″ white compounding pads.
Data sheet says that you can clear after 15 minutes, but that you need to wait a minimum of 20 min to denib.
I appreciate that it is ‘best’ to apply the base as close to practical after the clearing window has opened up, but it also says that you can apply more basecoat or clear within 12 hours, so I don’t see that waiting 45 min is an issue. Never had a delam problem in 7 years.
Cheers,
SimeI’m on PPG Deltron Global, and am waiting at least 10 mins between base coats, and a minimum of 15 min before clear, but usually longer (around 45 min).
10 min before clear is pushing it. I have heard of other painters doing it, but I wouldn’t like to risk it (for the sake of 5-10 minutes).
During this past winter, I had a lot off issues with runs in the clear (on the second coat). I had my booth temp at 22-26 degrees C, but what I found out was that my panel temperature was much cooler than anticipated.
To solve the issue, in cold weather, I ended up waiting 30 mins between coats of clear, and invested in a handheld infra-red thermometer that I use to read the panel temp (got it on Ebay for $50 and is excellent!). Also works well when needing to ascertain the panel temp when IR curing fillers – especially for plastic parts that can easily melt/distort if they get too hot.
Keep in mind that the panel temps in the booth will be several degrees cooler on the bottom of the car as comared to the sail panel and the roof. I also bring my clear (sealed in containers, not activated) into the booth when I first start laying base so it comes up to booth temperature. That, of I’ll heat the clearcoat container in a bucket of 75 degree warm water (yep, I use the thermometer to check that temp too!).
Cheers,
Sime[quote=”PAINTPOT” post=15109]it seem to me you are cut and BUFFING the same day you are clear coating.After you clear coat and bake and take it out the oven.Its best leave it 4 a day then polish it.[/quote]
Uhhhh……that’s exactly what I wrote in my post above! 😉
Well, that’s confusing! The label on my tinters says ‘Deltron’ and it is referred to as ‘DBC’ here. I did notice that it said ‘Global’ on the label though.
Does anyone have the formula in Global please, and are there any variants or is it just available in a masterblend?
Cheers,
Sime
