Wow the saga continues... Now that I have the air compressor, spray guns, Klasskote, house of color paint and other stuff rods still aren't coming out to hot. Was able to spray paint on with a problem but the clear coat looks terrible- grainy not silky smooth like when I used the spraymax. I think that the needle in my harbor frieght gun is too small to shoot the clear well. At .6 I just don't think it's allowing enough clear through. We sand again! And then again! I am considering buying a full size gun to spray clear but that means a lot of over spray and wasted clear. Any thoughts?

Grainy finish is most likely to much air pressure, You moving the gun to fast over the surface or are too far away from the surface. You might have to small a nozzle/ needle but hard to say without actually doing it. I have not used Klasscoat so not sure if it's one part or two. If it's a two part depending on the temp outside and or humidity you must choose the right reducer which is fast, Med or slow. What I think is causing your grainy look is the paint is drying to fast or before it hits the surface so... it won't flow out and smooth. To small of a nozzle could do this too but mostly you would just not get good coverage.

You only need a " Jam" gun. It's a small gun that is used for shooting small areas like car door jams. It's bigger then an airbrush by far.. Please tell me your not using a hobby airbrush? A full size gun is not what you want at all.

I spray with DupliColar paints Let dry several days
Then Permagloss

A lot cheeper

Bill - willierods.com

John has given you some good information - a hobby airbrush isn't really designed for what you're trying to do. And you don't need a full size air gun. The "touch-up" guns, or what he referred to as a "jam gun" is quicker to set up and was designed for smaller quantities of paint.

To get a slicker, smoother surface, you need to spray a little more "wet." This means setting it up to put out a little more paint versus air, moving the gun a little more slowly, and being a little closer to the surface. Of course, overdo any of these and you'll wind up with "orange peel" or even actual sags or runs.

Practice makes perfect.

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I am using a "jam" gun now it's a harbor frieght mini or detail gun. I have put a lot of miles driving back and forth to harbor freight to return these guns because they all leak paint all over (on gun three or four now). I think your right guys that I am shooting the clear too lean b/c most of the clear ends up on my hand from the leaking gun. If anyone knows of a decent jam gun that sprays clear well I would be appreciative. I know some people swear by the hf guns but at this point I would rather swear at them and get something else. I heard astro makes a decent small gun, also asturo but I know nothing except what the boards on the net says. As always one person sings the glory of one gun to the highest of the heavens and the next person condems them to the dark side of eternity. So any pratical experience would help! I also understand I suck at painting and need to learn and practice and no gun will fix that. However I am looking for a gun that doesn't fall apart or leak and atomizes the paint fairly well.

Mike, it sounds to me like the fluid tip is too small. In my experience a gun that sprays base-coat well will not spray clear-coat well. When painting cars we generally go a couple tenths bigger for a clear-coat. All is not lost, take a test blank and close the fluid pattern down a little at a time. This will concentrate more of the fluid into a smaller area. Test first as you might have to adjust your air pressure and hand speed to get the results you are looking for. If this is not enough you can over reduce your clear by 10% without the worry of losing the gloss. Spraying clear properly takes a good eye and a lot of practice.

If you decide you need a new gun devilbiss make a good Quality spray gun. Keep trying and you will get it right.

Devilbiss and Binks are top names. I'm not sure what you're buying at HF is really much of a tool.

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if you want Quality go to a Auto Body Supply store You will pay

But then again an Airbrush will do a good job It is just like said There is a learning curve to it

I have sprayed with these and got good results It most of the time is how thick the paint is Several thin coats flows out better then one heavy coat
[search.yahoo.com] They do not have much on pressure so paint has to be thin

Bill - willierods.com

Hey Bill thanks for that link. I will look into that further as I have two small kids and can't always turn my compressor on or they wake up. I will look into binks spray guns. I looked at blanks again last night and they need to be sanded lightly and re cleared but not as bad as I thought. I know duplicolor spray was mentioned it is funny that right now I am trying to use there silver base metal cast to do a candy type paint job on one blank. The silver flake/sparkle material is blotching up and not covering blank evenly.

Check the DupliColor site I think they have candy colors on there

The only thing with candys is ya got a lot of material to go on the blank More weight

Bill - willierods.com

What you have happening is whats typically called orange peel. Its when the clear doesnt flow out properly because too little sprayed out. Or it could have been sprayed dry.

Like I said in the other thread we were discussing this in. There is a learning curve to spraying paint and the only way to get good is spray time. This is why I suggested getting several small .5" dia pieces of PVC pipe and practicing on them. The base coat is usually fairly straight forward but the clear is where its at.

I use a HF gun which I believe is the same one you have. (Purple handle) It sprays clear for me very well so I dont think the gun is the issue. Not that they are world class guns but we are not spraying 100k cars either.

There could be several things going wrong here. You could have too much air pressure. You could be moving too fast. You could not have the gun set correctly and too little paint is coming out. You could have the gun too far away from the blank. You could be doing some of all of the above. LOL

You really need to get something and experiment. Remember that you need to start with a light coat then work up to 3 - 4 progressivly heavier coats. With your last coat being the heaviest. Always follow the tech sheets. If they say wait 15 min between coats wait. This allows the prior coats to set just enough that when the next coat is sprayed they bond but dont run. If you rush this you get runs.

You just have to find that fine line between spraying too little and too much.

Thanks again Casey! You have been invaluable thus far. It does not look like orange peel from the pics I have been looking to compare. Most of the car sites are recommending a bigger needle. They say a good painter can use anything which you are and I am not. I am practicing on these cruddy shakari blanks I bought a while back. I would just rather practice on real blanks for taper issue than pipe. (Btw these blanks are probably only good for holding up tomato plants as they are kinda funky).

If what you have doesnt look like orange peel then im betting you sprayed it dry. Is your clear a rough almost sandy texture. How far away were you holding the gun?


I would still suggest trying something before going out and buying any additional guns or needles. I really think what you have will work.

Set your gun up with the recommended air pressure per the instructions of the gun. Prolly somewhere around 20 or so lbs
Open the trigger setting around half way. Open the fan setting around half way as well.

Now spray your clear keeping the gun tip around 4 - 5 inches away from the blank moving at a speed of around 1 foot per second.

I think this method will get you close to spraying a clear that will lay out. My first thoughts are it will be too much however its a starting point. If you find that it runs you know to adjust the gun to apply less material, or possibly move faster.

Yes that's it exactly! It is a sandy, gritty texture. Hum- I had the spray width turned almost all the way up so its a narrow spray pattern. I also had the knob that controls the amount of paint almost all the way down. That's probably where I goofed.

mike langevin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes that's it exactly! It is a sandy, gritty
> texture. Hum- I had the spray width turned almost
> all the way up so its a narrow spray pattern. I
> also had the knob that controls the amount of
> paint almost all the way down. That's probably
> where I goofed.


Yeah you didnt throw out enough material. Plus you need to open your fan out more. Granted half way is probably to wide but its a good starting point. It will allow the paint to flow out more evenly.

Open up the gun and give it a try again. Your rods are still good... Just scuff them up and shoot some mroe clear



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2013 03:17PM by Casey Abell.

Outside - sunlight - is the best light to check your finish
Not on a windy day when dust is flying around

Several thin coats is better then one heavy coat That you have to sand and polish

I hatten to compond a car so I always layed my paint on thin so it would FLOW and i would have less work when I was done painting Reducers or thinners can controll this

A medium reducer will and should work well

Do several blanks with adjustments Remember how they were done You will get the hang of it

Bill - willierods.com

Do a search for devilbiss starting line touch up gun. Should last for years if properly taken care of. If you don't want to order online napa auto parts carries them.

You can test your spray pattern and flow of clear on a flat pannel before you spray to get a good idea of how it is spraying. A dark panel will give you a better view of how the clear is laying down as you are spraying it. If you think thats tough try clearing over white or silver!

You said you silver is blotching up. Sound like you are not getting enough atomization. You can correct this by over reducing, more air pressure or shutting down your fluid some.

When painting i generally run between 30 to 35 lbs of air pressure

I really do not think you need such high end equipment to paint a blank

Bill - willierods.com

The starting line is not a high end product. A lot of companies tend to build a high end and a low end product. Do not mistake this for the $300 SRI pro. It is a low end gun made by a Great company. I have used their products for 20 years and have been very pleased. You can pick up the starting line touch up gun for around $80.

One of these will paint a blank

[search.yahoo.com]

Bill - willierods.com