Well I painted my first car over the weekend. I was told it had to be completed with by Saturday. I did the prep-mask-paint myself. It took a while to mask so I got pretty frustrated. I did a test spray with the gun at 10 psi and it just sputtered out. So I put it at 30 psi and it was sputtering but better than 10. This is when I should have stopped but said screw it and went ahead and painted. It came out HORRIBLE.

Equipment used:

50 degress outside
$50 HVLP from Harbor Frieght
$100 Single stage jet black [Restoration shop]
Old 20 gallon air compressor

So what do you guys think I did wrong? I still have to wetsand it, but I doubt it'll look much better.

Before:



Paint:


After:



and this picture shows how bad it really is.

 

A better paint gun will help. I have one of those gun from Harbor Freight and it's only good for primer, anything other then that it sucks.

 

Well at least you know you messed up and should have stopped. You need to take your time since your a noob, especially w/ the prepping. De-trim the car, remove as many parts as you can to get the paint under the trim pieces, belt moldings, ect. This will eliminate the possibility of the paint peeling over time. Even though the gun is a cheapy it should still be able to spray decently if adjusted right. Most likely your results were from not having enough CFM for the gun, crappy material quality, viscosity and reducer temp could have been incorrect, combined with your lack of experience/skill. Try out your set-up on test panels to tweak out what you can. Your going to need a higher CFM compressor for sure to be able to paint a complete w/ all the panels assembled like that. If you want it to look good in the end don't even try to save it, just redo it without being rushed. You would spend a ton of time just wet sanding and buffing, not worth it IMO.

 

Thanks for the info man. I was planning to get a better gun and compressor and paint my other car. Although I'm not too sure after this. =/

 

congrat! fail and fail often in order to success faster.

1 looks like you didn't do a probably prep work, all the sanding mark are showing up, did you use a primer or sealer at all?

2 most hvlp gun runs at 40psi +

3 compressor way too small for a whole car paint

at this point, i think you should hire someone to show you how to do it properly.

 

wetsand and buff.... mine looked like that in some parts it will work

 

^^ allmost all paint looks like that when done, just not 2 that extreme, its the orange peel effect.give the paint some time 2 heal and buff it out. should look fine after that. better pint gun next time tho

 

Yea, I was looking into getting a Entry level Devilbliss and new Compressor for the car i'm painting this summer. How long should I wait before I try to wetsand it?

 

we wetsanded the next day... but i would wait for like 3 days if i were you

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by iam7head &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">congrat! fail and fail often in order to success faster.

1 looks like you didn't do a probably prep work, all the sanding mark are showing up, did you use a primer or sealer at all?

2 most hvlp gun runs at 40psi +

3 compressor way too small for a whole car paint

at this point, i think you should hire someone to show you how to do it properly.


</TD></TR></TABLE>

He doesn't need to use a sealer, his paint looked fine before he sprayed it. Just need to sand down with 400 and call it a day. The orange peel is from too much material and not enough pressure.

I'm pretty sure that HF gun blows *** and you had the fluid cranked all the way cus you weren't getting **** for coverage.

Next time tune your gun. Your spray out patteren should look like a vertical cigar shape around 4-14". Preferably 8" plus.

Don't even bother wet sanding that. Let it cure for a week in the sun, sand it all down with 400 grit and go at it again. This time take the 10-30 minutes to tune your gun so you'll have less orangepeel.

 

What distance was the gun to the panel?

Did you follow the mix ratio's on the paint correctly?

I would sand the car down and start over.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by integrapunk67 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What distance was the gun to the panel?

Did you follow the mix ratio's on the paint correctly?

I would sand the car down and start over. </TD></TR></TABLE>

The distance was anywhere from 6-8 inches.

I did mix the paint correctly as well had the right temp reducer.

I painted the car for a family friend and its his beater car. He said it looks fine but I think hes crazy and he needs the car to drive around and doesn't have too much time for a respray. So I'm ganna try to do my best with wet sanding it. I put the gun a 40psi and people tell me I needed to crank it up, but it says 43psi MAX on the gun?

 

dang...that really did come out bad. I think if you fine tuned your gun better, it would have laid down better for sure.

 

you may be able to wetsand , but that depends on how much paint you put on the car . since the orange peel is so extreme wetsanding will take a long time and you might even go through to the old paint . in 50 degree wether the paint will take a while to cure . take a junk panel or something and play around until you get the right consistancy . 20 gallon compressor is not big enough for a whole car , it would be fine doing panel by panel giving it time to build full pressure back up. your releasing more air from the gun then it can compress . id say you didnt put enought paint on . there is a fine line between orange peel and drips . plus the fact that the gun wasnt tuned for the job . also the paint may have not been reduced enough for the paint . the tip on the gun could be too small , not letting enough paint out . which would make it sputter . lots of factors that can lead to this

 

Try adjusting with your air pressure down.

Too many people get used to Sata's and like to crank the pressure as high as they can. If you adjust the gun right you can often times spray fine at roughly 25 psi.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by integrapunk67 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Try adjusting with your air pressure down.

Too many people get used to Sata's and like to crank the pressure as high as they can. If you adjust the gun right you can often times spray fine at roughly 25 psi.</TD></TR></TABLE>

depends on the gun, as far as i know hf pos are about 40 psi

it just too much variables to say for sure, a cheater valve 40 psi is not a regulator 40, line size, inline filter and all the craps.

one thing i agree with you, sata takes in air like beer

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mztykal &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

He doesn't need to use a sealer, his paint looked fine before he sprayed it. Just need to sand down with 400 and call it a day. The orange peel is from too much material and not enough pressure.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

i can't tell and so cant you, it looks to me(crappy pic) there are some color bleeding thru, i can't be sure because i am not there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RC_Marsh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">^^ allmost all paint looks like that when done, just not 2 that extreme, its the orange peel effect.give the paint some time 2 heal and buff it out. should look fine after that. better pint gun next time tho </TD></TR></TABLE>

not mine

there's a big different between urtherane wave from extreme orange peel

 

Even if he wet sanded/buffed its still going to look like poop, even the very edges are peely, no offense. Spend the time to do it right and learn more. He's most likely going to break through trying to flatten that out.

Honestly who gets use to a SATA then sprays a car with a POS gun? He probably has to bump up the pressure just to get it to atomize decently, either that and/or the material is too thick.

 

HAHAHA WOW

 

i would of use a little more reducer just so it would of flowed better
but you should be able to wet sand and buff it out. i would let it sit a couple of days just becuse it is single stage

 

Yea im still debating on what to do. I would really love to sand and redo it right. But thats a whole lot of money spent on a new compressor and gun.

I feel like **** about the paint. I have done a roll on paint job and had it look better.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by iam7head &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
2 most hvlp gun runs at 40psi +
</TD></TR></TABLE>

that is a BIG NO NO!!! HVLP stands for High Volume LOW PRESSURE!! Basically the guns with the cup located on TOP of the gun. Hose lines does not matter...what matters is the regulator BEFORE the gun. Cheater valve should be open all the way because it should not be used anyways, that is why there is the regulator BEFORE the cheater valve. HVLP gun likes LOW PRESSURE but high CFM meaning they use lower pressure but they consume a huge amount of air. That is why you need a bigger compressor. Most HVLP guns should be 15-20psi at the cap which means 20-25psi at the regulator. Conventional SIPHON feed guns, with the cup located on the BOTTOM of the gun, used high pressure of 40psi+.

HVLP


Siphon Feed

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MRturbo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

that is a BIG NO NO!!! HVLP stands for High Volume LOW PRESSURE!! Basically the guns with the cup located on TOP of the gun. Hose lines does not matter...what matters is the regulator BEFORE the gun. Cheater valve should be open all the way because it should not be used anyways, that is why there is the regulator BEFORE the cheater valve. HVLP gun likes LOW PRESSURE but high CFM meaning they use lower pressure but they consume a huge amount of air. That is why you need a bigger compressor. Most HVLP guns should be 15-20psi at the cap which means 20-25psi at the regulator. Conventional SIPHON feed guns, with the cup located on the BOTTOM of the gun, used high pressure of 40psi+.

HVLP


Siphon Feed</TD></TR></TABLE>

Correct... although often times some guns only ask for 10 psi at the cap!

Like I say, it varies on the gun. I've sprayed Sata's at 35 inlet and all the way down to 20 inlet just fine.... you've gotta adjust it though. Honestly I don't like spraying at that high of a pressure and thats why a lot of people I know don't like Sata.

 

Not 100% correct at all though, I would say incorrect to claim everyone should have a 20-25 PSI range going into the gun. Higher PSI at the regulator, then adjusted down on the gun will help maintain CFM through large spray tasks at a fast rate. I paint fast, set the regulator to 53-58, no cheater, then adjust down the gun to about 9-15 PSI at the cap. Not everyone has the same preferences, conditions and equipment so set-ups do vary.