I sprayed my front end last night. I used BASF Diamont basecoat, 1 qt reduced to 2 qt. I had a hood, 2 fenders, front bumper, lip, grill and t-bar (core support) to paint. I went through both the quarts of paint with about 3 coats each on all the parts. I only got to lay down 1 coat on the underside of the hood. Does that sound about right? Im not sure if I'm using too much pressure or what but I only expected to use about 1 qt to 1.5 qt of paint.

 

I think the pressure is too high. but thats the trade off, some people say that the higher the pressure, you can get a better spray out on the paint, but you loose transfer efficiency, so less paint makes it onto the car, and more ends up in the air. Then again, some people say that you should be able to get the correct spray out without so much pressure. Depends on who you ask. Also, in a state like california (even though it's hard to enforce.) there are state regulated maximums etc, for things like pressure/transfer efficiency/VOCs etc.

If you live out in east bumblef**k chances are no one is going to notice.

 

seems alittle much...are you getting good coverage per coat or does it seem like you "have" to put more coats on the car?? i usually use about a gallon of sprayable paint for a color change on a car..thats usually 3-4 coats too...i spray at about 30psi on a hvlp..

 

A quart seems about right to do a front cap.Now is it the whole cap you painting or you doing a blend job??Also how many turns do you have your material in?? To many in result in alot of material.

 

i think u must've sprayed real heavy. maybe your material feed was backed out too much.. meaning u were globbing the material on. at the same time maybe your PSi was too high i'd assume youd spray it real dry and the rest would be overspray floating into the air

they say you should use the least amount of pressure needed to correctly atomize the paint... if u can understand that. i'd explain but its complicated lol

 

Yeah I was using an Iwata LPH-400. I was trying to find a good site to teach you how to tune your gun all of them was really vague.

Also the data sheet I got with the paint said to use from 45-55 psi??

Can someone give me a step-by-step on how to properly tune the gun???

 

There's different ways to tune a gun(Hint:different scenarios) Best way I do it is,I'd go to the tech sheets and read how they recommend the air pressure and adjust my material valve from there. Btw I love the Iwata Lph-400 I hope you used the orange cap for material saving(0n solid colors) or the purple cap(for heavy metallics).Those caps save material for basecoats.

 

I notice when I turn the material **** is changed my air pressure though?? Material **** is the one on the bottom of the handle correct?

 

No that's your air pressure, material is always on top of the handle it controls the Needle inside the gun.

 

Okay got it. So how would I know how much pressure to use? I can be at 45psi using the regulator and sound like im get a crap load of air coming out. Then mess with the screw at the bottom and be at 45psi but barely any air coming out of the nozzle...

 

Thats a valve that opens and closes by the regulator.Keep that open and adjust the air pressure.Basfrefinish.com has tech sheets for the recommended clear and the recommended air pressure.