I just finished painting a 64 Chevelle for a buddy. The paint laid and covered real nice - looked great in the garage. When we opened the door, I noticed zebra striping in the dark blue metallic paint. I did everything I could to avoid this including laying a random dust coat on the base before prime. The finish line gun I have obviously sprayed so heavy in one spot, the result was unavoidable. I just didn't see it happpening as I painted. Bottom line is, I need to respray the car to make it right. I don't want to burn all my pay from the job away on a high dollar gun, and I won't trust trying to doctor up my old gun. I found a Composite (plastic) gun that Eastwood just came out with. It has stainless steel innards, and a 1.4 tip. Being the gun is only $100, I'm thinking this gun would be worth buying to get this car sprayed right. Anyone have any experience or concerns with this gun? I know some of you are using high dollar guns and are going to tell me this is a piece of crap, but honestly - I don't see why this gun wouldn't be able to lay good paint, especially at least one time. http://www.eastwood.com/images/pdf/12776_instructions.pdf
I know a couple people who have used a gun like this but the 3M model. My local paint store owner backs this gun completely and I have been going to the guy for about 10 year and he never steered my wrong before. I don't know anyone who has used the Eastwood model.
Yeah I have a buddy that works in a body shop that produces mucho cars. He is their main painter and HE LOVES that 3m gun, he was blown away. I'd do it for sure. As far as your finishline goes, I had one. Pulled it outta the box and couldn't get the thing to lay out pearls/metalics for nothing. I was super pissed. It turned into a sealer gun and I went and bought a SATA after that. Love my sata, but CHA CHING!. I wanna spray something with that 3m gun. Brand new tip every time? HECK YEAH!
I have the 3M version, and use it for primer only. There are lots of reasons why the metallic didnt lay out, but if you're going to charge money for paint jobs, its worth spending the money on a quality gun, it will pay for itself really quick. Cant make any money redoing things. I use a Devilbis GTI for my base coat and a Sata RP for clear, not cheap but nothing worth having is, just my opinion...
...and the 3M gun isnt cheap, especially if you plan on throwing the tip away everytime, I found I can clean them and use one for a few primer jobs before replacing
I'm not actually out to charge money for paint jobs, per say. I'm an amature, but have laid some good metallic paint jobs before. I admit that I'm not good enough to paint anything for someone I don't know, but this is a case where my buddy didn't want his Chevelle in body shop prison for over a year. So he offered to make me do it. After 4 months of welding and bodywork, I'm not sure who did who a favor. All I know is that I just want to get this job off the books so I can get paid and move on. Every penny I spend is directly out of my profit, that is being cut (volunteered) too to cover the cost of additional paint. I'm just hoping the Eastwood gun will lay a good job once to get me out of a pinch. And was wondering if anyone has ever tried one yet. Sometimes I become a victim of circumstance just trying to help a brother out. lol
You can buy a Sharps HVLP for around $150, I've been using one for several years and had great results. The zebra striping isn't from the gun, watch your overlap and keep the tip parallel to the surface and spray the last coat about 12 inches from the surface and it will help hide any stripes. The first pictures are the day after I painted the body, did the top earlier and after color sanding and buffing.
I don't want to sound stubborn, but I did do that. I even hit it with a random drop coat. The trail of heavy paint was just too much to hide. I think the gun was spraying super heavy toward the bottom of the pattern, and not getting aerated properly. Something I didn't see as I was laying the paint.
I am sure you know this but don't spray the car until you get a nice test pattern from the gun. If it is heavy on the bottom, you will see that with a test pattern on a sheet of paper. I will get beat up for saying this but I like shooting with a harbor freight HVLP gun. Costs around $50. I just spray for myself but have shot metallics with it and works well. For the price, cannot beat it. I have several other guns including sata and devilbiss. My devilbiss is a cheapy but the satas are not. Back to spraying metallics, it is more the technic than the gun. Neal
The gun did't go heavy and light, the painter did. The dark metalic blue paint requires a steady hand and a lot of light, best is florcent light. I speak from experience, from painting in the home shop. The lighter colors are easier to see.
Another thing I often see is a darker area at door seams where people usually start and stop with each pass. I cannot tell from your picture but go bumper to bumper with each pass on a difficult color.
did you change up the pattern you were spraying ??? kind of cross weave to change the direction , and an old painter trick I learned was to put 2 nuts in the cup , when you move around the nuts "stir" the metallics and keep them from floating to the bottom , keeps them moving
Dude, I used a harbor freight gun! When I first started, believe it or not , my head Painter I apprenticed under, loved it for a sealer gun!
Light coat buildup, not "wet" Couple marbles in cup (use strainer to avoid blockage) or keep swirling when not spraying Adjust to widest spray pattern, 60-70% overlap Reduce pressure a little with final mist coat at least 12" away Not convinced it's the gun either. Common problem with metallics. Good luck with the respray!
I admit, I did a test pattern before i started, but had to take the gun apart part way through the job because the paint was coming out dry all of a sudden. I thought I took care of the situation, but something went wrong. I'm just considering a new gun will be cheap insurance that I will be able to get a good pattern when I have a batch of paint mixed up and ready to go. I'm going to get the Eastwood gun and post back how things went. DOH, it's on backorder until Mar. 8. WTF?
another thing to consider is that your gun just needs a good cleaning, if your pattern isnt even you could have some blockage, especially if you say you've had good luck in the past. Sorry to hear you're having this kind of trouble, no fun for sure, especially when you're trying to help a friend out.
I found a new Finish Line gun that I'd like to buy. Should I get a 1.3mm or 1.5mm tip? The color is Lemans Blue with the tiny metallic.
damn Circumstances get you every time. I had the exact same problem you are describing. I called my buddy to ask him what happened & how to fix it. Too much paint too fast. Even with good and even overlap the second coat can move the first, third the second and clear can move the final coat - the all important drop coat. Too much paint can be either too heavy out of the gun or not enough reducer. (that was my problem, not enough reducer) Important to match metal temp to reducer, not ambient room temp. Too fast can be not enough flash time or wrong temp reducer. Here's how we fixed it. Wet sand with 1200. Laid a tack coat, one filler coat and then a few drop coats. Let it flash long enough and cleared it again. It's already painted with color, you just need to even it out. One sprayable quart did a whole pickup minus the hood & roof. My buddy sprayed it that time, but in the same shop, same gun, same tip, same paint, same everything except he thinned it much more that that particular manufactures recommend formula. He used the ratio for his favorite brand of paint. Came out perfect. Different hands on the gun, and 20 plus years added into the paint can.
I think tip size partially depends on the type of painter you are. I like the 1.3 or 1.4 a 1.5 doesnt seem to break it up as well. My dad has a finishline gun he uses for clear. it works nice for that I dont know about color. Another thing you can do to prevent tiger/zebra stripes it to change direction ever coat. Good Luck and very nice color. I also remeber a 90 year old guy I bought most of body/ lead tools from had just bought a plastic devilbiss gun for his son. That was almost 10 years ago. I remember seeing it and just laughing about it.
I agree with '31 Vicky on this one. If the paint hasnt dried thouroughly the clear will move it. As far as repainting the whole thing theres no need for that, you just need to sand the affected panel with 1000-1200 grit and dust coat the area where the zebra striping is, and then reclear the entire panel.
X2 on a clean gun, I was trying to teach my son some spraying primer lessons, He was using my sata primer gun and i looked at the roof and said your too close and not parallel . Then i noticed the pattern was heavier at the bottom. Took apart the gun soaked in carb cleaner(best and cheapest gun cleaner) blew out all passages. handed the gun back to him and he says wow what a difference. I like 1.5 for metallics and 1.3 or 1.4 for clear. Depending on the clear if solids are below 4 the 1.3 ,if the solids are 4 and above i use the 1.4.It is hard to find a gun that sprays both metallics and clear nice. Having one for each is a better choice. Shop Ebay case in point i just bought a Iwata ls 400 hybrid gun the latest and greatest for $300.00. My supplier wanted $600. It is the best spraying gun i have ever used. It is replacing my sata 2000 and binks M one G.
I have my guns set up with 1.3's, I've had good luck with 1.4's but I think a 1.5 is too big, I would check with the paint manufacturer but I cant imagine they would recommend a 1.5
The paint did seem like it eas coming out aweful dry for a bit, but the paint was mixed plenty wet. It was acting like the breather on the can was clogged, but it wasn't. I found a New Finish Line gun online for $130. I think I'll go with that.
Hey, Let's talk about air pressure & gun cleaning If a late model HVLP spraygun isn't getting good air pressure at all times it will not spray out a good pattern! How large and in what shape is the hose in, and at what pressure do you have the regulator set at? What kinda shape is your compressor in? If it's tired, or under sized for the demands the shop is placing on it, it will not be able to supply the correct pressure to the gun at all times. YOU MUST CLEAN YOUR GUN EVERYTIME YOU USE IT Always shoot test patterns and adjust your fluid and pressure settings BEFORE your first spray pass on the job. If you don't keep these above points in mind, a new spray gun will not solve your painting problems. " Life ain't no Disney movie "
The Jalopy Journal
