I can shoot regular stuff (novice) But my expert buddy says that on the metal paint colors (factory stuff-nothing custom) that "tiger striping" becomes a problem. He refuses to shoot it. Myself with more ignorance then talent says to give it a go. How do I avoid the tiger striping and is there a special way this type of paint needs to be applied? Oldmics
If you are talking about acrylic enamel, I use to shoot metallic colors and they can tiger stripe, corn row etc. This was always on used cars and all but as soon as you do a panel like the hood, go back and hold the gun far away and fog over the panel. Look at it, maybe fog a little more until it evens out. Hopefully you have slow enough reducer so you can go back and fog without it drying out. This can also make the acrylic enamel dry in , or look dull, if you are not careful. Also , if you put clear over it, wait the whole time for it to flash off and dry before adding clear because it can soften the metallic and make it move around, or shift the metallic around, and the corn rows kinda show up again. Any other kind of paint, and you dont have the problem so much. I hope thats what your talking about.
One thing that helps is to cross coat. Lay your first pass down parallel to the car like you normally would. On your second, lay down on a 45* angle to the car. This will help to even out the metallic. You can lay a thrid mist coat to really get it even if need be. Watch your overlaps. Keep a tight 50% overlap at all times on big panels. Thats key.
^^^^^Agreed here. Also, single stage is a mess to work with metallics. Base coat/clear lays the metallic much better. Always cross coat 45 degrees after a panel is shot while you are there.
Hey, The tight 50% overlap spray patterns, 45 degree crosshatch pattern, and the fog coat are all answers to your spray pattern problems. DO NOT overreduce an acrylic enamel metalic colour or you will induce "fall-out" where the metalic sinks in the clear and results in heavy run off of the paint material or early failure of the paint job due to the reducer burning out the binder in the paint. I always liked to shoot acrylic enamel with a slow reducer, alittle on the dry side, to control any metalic pattern problems. Anywhere a problem developed in the pattern, a piss coat could be over shot to blend the area in. The slow reducer allowed for good flow out with no peel left in the painted surface. Until the advent of hardener in enamel, colour sanding of a finish wasn't recommended as it would open the paint surface to oxygen and thus early failure. Today's automotive paint products allow Boy Scouts & housewives to produce "passable" refinish work. " The icecream truck in his neighborhood plays Helter-Skelter "
All good advice so far. I painted the Legion Special and it was the first metallic I'd ever sprayed. Not perfect, but I'm proud of it.
Try the new waterborne PPG stuff. Piece of cake no stripes. Looks like crap untill it flashes off and wow smooth as silk no molting just even color. Last coat is low pressure dust coat. Make sure each coat dries completely before recoating.
Even though I have a few times (back when I was still fairly new to painting in fact) sprayed metallic in single stage, I'd refuse to mess around with it anymore today. Too much work, jumping back and forth between panels if you have to even out the metallic, and must keep both a good gloss level along with even metallic. Then whatever is sprayed is pretty much what you get. Really can't do any real amount of cutting and buffing without effecting the metallic (removing any dirt nibs, orange peel, a run, ect) Plus a single stage won't have the level of protection to the pigment and metallic that a clearcoat provides. Plus if you can somehow buff it without getting into the metallic, your taking off the very thin layer of clear on top, and are left with even less protection and likely life of the color. Basecoat is quite a bit easier and less work to spray a metallic in, IMO. Spraying a metallic, most of it is proper gun adjustment, as well as keeping a the gun parallel and good overlap of the previous stroke. As well as not using too fast of a reducer. Even with this, certain colors can still be a bear, specially using a lower cost line which often doesn't have as good of metallic control or coverage. Well then you do a drop coat or mist coat (should be able to find explaination in a search) to help even it out. The way I personally do this is bump up my pressure a tad, back off distance, and spray at different angles diagonally across the panel. It will end up being a dryer applyed coat. Even though basecoat your not spraying so much for gloss, its still important to do your drop coat to even things out, just when shooting a ss metallic, while the base you just got done applying is still wet enough to accept it. So I only spray a few panels maybe and go back and drop coat em right away. If you drop coat so it all just lays on top in a thin dry rough coat, even though you could probably bury it easy enough in clear and never notice a difference, then very likely the adhesion and life of the clear could be affected.
Modern paints are not so much of a problem. Base/clear, that is. The old single stage enamels were a bitch,though. Your friend mus not be too mcuh of an expert....I do't know of any painters who refuse to shoot metallics. Now CANDY, that's another story!
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