Trouble with orange peel and lacquer

[Graham S]

KTMMICK, no offence was taken I just have no idea of the comparative prices or quality.

The finish is smooth and like an orange peel, it looks sharp in the photo because of the reflections due to the poor photograph (I was trying to show the lack of a dent not the paint finish). I can try to find a patch to photograph more carefully tonight, most of it is now rubbed down back to paint however. A pretty laborious task as I can only tell when I am through the lacquer after drying it off (lighter shade of black with lacquer).

If paint needs to be thinner to reduce orange peel then shouldn't bringing the can temperature up a little help at least to a bone fide room temp, the garage is a little on the cool side?

I'll try and find a proper paint shop, does anyone have any pointers around Oxford, struggled to find anything on yellow pages site?

Graham

 

[jaykay]

warming cans,will help it out of the can.but will dry faster too.
still think it's too dry going on.
you are keeping right distance fron surface??
if you are should be able to get it on,ok.

 

[joe666]

looks dry to me aswell to far from the panel maybe, you cant get orange peel that consistent all over, whack it on you will see it will look totally different.. as your applying it try to put it on in light coats but keeping the whole thing wet you want it to look good in the first coat start at front work to back then go straight back over it again from back to front should look even all over and flat n shiny, leave a few mins till its tacky rather than wet then do same again be quick and try getting a bit closer this time, you shouldnt need to be flatting and polishing it after unless its hammered in dirt...

 

[Graham S]

After getting orange peel on the paint coat I tried to put the lacquer on thicker (because that is what I thought was the problem) so I would be surprised if it was dry, that said it is quite consistent although maybe I am too (consistently bad). I think it does look a bit more sharp than the other pictures of peel I have seen, perhaps a dry first coat and then a wet second? Didn't get chance to even look at it last night, will report back.

Graham

 

[the snooper]

the reason for the orange peel is the paint/laquer is too thick the dimples you see is whats left of the orange peel you have not sanded it far enough back
sand it all right back totally flat and just start again if its areosol it shouldnt be to thick was the cans off the shelf or did you get them mixed (may not be mixed right)
personally i would never touch them always use a gun apply wet even coates not enought to run though and away you go

 

[m1ecy]

Halfords cans are superb to paint with - it is really hard not to get a good finish.

I would think that you arent wetting the surface with paint properly (or you are spraying too far away!)

It is tricky to get the balance between wet and runs though, and a curved surface isnt the best place to learn!

Good luck, you will crack it in the end

 

[pedrobedro]

I get paint mixed and put into cans at the local car spares shop and the cans have a very good fan nozzle very similar to a spray gun. I use a £20 gravity feed gun with a 1.4 tip with my 3hp SIP compressor but I have used an Earlex HVLP set which was quite good for a cheap item. It does look like you are holding the can too far away and the paint is partly dry before it hits the surface. Warm the area you are spraying with a hot air gun or hair dryer before you paint it if it is a little cool and you can waft it over after as long as you don't get too close.

 

[joe666]

After getting orange peel on the paint coat I tried to put the lacquer on thicker (because that is what I thought was the problem) so I would be surprised if it was dry, that said it is quite consistent although maybe I am too (consistently bad). I think it does look a bit more sharp than the other pictures of peel I have seen, perhaps a dry first coat and then a wet second? Didn't get chance to even look at it last night, will report back.

Graham

if you buy a black base coat in a can it should look like this before clear coating

you need to put the clear on wet like so
first coat

2nd coat

 

[jaykay]

i think your using regular paint for base coat,if you are it will not work. needs proper basecoat under the lacquer.look at joes pics. thats how it should be/look.

 

[Graham S]

I've not been able to do any work on the tank until recently, I started by doing some experiments on some flat scrap sheet and I think you are all right, I was holding the can too far from the surface. I was able to produce a really good finish by ensuring the paint went on nice and wet, getting a light coat of needed by moving the can a little faster. I painted up my forks using this technique and they look nice and glossy, on that occasion using a metallic silver and normal lacquer.

I have rubbed all of the lacquer off the tank taking it back to the black and on occasions beyond, I can say that is was a hell of a job especially as it is so hard to see when you have actually removed all the lacquer without either a load of light when it is wet or after drying it completely. I put a few coats of black on yesterday and it looks really good I tried flatting an area this morning with 1200 and all seems well. Hope to finish flatting, apply my decals (which I did not have first time around) and lacquer it tonight.

Jaykay, are you saying there is a special black base coat paint? Won't a flatted standard black do the job?

Graham

 

[jaykay]

jk

you might get away with it,but cant beat the right stuff for the job.you might have adhesion problems down the line.
black basecoat is the right stuff.and will spray alot easier too.

 

[Graham S]

I didn't even know it existed until now, they certainly don't have it at Halfords

I'm going to have to risk it I think, not worth the time and expense on this bike redoing it all again. I can't comment on the long term adhesion but after sanding every last bit of the old lacquer from the tank I can say it was pretty well stuck.

I have been offered a smallish compressor and as I'm only interested in bikes might buy a touch up gun to go with it, as the compressor is free I could even stretch to a nice Devilbiss unit, I'll probably have a search and then post again if further advice is needed. So next time I'll be heading down to the local paint factors (where ever that turns out to be) to get advice and paint.

Cheers,

Graham

 

[the snooper]

I have been offered a smallish compressor / I could even stretch to a nice Devilbiss unit,

before you rush out and buy the devilbiss find out what cfm the compressor is its no good buying a high cfm gun and then find out the compressor is too small to run it

 

[jaykay]

it will never power a devilbiss.get yourself a cheap low pressure gun,not a hvlp gun.
more a hobby sort of thing.
oh halfords do,do b/clear,most car are finished in it now.

 

[Graham S]

SRi pro is 4.8cfm for the HVLP head and 3.5cfm for the standard head. I won't be rushing to buy anything just yet, will be a while before I can even get the compressor.

Can't find a black base on Halfords website would it just be a specific colour match paint for a car finished with a lacquer? Too late now anyway, just placed the decals and I'll pick up some lacquer in the morning.

Graham

 

[steveo3002]

go for a half size mini gravity gun...ebay has them for under £25

ive got one ...its controlable enough to dust in a 10p sized spot , and just about enough to do a car wing

very easy on the paint too...done 3 coats on a wing with half a jam jar of paint

 

[Graham S]

I have uploaded new pictures to the original link I posted. This time the paint went on much better, still not perfect but it flatted with little trouble.

Less successful with the lacquer, the cans just don't seem to be as good as the other paints and lacquers, almost seems to lack pressure and even coughs and splutters at times. I struggled to get the top of the tank wet enough because the can did not like to spray with much of a forwards tilt at all. But I think it will polish out OK this time as the substrate is so much better and the sides of the tank came out quite well.

Graham