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Roger,

All the paint manufacturers make a cleaning solvent for paint prep. I have used DuPont Prep-Sol many times.

I like the grille angle. It reminds me of a yellow car in storage in Virginia . . .

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Roger,

All the paint manufacturers make a cleaning solvent for paint prep. I have used DuPont Prep-Sol many times.

I like the grille angle. It reminds me of a yellow car in storage in Virginia . . .

Jack,
Good to see you pop in from Italy. Hope all is well and you are enjoying the travel.

Yeah, I'm using Matrix Pre-Paint Final Cleaner and Matrix paint. I did a small frame panel test last night with about four hours of dry time, sanding down an area with fisheyes smooth, cleaning it and spraying a coat of primer. Still got fisheyes, so my paint guy suggested leaving it alone overnight to see if the primer would seal in the bad stuff. This morning I repeated the test, but also prepped a piece of barn siding to eliminate the mystery of the earlier potential contaminants (laundered rags and Dawn soap). Both the frame and barn siding fisheyed, which points to microscopic oil in the air supply. I cannot see any evidence of oil in the filter/regulator condensate (oil sheen, odor, or even taste ) so if it is there it is minute. Tomorrow is a trip to Graingers for a coalescing filter; Lowe's for a new, dedicated air hose for painting and some copper fittings; and the paint store for a couple of his high flow DeVilbiss quick connects that have 3/8" internals. Once that is installed I will shoot another barn siding test panel, then if all is OK will try a small panel on the sanded area of the frame. If it is OK I can sand away the fisheyes, hit it with a light coat of primer, and get on with shooting color. If not then I get to sand off everything I put on yesterday , scrub & wash till my fingers bleed, and shoot test panels until things are right.

Glad you like the grille angle. If you recall I asked you about the angle of yours before I took the plunge, and told you I had captured pictures of your car as my screen saver at work for inspiration. If mine looks half as good as yours I will be a happy guy!

I feel your pain Roger. My compressor is going out on me and started spitting out a lot of oil so I ordered a new pump for my compressor and will have to buy all new hoses as well as clean out my tank. I couldn't even blow off my car without getting oil on it. So until my pump gets here I just used one of those little dryer filters that go before the spray guy for added protection in front of my blower nozzle and that seemed to work. I haven't gotten to the point of priming anything yet but you can bet I will be picking up some scott's towels and some more wax and grease remover before I do. I had never had any problems with laundried rags before but after reading your problems I won't be taking a chance. Don't forget to flush out your gun real good before you put any primer in it.

Just got done reading all 6+ pages. Very nice build!!!! I am scared to death to try painting myself. Think I'll wait some more.....

Love the ideas you are coming up with. Will be waching...

David

Originally Posted by Dsprint2000

Just got done reading all 6+ pages. Very nice build!!!! I am scared to death to try painting myself. Think I'll wait some more.....

Love the ideas you are coming up with. Will be waching...

David

Thanks for the comment! Today I went ahead and sanded the frame smooth, figuring that at a minimum that was going to be necessary, and at worst I will have to sand deeper. I also spent some time rotating the frame, planning the spray patterns for color and color/clear. I'm hoping that the new filter and line will solve the problems, and that I will have color & clear on tomorrow afternoon. Fingers remain firmly crossed tonight!!

Originally Posted by rspears

Thanks for the comment! Today I went ahead and sanded the frame smooth, figuring that at a minimum that was going to be necessary, and at worst I will have to sand deeper. I also spent some time rotating the frame, planning the spray patterns for color and color/clear. I'm hoping that the new filter and line will solve the problems, and that I will have color & clear on tomorrow afternoon. Fingers remain firmly crossed tonight!!

I don't know if you have a detail gun, or if your primary gun can be adjusted down to a narrow fan, either one helps get around nooks, crannies, and small diameter tubing, otherwise a lot of material ends up as overspray.

Well, both guys at the paint store (experienced painters, not just paint sellers) are scratching their heads along with me. This morning I visited them, taking along a condensate sample from my filter, and we talked about every step of the process. I explained that before leaving home I took a sheet of glass, cleaned it well, and directed an air stream at it for two to three minutes getting zero residue. They believed that buying a coallescing filter was a waste, since there was zero evidence of oil. We discussed the possibility of hose deterioration, so I bought a new Flexzilla hose and DeVilbliss quick connect and headed home. I installed the new hose, hooked up the gun and mixed up a small batch of black urethane. Shot the frame and had immediate fisheyes so after snapping a few pictures I cleaned it off with thinner. I grabbed a piece of plate, ground off the mill scale, cleaned it with wax & grease remover and shot color - nasty fisheyes!!

Back to the paint store we went through every step and could not find any smoking guns. I came home with a loaner SATA gun to try, instead of the Harbor Freight Purple Wonder (wonder why I bought it????) There is no rational explanation, but the SATA gun layed down paint very close to glass finish. There were a few little flaws in the test area, but nothing like I had seen before. After talking to my paint guy I prepped several pieces and shot color and color/clear. Results were great, in my opinion.

Tomorrow I will do a quick prep on the frame and get it shot early, before taking the SATA gun back Again, I cannot explain the fisheyes with the HF gun, but my two are going in the trash, or at least in a box in the corner for now....

Silicone based spray lubricants have long been known to cause issues such as this. The tiny particles will hang in the air for a long time. In paint production facilities, any silicone is prohibited. Check and see where your spray lubes are stored. Are any leaking?
Your project looks great!

Have you ever used any fish eye eliminator in your guns? I have been told ( I don't know if is true) That once you use it you will always have to use it in that gun. I am sorry you had to go through all of that to find your problem but at least you found it.

Originally Posted by Mr Smith

Have you ever used any fish eye eliminator in your guns? I have been told ( I don't know if is true) That once you use it you will always have to use it in that gun. I am sorry you had to go through all of that to find your problem but at least you found it.

No fisheye eliminator, they were new out of the box, but I believe you are 100% right on that. In conversation with my paint guy he shared that fisheye eliminator is basically silicone, and the intent is to turn the entire paint layer into one big fisheye to equalize the surface tension. In a production shop, then if the guy puts his gun in the collective gun washer he introduces silicone into the wash process, and often results in a fisheye problem for everyone until they purge the system and clean everything. I have two good coats on everything, and I think I am going to do one more for grins and then hit it with a final sugar coat and be done. It is not near show quality, but it looks pretty good at this point.

Roger I heard the same thing from the local paint shop. They recogmend not to use the fisheye eliminator, but to clean everything really well, and use filters at the base of the gun like you already have. Don't know what will happen when I join you this fall for the same thing!

Scooter and Dsprint, thanks for the kind words on the project. To my knowledge there's no silicone around.

Bob, 34-40, Mr Smith, Jack, thanks for suggestions and tips. Everything I learn here is valuable knowledge, often paid for by sweat, frustrations and a few thrown wrenches in the past.

Steve, I didn't sand away as much as I put on, but I sanded away a lot of paint! It's not perfect by any means, but looking at that chassis and components is a very satisfying step in the learning process for me.

This is fresh out of the booth area after an overnight drying time, and today I get to sand it down again, but this time with 1500 grit and lots of water and Ivory soap to take a few flaws away. It's hard to get a decent shot of paint indoors in bad lighting, so I did the old ruler (engineer's scale ) reflection to give an idea.

Originally Posted by rspears

To my knowledge there's no silicone around.

.........

Does your clothes dryer vent anywhere near the shop, or does the normal airflow around the house where it vents carry toward the shop?

Deja vu . . . deja vu . . . deja vu . . . deja . . . de . ... nevermind.

Well it's not vuja de... 'cause I never saw that one coming! Spraygun causing the headache! I'll keep that one in the back of my mind! It's amazing that even after the cleanup from the first attempts, it still reacted a second time! WOW!