Orange peel

shaune

shaune

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Frustrating as hell this orange peel. I sprayed some urethan enamel for a guy. Has a 1929 Ford ton and half AA truck and spent $500 on product. The primer was Pro Form something.....sprayed like shit but the final color I did for him really knocked my confidence. Mixed it 4 parts color, 2 parts reducer, 1 part hardener as instructed. It seemed to orange peel as I was mixing the shit. Tried different pressures from 25 to 40 at the gravity gun. Different speeds, distance was the same as I always spray. Didn't fan it. Angle was 90* to surface. Tried different fan spread from the gun.
There isn't a panel I did I was happy with (the owner was satisfied but it's a real amateur resto). If it didn't orange peel then it ran....that was another mess.
First few parts the paint looked dry spray so I went heavier ( slowed speed, adjusted fan pattern) then the gloss was there but the orange peel was right there. Man I'm feelin bad now....humbled. Any thing to not have orange peel again. My experience is with 2 part epoxy, endura mostly...great results.
 
What brand of paint? Did the tech sheet specify 4:2:1? The last urethane enamel I sprayed was 8:2:1 I think
Booth temp?
 
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Hey Shaune so many things can affect your finish Mix ratio (viscosity), temp, speed of the reducer, fluid setting on gun, speed at which you are moving, tip size, and on and on. The trick can be to get to know your product. If you slow down the dry time (with a slower reducer) it will lay down better but run more easily. Also you have to be sure your first coat is flashed enough to hold both the panel and the gloss. Some paints it is better to do what is known as a tack coat, this is a transparent almost dry coat so as to hold the second coat after the appropriate flash time. I don't like this as it can mean more orange peel. Medium wet coats are the answer don't be concerned with coverage on the first coat it's ok to be transparent. You have to get comfortable with your technique and product then when you do a coat (medium wet) you will know the limit (when it will run) and we (painters) all push it. lol Your pattern overlap is also important every painter over time will develop his own comfort zone but the typical recommendation is 50 to 70 percent overlap on your pattern per pass, but this is also something that is dependant on your personal technique. Welcome to the frustration lol.

PS most poly urethanes are un polish able and unfortunately we (here anyway) are forced to use waterborne two stage paints which constitute more equipment and $$ however the clear coats are much easier to deal with runs and peel as you can polish them quite easily.
 
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Can't remember the brand of paint and the tec sheet called for that mix. Booth temp was 78.
That's a mouthful Bash :D......couple variables I had no control over I guess. I let the first light coat tack. My first couple passes where too light and I figured dusty and that gave my peel so I experimented and laid the another coat heavier...let it tack and then laid it on again. Coming out of the gun it looked splattery.....thus the orange peel so I messed with gun settings....volume, pressure and spread all to the same result. If I see my epoxy doing that I can adjust something and it fixes it. This one it just never seemed to flow out. When it did flow it that shit sagged :mad:
Just when a guy feels confident....SMACK.... knocked down 3 notches.
 
shaune said:
Just when a guy feels confident....SMACK.... knocked down 3 notches.
Click to expand...

Like I said welcome to the wonderful world of a painter! Perhaps your paint was setting up in your gun? What it sounds like was it was too thick? but hard to say without being there.
 
What is your tip size? It might be too small for the paint you are using. In desperation at times I have added a bit of acetone to the paint to get it through the gun. Most of it evaporates before it hits the surface of the car, but it does get the paint through the gun.
 
Tip size was 1.4 and tech sheet said 1.6 to 1.4. I think some was my technique. The last parts were the doors and they turned out better. Maybe I picked up a little twitch or held my mouth right for the last parts.
 
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