Noob needs painting help!

[Hash_ra23]

Hi all...i know theres heaps of paint related threads but I have a quick question....

I primed my engine bay the other day and got the following issues:



A very bumpy surface.

The gear im using is a small air compressor (~7CFM i think) and a suction fed gun. Please no 'get better gear', its all borrowed and i dont have the money to get any good stuff.

I'm thinking its cos i held the gun too far away from the surface as i was afraid of getting runs. Could this be why? I have no prior painting experience and i just learn by trying things so dont be too harsh on me . Any advice is much appreciated so i can fix up my technique before i put the topcoat on, and i need to do that in the next couple days as I have to return the stuff. I'm sanding down the bumpy primer right now.

Cheers

[c budge]

yeah u need to put it on more wet u are just getting over spray thats wat the bumpy suface is from..

[love ke70]

too dry.
probably from being too far away
with primer it doesnt matter if you get runs, they sand out

[Pieman]

Yes very far away. When you hold the gun too far away, it goes on 'dry' (the thinners in the paint evaporate) so you get a dusty finish. I'd sand it down as smooth as possible and do another coat, this time, hold the gun closer, work at about 40 psi (an inline regulator is necessary). It should have a mild gloss straight off the gun, but not be thick enough to drip.

[Hash_ra23]

yes i suspected as much . Well im sanding it back and i dont have the time or the paint to spray it with primer again. I have a can of primer which im gonna use for any parts i go under the primer. Hopefully i'll get it smooth enuf, Its only the engine bay after all. This was just my form of practice for when i do the exterior in the not near future.

Another quick one...should i spray the clear coat right after the top coat? Or should i rub the top coat back?

Also, is it alrite if i wax and grease remove a day before painting? Cos I dont really have the time to do both on one day with uni and stuff.

Thanks for the help +rep to all

[weapon x]

my background in spraying is airbrushing

and the best advice i could give you as a novice is when you spray from left to right be sure to release the trigger to stop painting at both ends, but always keep the air flowing.

if you spray left to right and never let go of the trigger at both ends
you will get a doubled up build up of paint

you need to begin spraying from the left, travel the paint to the right, release the trigger and then as you come back the other way toward the left re-introduce the trigger and begin painting again

hope you get what i mean

also a good distance is around 20-30cm from your object
if the paint is running at this distance, lower the pressure of the compressor
if the paint isn't being applied enough then bring the pressure up a bit.

good luck with it

jamie

[love ke70]

make sure you do some practice getting closer if not when you spray your colour it will have no zing to it and your clear will orange peel.

[Hash_ra23]

my background in spraying is airbrushing

and the best advice i could give you as a novice is when you spray from left to right be sure to release the trigger to stop painting at both ends, but always keep the air flowing.

if you spray left to right and never let go of the trigger at both ends
you will get a doubled up build up of paint

you need to begin spraying from the left, travel the paint to the right, release the trigger and then as you come back the other way toward the left re-introduce the trigger and begin painting again

hope you get what i mean

also a good distance is around 20-30cm from your object
if the paint is running at this distance, lower the pressure of the compressor
if the paint isn't being applied enough then bring the pressure up a bit.

good luck with it

jamie

thanks for the advice there...yehh i think i was doing that, and i think it was about 20-30cm as well. Guess the pressure wasnt enuf then. Love ke70, unfortunately i do not have the paint to practice....I think i have just enuf to do the bay...but i'll try my best .
Is it ok to prepsol a day before applying the paint?

[love ke70]

i would be cleaning it just before spraying if it was me. im sure you can find the time, its only an engine bay, not that much to clean...

[RiceburnaGTV]

How did the rest come out? As im thinking It could be that you were at the bottom of the tin from the gun paint wise and when you hit an angle you were just pulling up air. make sure you get into all the corners and hard to hit areas first with a full tin of paint so you can get a nice wet coverage in there.

Anyways,simply cut it back with some light grade wet and dry,if you see there is still a nice covering of primer I would just spray putty the rest and then get sanding again.

cheers
Nath

[RiceburnaGTV]

Oh yeah prepsol JUST before painting,it dries in 2 mins anyways and that will ensure you arent painting over bugs etc that for some reason love newly prepped and painted surfaces.

best of luck
nath

[Hash_ra23]

thanks nath...nah im pretty sure it was the problem discussed above..cos it was the only the places i didnt reach into that came up like that. I am also sure that its cos i had the pattern on the gun very wide. so there was a shit load of overspray. oh well u live and u learn.