Messed up Paint Proportions

[billpedalino]

I'm a novice painter, still in the 'experminental' phase of my learning curve. Yesterday morning I decided tp paint some of the black parts for a couple of my restoration bikes and was distracted by a higher Authority (my wife) during the paint mixing process. I'm using Dupont Nason, a single stage urethane system. The final result is that I mixed twice the amount of reducer. I DID NOT increase the amount of activator.
I realized this right after I did it and decided that aside from going on very thin (which it did), the additional reducer would probably volatize off and all would be fine.
Final results; The good point is that the paint lookls beautiful and for a duffer like me, thats saying something. No drips or sags and absolutely no orange peel! the negetive is that 12 hours later, its still a littl tacky and I'm afraid that it there isn't enough hardener. Given how nice it looks, I would hate to remove the paint.

The Question; Must I strip these parts and start over again or is there a way to salvage this coating an harden it up!

Thanks,
Bill Pedalino

[sirhrmechanic]

Try letting it harden up a little longer. You may also get away with spraying properly mixed paint over the top and having the chemical action give you a good final coat. But I say "may." You may also end up with twice the paint to strip.

Are the parts in a critical area? Frame? Swingarm? Things that are a PITA to get at if you have to repaint? If so... you may be safer doing it over. Sucks, but if you get the bike all together and the paint flakes off a critical component, you won't have saved much.

Hope this helps... Cheers, Sirhr

[harleytoprock]

The amount of activator is regulated by the amount of paint. Not paint with reducer. The reducers evaporate leaving only the paint. Send your wife out for shopping and bake the parts in your kitchen oven. A couple of hours at 180 degrees should do the trick. If the oven is out of the question, leave the parts in the sun. It might take a week. It should eventually harden up.

[exeric]

I agree with HTR. The paint will harden without an added hardener but it will take longer. On motorcycles, you often use a small amount of paint. For paint mixing, I use kitchen measuring spoons and bend the handles so I can dip them in the can of paint. That way I don't make a big mess, and can keep paint out of the grooves in the top of the paint can. Also, you don't have to subjectively eyeball a paint level in a measuring cup, (i.e. 8 spoons of paint, 4 spoons of reducer, 1 spoon of hardener.) I use a gravity feed gun also.

[painterdale]

Bill, Good advice from everyone. As long as the ratio of paint to activator/hardener is correct, it's OK to play around with the amount of reducer. Dale

[rwm]

i forgot to ad the activator/hardener to sickens utek paint. it's been 10 years and the paint has not washed off, faded, smeared or rusted. i have been waiting for the day that the paint gives up the ghost and falls off. i think a lot of these activators are for body shops that do spot repair. this way they can just push fresh paint out the door. or the paint will cure before it can react with the factory paint.

[billpedalino]

Thanks to you all. I was pretty sure that the reducer was sacrificial and would cause no harm, as long as it didn;t leave vapor bubbles in the paind while evaporating - whicj it didn't. As it worked out, the thckyness is now gone after about 24 hours. I have a little sanding to do in a couple of spots, but I think I'll wait a few days just to make sure all of the hardening reaction is complete.