Orange peel

[stan]

The sun is finally out here in Souther Cal. I decided to paint my 68 Yamaha sheet metal. I already had the paint, which is Sherwin Williams acrylic urethane enemal 2nd demension with hardener. The problem is there is a noticable orange peel showing. What may have caused this? I have more paint to do it over, but don't wanty the same thing to happen. what may have caused this, and how can Ikeep this from happening again. The paint is 24 hrs old, how soon can I repaint. Thanks for any help. Stan

[jmanjeff]

i am not a painter this is from Google
Q: How can I get rid of orange peel paint defects?

A: Orange peel is a coating defect that occurs when the coating that emerges from the spray gun is not properly atomized. As a paint sprayer consultant, I usually give two predominant methods to eliminate orange peel:

1.

Without changing the air atomizing pressure, DECREASE the flow of paint to the gun by turning the fluid control knob to the right, clockwise.
2.

Without changing the fluid flow to the gun, INCREASE the air pressure to the gun.

With HVLP guns you are only allowed to increase the air pressure so that the pressure at the cap of the gun does not exceed 10 psig. There is a third method, namely to add some thinners (solvent) to the paint but as an environmental coating consultant, I never recommend this as it adds to air pollution.

I found a good post that might help
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/more...eel-42275.html

[Rick Pope]

A long time ago, I was painting my old CB750 (which I still own). I was painting it black, in a barely heated shop in the winter. It "orange peeled" really badly. My Dad suggested putting it under a heat lamp for a little bit, then fogging cold water from a hose over it, to shrink the skin on the still wet paint. I protested loudly saying he would ruin the paint.
In a tvoice dripping with common sense, he asked if it were not already ruined, so what did I have to lose?
It worked perfectly. But I don't know that I'd try it again......

[bmh]

Could be lots of stuff. Wrong speed reducer or wrong temp, to heavy of a spray pattern, gun held to close to work, to much overlap in spray passes....etc. Most likely you just need practice. Years back when I learned to paint Dad set me up with an old car fender screwed to a sawhorse and I painted and then sandblasted and re-painted with old paint till I got the hang of it.

[exeric]

I don't paint anything without figuring I'll be rubbing it out. Let the paint dry, sand it out with 1500 wet/dry, buff with fine cut compound, finish with machine polish using lambs wool bonnets. I know some people want to see a bit of orange peel so it looks like a factory job but I think any orange peel looks like crap and is an unfinished paint job. As the painter who taught me said, spraying the paint is the only fun part of a paint job. You have a ton of work before you shoot paint, and a ton of work after the paint is shot.

[exeric]

I should have said that I only rub out sheet metal. I'll settle for a spray gun finish on frame components. Temperature can have a big influence on surface finish. Cold being the biggest offender. From my experience, high or low humidity seems to have no effect on modern acrylic enamel. You may want to explore rubbing out your paint work. I can testify that it makes a lousy painter look good.

[Magic]

I'm a novice painter

I agree with the above...if you can feel the peel ever so little light even wet sanding with 1500-1800 does wonders and then buff it out to a new mirrored look. Single Stage paint as mentioned go lightly. I've used it myself because it's easy to use and also had a peel look only on the top of a sidehack body and not the bottom at all as it was hanging from the ceiling when painted. I can't really explain why the bottom was a perfect mirror after paint and the top needed work. Next time I'll hang it upside down LOL :-) Actually I like basecoat clearcoat now. Always something when we do it ourselves but it's often worth the experience. Merlin in Pa.

[mmoore]

I buy my supplies from a place online called eastwood. they have some great products and prices. they also have a tech library that can help out on this thread. I follow the instructions to the letter (not to hot or cold and watch the humidity ) as I will not paint if it is not a good day. somebody mentioned practicing first which is allways a good idea. (looking at one wall on my shed will show I test every time I fill my gun). I also have a bunch of tin plates that are about 2x3 inches that I shoot so I can measure how thick It ends up being as too thick will crack as it gets older. I painted my 68 frame along with a couple of the tin plates after it dried I measured them then took a hammer and started beating them on the floor. I started soft then got harder and harder untill I beat the **** out of them. this paint is a new line they sell called ceramic chassie black that has finely ground up ceramic in it to make it resistant to rock chips. I was impressed on how hard I was beating it how it stood up. as far as orange peel I only paint about 10 times a year only small stuff (no cars just tanks, fenders...) and havent had that problem.