Can I do this with epoxy sealer?

One coat of Clausen Rust Defender High Build primer completed. One coat equals three passes. Personal opinion of the primer is it sprays well and lays down nicely. I used a 2.0 tip in my Iwata Air Gunza, 35 psi. Weather was 78 degrees and 50% humidity.

I was easily able to spray one quart at a time.Then I would flush out the gun with some lacquer thinner. Mix another quart and repeat. I was able to spray a quart in about 8-10 minutes.



Top of door and fender


Roof


Driver mirror

Drip rail

MJM said:

Drip rail
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Your car is looking VERY nice, straight and flat...I have only done a couple small base/clear jobs... Front nose/(1/2) of a car and some bumpers and lower rockers skirts. I like you, painted in my garage. How do you deal with your overspray?..I mean it literally gets everywhere, like everywhere...Anything, no matter where it is in your garage, will have overspray..Yes, some, but not much wipes off as a powder, the rest is stuck forever.....Just curious...

MJM said:

One coat equals three passes.

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What do you mean by this? Can't wait for your sanding pictures.

1A Rock said:

What do you mean by this? Can't wait for your sanding pictures.

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That is Clausen's instructions per their TDS. One wet coat equals 3 passes. So, you make a spray pass, go back over that same pass, then do it one more time for a total of three passes for one wet coat. I actually did 2-1/2 passes per coat since I was over lapping 50%.

I would block that down with 220 until you start seeing black epoxy. Just my amateur approach

hapcj7 said:

Your car is looking VERY nice, straight and flat...I have only done a couple small base/clear jobs... Front nose/(1/2) of a car and some bumpers and lower rockers skirts. I like you, painted in my garage. How do you deal with your overspray?..I mean it literally gets everywhere, like everywhere...Anything, no matter where it is in your garage, will have overspray..Yes, some, but not much wipes off as a powder, the rest is stuck forever.....Just curious...

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I use fans to blow the over spray out of the garage when I'm spraying. What doesn't make it out of the garage is dried by the fans before it hits the ground which just makes it dust to be mopped up the next day.

RosharonRooster said:

I would block that down with 220 until you start seeing black epoxy. Just my amateur approach

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That was my thought too. I can't wait to get some powder dry coat on it and see how it sands. I'm going to give it three days curing time at 75-78 degrees before sanding. It's already dry to the touch. Just checked temps in the garage. it's 80 degrees right now just from the flood lights. I have two dual light stands. Each stand has two 500 watt bulbs. I'm pretty amazed at how much heat they put off. I have my heater thermostat in the garage set at 75 degrees. Day and night time temps start falling tomorrow with day temps in the 60's and night temps in the 50's. Winter is upon us here in Missouri.

Tested a little area for sanding characteristics 18 hours after application.. Clausen TDS states "Curing time (surface, material and air temperature) is between 30 to 60 minutes at 70° (21° C) and fewer than 20 minutes at 90° F (32° C)." Garage stayed at 75* last night

It sands very easy, much like SPI epoxy. I used 180 grit and it didn't clog up the paper. (need to purchase some 220 grit). I'm curious to see how it sands after three days of cure time.

Would it be a bad idea to guide coat it, sand with 180, then guide coat again and sand with 220?

There’s nothing wrong with doing that. However what I’d (I) do is treat it similar to how you sand filler. Start with 120 to break the crust and cut it flat fast.

I’ve never used Clausen but have used Slick Sand and Featherfill. I don’t know how similar those are to the Clauson, but they both get a “crust” that you need to sand through initially, like most primers do. Once you get through that then the rest of the sanding is like butter. The lower the grit you start sanding something with, the flatter you’re going to cut it.

Then move to 220 to continue blocking.

My next step after the final poly is blocked is to spray 1-2 coats urethane 2k over it and wet sand 400. After that it’s ready for epoxy sealer. I don’t reduce less than 25% because that is all it takes to get the epoxy to spray down very slick.

Since you have an LPH400 I’d start using that for your epoxy. That FLG sucks. I stopped using it for epoxy long ago

Lizer said:

There’s nothing wrong with doing that. However what I’d (I) do is treat it similar to how you sand filler. Start with 120 to break the crust and cut it flat fast.

I’ve never used Clausen but have used Slick Sand and Featherfill. I don’t know how similar those are to the Clauson, but they both get a “crust” that you need to sand through initially, like most primers do. Once you get through that then the rest of the sanding is like butter. The lower the grit you start sanding something with, the flatter you’re going to cut it.

Then move to 220 to continue blocking.

My next step after the final poly is blocked is to spray 1-2 coats urethane 2k over it and wet sand 400. After that it’s ready for epoxy sealer. I don’t reduce less than 25% because that is all it takes to get the epoxy to spray down very slick.

Since you have an LPH400 I’d start using that for your epoxy. That FLG sucks. I stopped using it for epoxy long ago

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I've never sprayed Featherfill or Slicksand, just Clausen, however, it sounds as though the three polyester products have some different characteristics. A couple of Clausens characteristics are; one medium wet coat yields a film thickness from 5 to 8mm. Though there was a crust as you say, it wasn't all that hard to sand thru, just a couple of passes from the 180 grit I was using. After that it sanded as well as SPI epoxy or a bit better as a reference.

Since you made reference that Devilbiss FLG's "suck", what FLG model do you have?

Here are a few pictures sprayed with my FLG. I've sprayed epoxy, base, sealer and last but least, clear coat.

Epoxy unreduced

My FLG used on this project to spray epoxy, sealer, metallic base coat, and Euro clear. Though this is not a top of the line spraygun, I thought it performed well as a dedicated epoxy gun.

So Lizer, what model FLG gun do you own?

As sprayed from my FLG gun. Three coats of Euro Clear.



As a reference, here it is cut and buffed.

I have an FLG3. Have you used your LPH yet? Once you do, you won’t want to touch your FLG again.

Lizer said:

I have an FLG3. Have you used your LPH yet? Once you do, you won’t want to touch your FLG again.

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Oh that's explains your displeasure with the FLG name. I don't like bashing products but, the FLG-3 was not a good gun as seen by user reviews. Devilbiss then modified and introduce the FLG-4. A bit better gun compared to the FLG-3 as seen by user reviews but still lacked great spray-ability. Now mind you, both the FLG 3 ad 4 where United States designed, marketed, and manufactured. Devilbiss European Division then went back to the drawing board with a complete redesign and introduced the FLG -5.

The FLG-5 was manufacture in Brazil and users responded with good reviews of the gun. Sales of the gun where also very good, so good that a European company bought the rights for manufacturing the FLG-5, and sales where also so good that Devilbiss American Division is selling the FLG in the states now. It's a well built gun using quality material that can be used for waterborne or solvent spraying. The gun uses a 1.3, 1.4 and 1.8 needle and tip. The gun over sea's sells for around $160 US dollars. In the United States it sell for around $230 dollars.

This isn't a top tier spray gun, but it ranks up there as very good for the money spent. Another very good spray gun with the same price point and quality is the Iwata Bellaria. Sprays well and is well built.

So perhaps next time you want to bash the Devilbiss FLG name, please state it's the FLG-3. Users of the FLG-5 will understand your frustrations.

FLG-3


FLG-4


FLG-5


I use the FLG-5 1.4 when spraying SPI epoxy. It's the 2nd gun in starting from the right side.

blocking poly its best to start with atleast 120 grit if you want it straight. its hard and you need to cut the .wave out of it. ive started with 80 before on it but usually settle for 100 grit. depending how much poly you put i would go 100, then 180 spray with epoxy for final prime application. or if you have enough poly goo from 120,220,400 seal and shoot

Just from personal experience, I always start with 150. Cuts the best and cuts it down fast, finish with 180 and can move on from there. Although I have never had a problem with finish priming with 2k or epoxy over 150.

Getting impatient so did a little sanding after two days cure time to see how it sands. It's a bit harder than the first day but, nothing terrible.

I think I might be over sanding. Then again, guide coat flat blocking don't lie.

Not sure where to go once this blocking is done. More poly, epoxy or 2k?

You're only over sanding if you're hitting lots of metal spots and continuing to sand. I think it's way more common to not sand enough.

Ideally you want to sand about 90% of your poly off, at least until you get down to the primer underneath.

When you block it’s a good idea to sand until guide coat is gone, then apply more guide coat and block some more. You’ll find you’ll still have low spots even though you thought it was good on the first pass.

If you’re happy with where it’s at now, then you’re done. You could go to epoxy next but you need to refine your sand scratches first, which is why I give a coat or two of 2k, sand that with 400, then it’s ready for epoxy sealer.

MJM said:

Getting impatient so did a little sanding after two days cure time to see how it sands. It's a bit harder than the first day but, nothing terrible.

I think I might be over sanding. Then again, guide coat flat blocking don't lie.

Not sure where to go once this blocking is done. More poly, epoxy or 2k?View attachment 28048
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I say it’s gonna be slick….but I’m not one to advise.
I’m glad you are doing the Clausen because it gave me some insight.
I’m hoping Deans 24” block and some Clausen rust defender help me resolve my issues.
It’s very deceiving looking at pics of SPI epoxy that lays out very nice.
I thought I was done after many hours of blocking
but as you said the bock doesn’t lie.
Thank you for your contribution.
It helps Neanderthals like me.