Coatings Mil gauge
- Thread starter angus6643
- Start date
Questions please: what brand MIL gauge are you using and are these gauges only good for metal cars or will it work with fiberglass?
And would a gauge like this be useful in block sanding out orange peel to hopefully keep from sanding through the clear into the base?
Thanks. My guess is individual technique of spraying clear could result in a wide variety of mil thickness?
And would a gauge like this be useful in block sanding out orange peel to hopefully keep from sanding through the clear into the base?
Thanks. My guess is individual technique of spraying clear could result in a wide variety of mil thickness?
the one i got is a cheap one off Amazon R&D about $75.00.
That's what i got it for to check thickness before cut and buff.
you are correct everyone is going to be different, I thought i was a heavy sprayer but now I think i should go heavier or 4 coats to get the mils to cut and buff.
Chris_Hamilton
Trying to be the best me, I can be
4-1-1 Euro should be about 2 mils per coat. 1.8-2.2 mils roughly. I'd be questioning the veracity of that gauge.
dhutton01
Backyard Hack
All layers.
Toolin
Promoted Users
With that said I don't see much value having one.
rdransman
Promoted Users
...unless you measure the basecoat and primer layer first and subtract that to get the thickness of the clearcoat. I have no idea if that's what the pros do or not. I've never used a gauge. Maybe one of the pros that uses a gauge could ring in.
MillerMotorsportsLLC
Promoted Users
I've been doing some mil gauge testing with Euro as well. 2 coats mixed 4:1:1.25 between 5 pieces I am averaging .9 mils. I spray motorcycle parts and feel like I am very much a "heavy sprayer" so I was expecting more mils per coat. I usually only do 2 coats and then denib spots but makes me wonder the longevity of the pieces I've been doing that are less than the industry standard 2 mils
Mine came with calibration disc's? So you can check it for accuracy.
Works on Al. and steel surfaces. No plastic or fiberglass.
Yes as posted above just total thickness.
I got it mainly to check for paint work when buying cars. Many claim factory paint but these gauges will soon tell the tale!
What I find interesting and I am continuing to use it is how thick different brands of cars paint are and how the thickness varies around the car even from the factory.
It has limits so if the display is all bars you know it's full of putty! Too thick to read.
Very useful tool and another one that has fallen massively in price in the last 10-20 years.
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Works on Al. and steel surfaces. No plastic or fiberglass.
Yes as posted above just total thickness.
I got it mainly to check for paint work when buying cars. Many claim factory paint but these gauges will soon tell the tale!
What I find interesting and I am continuing to use it is how thick different brands of cars paint are and how the thickness varies around the car even from the factory.
It has limits so if the display is all bars you know it's full of putty! Too thick to read.
Very useful tool and another one that has fallen massively in price in the last 10-20 years.
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AAE
Learner
That depends on you and your spraying style. I think that I really need 3 coats to equal the recommended 2.
MillerMotorsportsLLC
Promoted Users
I've continued mil testing the EURO. I am consistently getting 1-1.1 mils per coat at 4:1:1 with LPH400 1.4. I honestly would have expected a bit more but also only tested this clear. I have some BASF DC5335 that I will be testing either this week or next week.
MJM
Promoted Users
You are correct, unless....... you take Gauge readings from the very first coat sprayed on bare metal. I did this with my current project. Sprayed epoxy primer, logged/recorded gauge readings. After filler work and another couple coats of epoxy, recorded gauge readings.
I'm doing this so once I get to the cut and buff stage, I have an estimate of how much clear was sprayed. It won’t be an exact mill thickness but, close enough to be sorta of useful.
As an example, before clear coat................. recorded mills are 8 mills. Now I spray my clear and record a total of 11 mills. 11 minus 8 = 3
Estimated 3 mills clear coat sprayed before cut and buff.
Not going to be an exact science especially using a cheaper mill gauge but, better than nothing. My mill gauge uses calibration plates.
Most paint correction is based on paint thickness. People who do high end cars will not touch the paint until thickness measurements have been made. really just common sense.
Imagine cutting and buffing a Ferrari without knowing how much you had to work with? You can easily do 10's of thousands of dollars of paint damage before you know it!
As with a lot of things the price has been dropping as all the import gauges flood the market. The key is deciding which one is good enough.
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Imagine cutting and buffing a Ferrari without knowing how much you had to work with? You can easily do 10's of thousands of dollars of paint damage before you know it!
As with a lot of things the price has been dropping as all the import gauges flood the market. The key is deciding which one is good enough.
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Even if you measure a new car, you will find the thickness will vary all over the car, so the clear on your car is going to vary also, then you have to think about what you did to get the car straight. There will be areas that have much more filler than other areas, so measure several areas all over the car, then use those same areas to measure the additional coats.
Chris_Hamilton
Trying to be the best me, I can be
Detailers using them it's at best an educated guess. There is no way to tell how much clear or SS is on the car unless it was recorded at each step in the OEM paint process. Which of course they don't have that info. All it measures is total thickness of all the coatings on there. They still have no idea how thick the clear or SS layer is.