Creamy White DBC base unrepeatable for sprayouts

Brad J.

Oldtimer
I'm having trouble getting repeatable sprayouts. I haven't sprayed dbc in 10 years but never had a problem like this. I have little experience spraying white but I can't get sprayouts from day to day match using the same spray technique.

Tekna gun with 20psi regulated on the gun. DBC 1:1 with SPI 870 (a couple times I added 2102-4 but wasn't paying close attention on early sprayouts)
I've done white epoxy sealer, grey epoxy sealer, black epoxy sealer experiments. Complete coverage in all cases with 3 coats.
Some of my cards have more yellow and some are more white. Looking for ideas as I need to get a consistent color so I can decide if I have to tint it with more yellow.

Some of the things I've tried.

1. 3 sloppy wet coats leans yellow with some slight color changes on the edge were the extra paint ends up. I don't spray this way.
2. 3 normal coats is more white and more consistent.
3. I try to do 3 sprayouts at a time shooting for the same results. These three usually all match. Twice I've started a 4th card about the time I spray the 3rd coat on the others. Both of these 4th cards have gotten 3 coats and both are usually a shade yellow compared to the original 3.
4. I did #3 above yesterday and today and yesterdays is more white than todays using same technique. The 4th for each is different.
5. Early on I did the 2 coat/3coat/4coat cards over the white/black/grey sealer and had very inconsistent results that didn't make sense.

Would activator change a shade?
I wasn't consistent on clear times ranging from 1 hour to 12 hours and didn't take note. I will be from now. When I do the car and parts base will sit overnight. Does this affect the shades?

How critical is white paint for repeatability. I planed on spraying doors/front/rear fenders together but this color has me thinking it needs to be jammed and sprayed together. Any thoughts or things to try would be helpful.

I think I want to tint the color more yellow and then the next sprayout is the right color. Very frustrating.
 
Is there a chance the white sat
In gun for an hour or so.
Titanium is very heavy and possible. It's settling in gun and making the yellow stand out more.
Activator would help settling but should not affect the color.
 
All else fails to add 5% of 2020 inter-coat clear as I have it loaded up with different dispersants
Due to the different paints added.

I think its a bad mix myself.
 
It did sit in the gun for 1/2 hour to 1 hour on some of the coats. I know on some of the early ones I was strictly 15 min per coat but I have been spraying when I think about it the past couple days. I'm probably up to 40 spray out cards laying around and the early ones aren't any better. I don't know about settling but I will stir each coat from now on.

Never had paint that wasn't repeatable the next day or later the same day. At least very close and not really visibly off.

Humidity??? Early sprayouts were 50% and the past couple days have been 65-70%.

Don't say bad mix. I had three gallons mixed at the same time. I was going to do prospray this time around but stuck with local.

Thanks for the intercoat tip Barry. Something to try in the next couple days.
 
I know shine used to talk about putting a gallon into 4 quarts. He would say the color would always be slightly different the last quart of a gallon which is why he would mix it and then break it into quarts. Your issue has me stumped though. I would mix it thoroughly before each sprayout, just to see if that helps. Logic would tell me that has to be where the issue is. Might be exaggerated if you were leaving it in the gun between sprayouts. Hope it works out for you.
 
I have a paint shaker I religiously use before spraying out of gallons, especially when painting panels separately. Maybe the heavier yellow is sinking to the bottom and looks like it is mixed, but just enough is staying on the bottom to throw the color off. White is very sensitive to this, but that is all I got :confused:
 
I shake the gallon everytime I pour out of them but some of the cards were sprayed when the paint sat in the cup a while. I usually pick the gun up and give it a shake but I don't stir when it sits.

Yesterday morning I mixed the 3 gallons in a 5 gallon pail and poured them back into the gal cans. Been meaning to do it for a while but I did sprayouts early from each gallon and they matched from gallon to gallon.

Today will be the first time I sprayed out of the mixed gallon. Going to lay 3 cards out and give them 3 coats with 1/2 hour between this morning and then do the same after lunch and see where I'm at. I'll be stirring each coat.

Thanks for the ideas.
 
Brad,
For a test panel, the 30 mins between coats does nothing.

Do all three coats in 5 mins, and that will tell you that either mix is a problem (you or them)
OR white is sinking in the gun.

Also, if the titanium is settling in the gun, it so heavy you are not going to handshake; you will need to pour back in mixing cup and mix.
 
White is the devil! Years ago I painted this Mustang a factory cobra jet white. When I painted the doors and fenders they came out a completely different shade of white. I ended up just respraying the entire car.
 
Yesterday's 2 batches are the first time I've had consistent results. I did 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Each coat was stirred and I mixed a new batch for the morning and a new batch in the afternoon.

I'm going to do the same thing today.

I'm going to do the 3 coats in 5 minutes like Barry suggests. Do I stir each coat in the 5 min or leave it in the gun?

I did notice some muscle memory that I forgot about. Everytime I grab my gun whether it be epoxy or base I always grab and shake on my way to the booth. I don't even remember doing it but I've done it for years.

I thought white would be easy. Did a enamel job 20 years ago but only some touchup since then. I've tried to learn the color for each job but this color kicked my butt. Headed in the right direction with everybody's help.
 
No need to mix in 5 mins that's why I picked that, but I do the same gun dance every time I pick one up two quick shakes, just habit.

I do believe we have issue figured out.
 
3 sprayouts 5 minutes apart match the sprayouts from yesterday. That is two days in a row. Will do tomorrow for the heck of it but it appears stirring between coats is a winner. Thanks Barry and everybody else.

My pride kept me from posting this earlier and would've saved me some time and money.

I think from now on I will stir between coats for any color. The time it takes isn't worth a problem. Then I can still do my little shake of the gun for good luck.
 
I use a regular cup on my gun and usually pour it back in the mix cup between coats, just habit. Most people think white is easy, but it can be a pain sometimes. Tints change it very quick and a couple drops can really make a difference. DBC white never really covered well to me compared to a lot of other brands. Glad you got it figured out.
 
It really depends on the paint. I've dealt with base coats that drop out of suspension within minutes. The Standox I use now is really great in that regard, even stuff that has sat on the shelf for years just stirs right in immediately, there's never anything stuck on the bottom.

I honestly don't remember how DBC is. I know that S-W Ultra settles out horribly and gets glued to the bottom of the can, terrible stuff.
 
I'm still having trouble with this stuff. I thought it was figured out but some of the parts I've done lean white and some lean yellow. I'm going to try intercoat clear in them today.

I've painted the contintenal kit and the color isn't what the sprayouts were or the underside of the trunk lid. I'm not going to spray anymore parts that I might have to redo.

If intercoat doesn't help them I'm going to eat the 3 gallons and go a different route.
 
Brad are you doing all this from one gallon or some from each of the three gallons? If you are doing it from each of the three and assuming you had the Jobber mix it, it very well could be all three gallons are different. No guarantee they were mixed right other than what the guy says. Could be off enough to throw things off like you are experiencing. Before I gave up on it I would mix all three together and see what you get with some sprayouts of the three gallons combined.
 
Brad are you doing all this from one gallon or some from each of the three gallons? If you are doing it from each of the three and assuming you had the Jobber mix it, it very well could be all three gallons are different. No guarantee they were mixed right other than what the guy says. Could be off enough to throw things off like you are experiencing. Before I gave up on it I would mix all three together and see what you get with some sprayouts of the three gallons combined.

“Yesterday morning I mixed the 3 gallons in a 5 gallon pail and poured them back into the gal cans. Been meaning to do it for a while but I did sprayouts early from each gallon and they matched from gallon to gallon.”
 
“Yesterday morning I mixed the 3 gallons in a 5 gallon pail and poured them back into the gal cans. Been meaning to do it for a while but I did sprayouts early from each gallon and they matched from gallon to gallon.”

Sorry, should have read through the thread again.:oops:
 
My sprayouts yesterday are slightly leaning yellow compared to todays. It's very close but I can see the difference when they are side by side. I'm thinking maybe I'm asking to much to have them dead nuts between days?

Yesterday I did regular and 5% intercoat and I can't tell the difference between the two. Yesterday I also did vertical and horizontal sprayouts and I can't tell the difference. These were done throughout the day and all look the same where todays are slightly different.

Yesterday and today I shook the gallon for 45 seconds and then mixed with a stick before pouring.

At this point I'm not getting large color changes but minor shade differences. I originally wanted to spray in pieces but I don't think I can and I also want repeatable repairs.

Are these shade differences normal? I'm never experimented this much with a color so maybe it's normal?

Thanks for any info.
 
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