Epoxy questions for beginners

C

Craig L

First time painting a car let alone using the epoxy primer. Had some new rear quarters welded on as well as purchased new fenders. The quarters and fenders came with a black (EDP?) coating. I seem to remember reading somewhere that I need to "scuff" the black before applying the epoxy coating - is this true? If so, what do I scuff it with? Or, should I take it all to bare metal (please tell me this isn't the best option)?

The second question I have is that I purchased the the primer and activator about 6 weeks ago. Do I need to shake or stir up the epoxy or activator before I mix them together like you do with regular house paint that has been sitting awhile? I know that you have to mix them well after you combine them.

The third question is if anyone has an idea of a good pressure for a Sharpe SGF HVLP gun?

The fourth question probably sounds really dumb but I purchased gallon containers. What is the best way to get out a small portion and into the mixing container?

I appreciate all of your assistance.

Craig
 
Epoxy primers and e-coats

People do the ecoat a number of ways, a lot of restorers will strip off and re epoxy, some sand with 180 and epoxy and some use a scuff pad and spry the epoxy.
Either way is fine.

With a paint stick the part A (color) must be mixed very good before use, make sure you feel no settling on bottom of can.

Try air pressure at 20-30lbs with the trigger pulled, I'd guess 26 and Gun 6 inches from car with good wide fan and fluid out 3 turns.

First pour will be a little messy.
 
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I DA all new metal with 80 before I epoxy prime. Area that is hard to get hand sand with 180.
Pouring out of a new gal is a challenge I let it run down the side. I lay the top down and when I'm finished set the can on it so that most of the material that is running down the side of the can goes on the top and than back in the can.
 
buy an extra can lid and cut a hole in it . after you get the first qrt or so out you can throw it away or clean it for another use. then i put a piece of 2 in tape on the lip so i can remove it as soon as i pour. stops the run down the can.
 
shine;752 said:
i put a piece of 2 in tape on the lip so i can remove it as soon as i pour. stops the run down the can.
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I do the same thing, along with another trick I learned back in my younger days.
Take an ice pick and punch 3 or 4 holes in the bottom of the groove in the can that the lids sets into.
Pour from that side of the can, and after pouring set the can down with a stirring stick under the bottom on the opposite side from the holes.
In a couple of minutes the paint in that groove will have drained back into the can.
Tear off the 2" tape and put the lid back on the can.
The lid seals on the side of the groove and the holes have no affect on seal quality.
 
As far as pouring, I simply buy a different lid for the can. They make lids that have a spout with a removeable cap in them. I get them at Walmart or Lowes for a couple of dollars. I just opened another gallon of Epoxy today and simply transferred the lid to the new can. If you are installing the lid for the first time, I remove the seal inside the spout. That makes it easier to get the lid on.

Aaron
 
i bought a couple quart plastic paint jars at menards. poured off into each sealed gallon off. use out of them.
 
Craig L;738 said:
The third question is if anyone has an idea of a good pressure for a Sharpe SGF HVLP gun?
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45PSI, plus or minus whatever works for you. I used to use those, and I was never really satisfied with my paint jobs until moving to better guns. I guess they are OK for primer.
 
I really appreciate everyone's advice and suggestions. Forums are sure great!
 
crashtech;766 said:
45PSI, plus or minus whatever works for you. I used to use those, and I was never really satisfied with my paint jobs until moving to better guns. I guess they are OK for primer.
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Sprayed my first time tonight on some old fenders that I had taken down to bare metal, DA with 80 grit and clean with the SPI wax/grease remover and waited an hour and then tacked cloth off. Stirred epoxy very well before mixing with activator and mixed for 3 minutes. Let stand for 30 minutes and then mixed again before putting in gun. Set air at about 43 without gun on and with gun on it was about 31. Shot first fender at 3 turns out per suggestion and had a lot of orange peel. Shot other fender at 3 1/2 turns and then 4 turns. Did a bit better a 3 1/2 turns but when I went to 4 turns it started running. I just went back out and thought I'd measure how far I was away when shooting and realized I was only about 4-5". I was wondering if this could part of the problem with the orange peel. Also, when I shoot I get a more of a large particle look on the metal rather than a fine spray which again makes me think that I'm too close? Also, the air settings I gave above are at the regulator at my air compressor. Does this change a lot at the gun? Do I need to buy a regulator to install at the gun? I do have a 1.4 tip in the gun. Since I've never done this before, I don't know how smooth it is supposed to look. Does anyone have a picture of the epoxy on bare metal they could post or PM to me?
 
Keep the gun at the distance you are at, start with the fluid at 2 turns out, 2.25 max.
Air pressure may be close by time figure in hose length, try the adjustment and then tray 5lbs higher at wall and the 5lbs lower then you have, spray a foot and look, should like base and very hard to run.
 
Craig L;805 said:
Sprayed my first time tonight on some old fenders that I had taken down to bare metal, DA with 80 grit and clean with the SPI wax/grease remover and waited an hour and then tacked cloth off. Stirred epoxy very well before mixing with activator and mixed for 3 minutes. Let stand for 30 minutes and then mixed again before putting in gun. Set air at about 43 without gun on and with gun on it was about 31. Shot first fender at 3 turns out per suggestion and had a lot of orange peel. Shot other fender at 3 1/2 turns and then 4 turns. Did a bit better a 3 1/2 turns but when I went to 4 turns it started running. I just went back out and thought I'd measure how far I was away when shooting and realized I was only about 4-5". I was wondering if this could part of the problem with the orange peel. Also, when I shoot I get a more of a large particle look on the metal rather than a fine spray which again makes me think that I'm too close? Also, the air settings I gave above are at the regulator at my air compressor. Does this change a lot at the gun? Do I need to buy a regulator to install at the gun? I do have a 1.4 tip in the gun. Since I've never done this before, I don't know how smooth it is supposed to look. Does anyone have a picture of the epoxy on bare metal they could post or PM to me?
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Air pressure readings should be done with full trigger pull and fluid flowing, use a bit of reducer at first to set your gun. 40psi with a full trigger is a good minimum unless you are spraying a small spot. SGFs do not atomize very well at low pressures.
 
Start with the fluid turned way in and back it out and test untill you get it spraying a thin wet coat, your first attempt was with too much fluid coming out and not enough air to break it up-atomize. Your speed moving the gun will decrease if there's a small volume coming out of the gun and the speed will increase with a larger volume-find the best setting that you feel comfortable with, this way you will have more control over the gun instead of just trying to keep up with what the gun is putting out-hope that makes sense.
 
ADTKART;759 said:
As far as pouring, I simply buy a different lid for the can. They make lids that have a spout with a removeable cap in them. I get them at Walmart or Lowes for a couple of dollars. I just opened another gallon of Epoxy today and simply transferred the lid to the new can. If you are installing the lid for the first time, I remove the seal inside the spout. That makes it easier to get the lid on.

Aaron
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x2!!! yup, those plastic lids work great. I still take it off to stir, but it pours neat and seals back up with the cap.
 
Epoxy tipp

I had the same problem with getting the first quart of paint out of new can. My solution was to use the caps off of spray cans to scoop the paint out. After filling my measuring cup the the proper line, I drain the remainer back into can and throw the cap away. Good use for something I was throwing away anyways!
 
I wanted to provide an update and also have a question. A few weeks ago, I was able to get the epoxy down on all of the metal but it still wasn't super smooth. No matter what I did to adjust the Sharpe SGF gun, it still left that finish. Another annoying thing was that the fan was only about 6".
Anyhow, I am always on the hotrodders.com forum reading up on things and trying to learn and have been reading about the Harbor Freight purple gun for the last few weeks. I had purchased one about 3 weeks ago and the day I brought it home my wife had brought home a huge oak cabinet and she was going to sand and paint it by hand. I said well, I just bought this $12 gun, let me try to shoot it with it. So, I first shot Kilz to prime it and then the next day the enamel. Even though it was thick is heck, it ended up shooting very smooth and didn't have the annoying brush strokes. The other plus was that my wife saw some value in all of the tools I've been accumulating over the past few months.
Earlier this week, I shot the car body again with epoxy primer with the Sharpe SGF after getting the body work done. Tonight I was planning on shooting the new fenders I purchased. We (my daughter and I) first sanded off the black primer and I decided to try the Harbor Freight on them. I damn near fell over when I used it. It had about a 10" fan and layed super smooth. Absolutely night and day to the Sharpe.
Any experienced painter would have known right off how bad the Sharpe was but a newbie knows nothing in that regard.
Now after that long winded story, I have a question. I'm going to take tomorrow afternoon off to shoot the SPI 2k Primer because the temps are supposed to drop starting Thursday. The book says you can use a 1.4-2.0 tip and the Harbor Freight gun has a 1.4. The Sharpe I have been using is a 1.4 but I also purchased a 1.8 on TCPglobal for $120 (yeah I'm a dope). I would like to use my new found friend (Harbor Freight) and am wondering if I need to do anything special since I'm at the low end of the tip range. I'm hoping you don't tell me reducer or any other special additives because I don't have any.

Thanx again for all of your assistance.
 
I'm a total rookie. I've only done one project, but the help from this forum really helped and it came out great. I used the HF "purple" gun for SPI epoxy and SPI Turbo Primer. The epoxy sprayed very nice through the HF gun (1.4 tip). I found that the Turbo was a bit too thick in an unreduced state to spray well through the 1.4. Eventually, I reduced the Turbo and it sprayed great through the 1.4. I can't recall how much I reduced it, but it was guidance from my local SPI rep.
 
The fourth question probably sounds really dumb but I purchased gallon containers. What is the best way to get out a small portion and into the mixing container?
Craig[/QUOTE]

I use gallon mixing lids for all the gallon cans of primer/epoxy......made a driver for the cordless drill.

Makes it very easy to mix, and to dispense the exact amount needed. When the can is empty, you just move the mixing lid to the new can of the same material.

Scott
 
Craig L;738 said:
First time painting a car let alone using the epoxy primer. Had some new rear quarters welded on as well as purchased new fenders. The quarters and fenders came with a black (EDP?) coating. I seem to remember reading somewhere that I need to "scuff" the black before applying the epoxy coating - is this true? If so, what do I scuff it with? Or, should I take it all to bare metal (please tell me this isn't the best option)?

The second question I have is that I purchased the the primer and activator about 6 weeks ago. Do I need to shake or stir up the epoxy or activator before I mix them together like you do with regular house paint that has been sitting awhile? I know that you have to mix them well after you combine them.

The third question is if anyone has an idea of a good pressure for a Sharpe SGF HVLP gun?

The fourth question probably sounds really dumb but I purchased gallon containers. What is the best way to get out a small portion and into the mixing container?

I appreciate all of your assistance.

Craig
Click to expand...

I've always used the pouring thingamagiggers from like home depot to help with the mess of pouring out of a gallon can the first time.
 
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