Help with contaminant ID

Thanks guys. I am painting in a carport that I have enclosed in plastic. Now that you have me thinking about this I might know what the issue is. I will try the aerosol sprayer at a few different locations to see if I can replicate the result I got at the paint store free of contamination.

I did have a different project stored in the paint booth over the winter and it has the engine installed. The engine leaks some oil and some got on the floor area. I put a new piece of plastic down to cover the floor when I did the epoxy. After doing the epoxy I flipped the plastic over to put the overspray on the flip side of it thinking I would have a clean surface to work with....maybe I flung all those contaminants everywhere in the area when I turned the plastic over? I bet that is it....
 

Attachments

  • 20201022_000709.jpg
    20201022_000709.jpg
    123.4 KB · Views: 172
  • 20201023_005453.jpg
    20201023_005453.jpg
    45 KB · Views: 164
  • 20201023_005445.jpg
    20201023_005445.jpg
    46.7 KB · Views: 159
At this point I am willing to consider anything but the rep at the paint store laid a flat coat down on a card out of the stack he gave me. I took that same paint home and laid it on one of his cards and it had that contamination.

Just to clarify, I swept and cleaned the plastic in the booth before I put the new piece down so its not like there was a wet oil slick there. When I flipped the new piece over it looked clean.
 
Did you wipe it down with your shop wipes? Have you gotten new wipes, strainers, sticks etc? I'll bet it's as simple as you are using contaminated towels that were never intended for that type of work in the first place. My gut feeling, it is what you are wiping it down with.
 
The box of towels I bought were from the paint store. I think I may have figured the mystery out... I feel really silly...

A month or so before I started the final run on paint project I was doing some fiberglass mold work in the same area. Paraffin wax, mold release...all the stuff you should probably never use in a painting area.... I don't know why I forgot about this... I trimmed the molds in the plastic area and the dust got everywhere. I swept what I could up and covered with new plastic, but when I flipped the plastic that is probably why all this hell started.
 
wow, thanks for the learning experience. I imagine you'll need to remove all the plastic, scourer that area down, and reline with new plastic. Will W&G remover be sufficient to wipe the car down or will he need to use something else to remove that mold release agent?
 
wow, thanks for the learning experience. I imagine you'll need to remove all the plastic, scourer that area down, and reline with new plastic. Will W&G remover be sufficient to wipe the car down or will he need to use something else to remove that mold release agent?

As a test - after molding this panel I wiped the rear decklid down with W&G, resanded, more W&G, and then primed with epoxy. I did not have any problems with the EP on this panel.
 

Attachments

  • 20200923_135252.jpg
    20200923_135252.jpg
    54.6 KB · Views: 185
  • 20200923_184138.jpg
    20200923_184138.jpg
    83.8 KB · Views: 147
  • 20200925_020907.jpg
    20200925_020907.jpg
    105.4 KB · Views: 139
  • 20201010_131910.jpg
    20201010_131910.jpg
    92.1 KB · Views: 139
  • 20201011_181723.jpg
    20201011_181723.jpg
    71.1 KB · Views: 155
Long overdue update to this. It turns out the mold was not all to blame...This is a cautionary tale about using harbor freight hoses.

I redid the entire spray area and everything looked great. I went to shoot some test cards and had the exact same contaminant. I had just purchased a brand new diablo hose at harbor freight....How could that possibly be a problem?? After asking around a bit more I tried a Flexzilla hose and the problem went away. My days of buying deep discount import tools are officially over :)
 

Attachments

  • 20211007_220812.jpg
    20211007_220812.jpg
    128.7 KB · Views: 92
  • 20211025_144711.jpg
    20211025_144711.jpg
    245.6 KB · Views: 93
I had a problem with a cheap air hose causing me fisheyeing about 7 years ago, but only with base. It was a cheap PVC hose I had bought at TSC. It got about as stiff as a teenager at prom too when it was remotely cold.

I changed all my lines to Flexilla and now I no longer go into rage fits AND my chit works.
 
Back
Top