First, let me state that I have learned so many things the hard way, and I suspect this is going to be another expensive lesson
I mixed some epoxy to spray a final blocking coat on my trunk lid, and ended up with fisheyes. These are not craters from laying the epoxy too heavy, rather they are small pits or divots in the film, I have sprayed at least 3 gallons of SPI epoxy in the past and have never had this happen, so I was sure it is contamination from something. It also isn't a product defect as the epoxy I am using is a gallon can that I've already used 1/2 of a few months ago with no issues. The trunk lid had been wiped down twice with 700 W&G remover and left to dry for 60 minutes, also leading me to believe it wasn't contamination on the panel.
So after seeing the fisheyes I stopped spraying and went back to the workbench and looked at my mixing cup, and noticed some clear bubbles on the surface of the primer that I had not seen when first mixing the epoxy...so I looked in the cup of the paint gun and saw the same....then went back and opened the primer can and saw bubbles on the surface in there too...not good.
Does this look like silicone contamination? If not, has anyone ever seen this before and have a guess what it could be?
Last week I washed my motorcycle and brought it into the garage to wax it, and then put some Mother's vinyl protectant on the seat and plastic parts. Never even gave it a second thought, or considered that there might be silicone in either product. I also realized that the wooden paint stick I used for mixing the epoxy had been sitting on my work bench, 15' from where I was working on my bike. My only theory so far is that something got on the paint stick, and I now have mixed it into the primer and contaminated the can.
If this is what happened, I am now concerned about what I need to do to move forward. I'll have to get another gallon of epoxy, use new mixing sticks, etc, but how do I ensure my gun is cleaned out? I completely break it down after each use and use laquer thinner to wash and rinse it out, will that be enough to ensure it is OK or do I need to wash it with something else?
As always, advice is welcomed. Don't tell me I am an idiot, I already know that...
I mixed some epoxy to spray a final blocking coat on my trunk lid, and ended up with fisheyes. These are not craters from laying the epoxy too heavy, rather they are small pits or divots in the film, I have sprayed at least 3 gallons of SPI epoxy in the past and have never had this happen, so I was sure it is contamination from something. It also isn't a product defect as the epoxy I am using is a gallon can that I've already used 1/2 of a few months ago with no issues. The trunk lid had been wiped down twice with 700 W&G remover and left to dry for 60 minutes, also leading me to believe it wasn't contamination on the panel.
So after seeing the fisheyes I stopped spraying and went back to the workbench and looked at my mixing cup, and noticed some clear bubbles on the surface of the primer that I had not seen when first mixing the epoxy...so I looked in the cup of the paint gun and saw the same....then went back and opened the primer can and saw bubbles on the surface in there too...not good.
Does this look like silicone contamination? If not, has anyone ever seen this before and have a guess what it could be?
Last week I washed my motorcycle and brought it into the garage to wax it, and then put some Mother's vinyl protectant on the seat and plastic parts. Never even gave it a second thought, or considered that there might be silicone in either product. I also realized that the wooden paint stick I used for mixing the epoxy had been sitting on my work bench, 15' from where I was working on my bike. My only theory so far is that something got on the paint stick, and I now have mixed it into the primer and contaminated the can.
If this is what happened, I am now concerned about what I need to do to move forward. I'll have to get another gallon of epoxy, use new mixing sticks, etc, but how do I ensure my gun is cleaned out? I completely break it down after each use and use laquer thinner to wash and rinse it out, will that be enough to ensure it is OK or do I need to wash it with something else?
As always, advice is welcomed. Don't tell me I am an idiot, I already know that...