Naive question about epoxy sealer

bill3337

bill3337

Member
I'm an amateur painter, so this may seem like a stupid question, but I'm using SPI black epoxy as the final surfacer before spraying with HOK Kandy basecoat. I'm using their Kandy Brandywine base, which they recommend over a black basecoat. I've done a sample and quite like the colour, but my question is this. I'm assuming I could use the black epoxy thinned as a sealer unsanded, but what if I use the black epoxy as a surfacer and sand it to 800 wet, ready for base. Will this give the same result without adding an unsanded sealer coat before the base? Thanks, Bill
 

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bill3337 said:
Will this give the same result without adding an unsanded sealer coat before the base?
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It's always advisable to seal. Adhesion is best with a sealer coat. It also ensures a uniform color on prior to shooting your base. If you are worried about spraying the reduced epoxy nice and slick, you don't need to. Reduce it 1:1:1 meaning 1 part epoxy, 1 part activator and 1 part reducer. It will spray very nice and lay down very nice with that reduction. Spray it like base, just a touch wetter. If you do get any trash nibs, use some 800 or 1000 and then base. No need for more sealer.
 
As Chris has said - it’s advisable to spray a seal coat first - but if I understand you correctly- you are spraying black epoxy and sanding it, you are wondering about turning around and spraying back epoxy again as a seal coat ? Some will disagree with me but I spray my epoxy almost full strength after all body work is complete and sand with 600 then spray my base coat AS LONG AS I’M spraying base coat within a couple days - never had a problem . I do spray a reduced epoxy sealer right before base if I’m going to be taping for stripes though
 
with a candy, if you have bodyfiller on your project somewhere then sealer is a must. it IS NOT optional. you also need a solid coat of it and it has to be cured enough to make a decent solvent barrier. candies bleed and the dye will move with the solvent so if you have bodyfiller and you applied 2k over it, now you sand that 2k and you get it thin enough then you spray your candy, the bodyfiller will suck the color right out of your candy leaving a big light colored blotch right where the filler is. epoxy is great for a sealer but you cant do wet on wet. you need to spray a full solid coat and it needs to sit 24 hours before candy. i always avoided epoxy sealer in this situation and used the 2k sealer because it locks up quick and you can apply the candy over it in an hour or two.
 
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