Need a little clarification on my process.

Y

y5mgisi

I stripped my truck down to metal. Applied my two wet coats of epoxy and am now working on blocking my filler. Upon completion of the filler blocking is where I start to get a little confused. Obviously I have tons of break through. I'm thinking,

1. Two more wet coats.
2. Block with 180.
3. Two more wet coats. Block with?
4. Top coat
5. Clear coat.

I'm going to skip the 2k and just do my blocking with the epoxy. I'm just not sure how to proceed from the point I'm at now. Any advice? Thank you!
 
Also, let it be assumed that it will be several days between my last coat of epoxy and my top coat.
 
1. Two more wet coats.
2. Block with 180.
3. Two more wet coats. Block with 220 and 320.
4. Two more wet coats. Block with 600.
5. Seal with reduced epoxy.
6. Top coat
7. Clear coat.

This is usually how it goes when using epoxy because it builds a little less than urethane. That's why production shops put steps 3,4,5 all into one by instead putting on 3 coats of urethane, blocking with 320 and 600, and skipping sealer. Three coats of urethane is like at least 4 coats of epoxy.
 
Thank you! What, if any of those rounds of blocking should be done by wet sanding?
 
It's your preference. Wet sanding keeps the air clean, and the paper won't load up as much, but you have to carefully rinse all sludge before it dries. Dry sanding makes it easier to see how you are doing without needing to dry the panel, and it won't leave sludge in crannies. Your pick.
 
I prefer wet myself. Like Crash pointed out the paper won't load up. Sometimes when dry sanding you can get little dots of primer loading and it can leave a line (dent) in fresh primer that if not tended to and forgot about will look like a scratch under the base coat. Plus for me I feel it sands easier but it is your choice. Either way will work.
 
Ok great. My project is kind of garage bound so wet sanding would be an inconvenience. And I'm just building a driver/work/play truck anyway. I want it to look nice but don't feel the need to go the extra mile for perfection on something that WILL get scratched and sit in the rain and so on. I'm thinking I'm going to go through 4 mixed gallons of epoxy by the time I'm all done.
 
On last question, after I seal with reduced epoxy, what should I sand with before top coat. I'm doubtful of my ability to do the seal coat and top coat in the same day. Unless it's basically needed, in which case I can make it happen but would be nice to not be rushed and not feel the pressure for my very first ever paint job.

Thanks again everyone!
 
Here is a little of my filler blocking progress. My goal for today is to block the rest of what I have on there and then go back around with more filler to hit the spots that are still low.







 
My suggestion to you is to include some polyester primer in your repair process, at least over the bodywork areas. It is not an expensive material. If you decide to do this, we can come up with a slightly modified process.
 
Like glazing putty? I looked into products like slick sand but didn't want to buy another gun to stay it with. My biggest tip is a 1.8.
 
polyester putty and polyester primer are related, but they are not the same thing. Poly primer will spray OK through a 1.8 if you put a splash of acetone in it and spray nice and slow, keeping and air pressure on the low side.

The reason I suggest it is that you seem to be a beginner, and the poly primer will help you a lot with smoothing out the bodywork. All-epoxy is a low build, time consuming process that works best when the bodywork is not too extensive, or very very straight to begin with. If you are expert at bodywork, you may disregard this post.
 
FAR from an expert! I thought acetone and epoxy was a no no? When I began my research for this project I had read a lot about the polyester primers and initially planned on using one of them. I think I planned to use slick sand. But then I sort of came to the conclusion that for my particular project, which is really just a dd and a first time paint job that the polyester primers would be a little bit of an over kill. I am somewhat trying to watch the budget too. Almost most important is my time constraints. I'm doing this in my garage and just don't have much more time before the weather turns cold. I need this truck done and out of the garage over the winter for some winter time house projects I have going on.

So it's not to say I'm opposed to it, but I'm not sure if I should.
 
I have never tried Slick Sand through a 1.8 but I have shot unreduced Feather Fill G2 through it. Feather Fill is not quite as thick as Slick Sand and it seems to do better (feather out) on spot repairs. I always shoot the whole panel when using Slick Sand.

Definitely agree with crashtech on this as you have many small repairs over a large area which can really give a 'wavy' look if not properly blocked. The poly primer will give you a smooth layer of filler material to block down versus the usually uneven application of body filler. Use the longest block you have on the lower sections of the fenders/doors/bedsides but the upper areas appear to be too rounded to be able to use a flat block on all of it. PVC pipe, round Durablock, whatever you have as long as it is smooth and STRAIGHT for the upper areas.
 
Acetone works fine for thinning polyester primer-been doing it for years, but if you are worried you can also use fast urethane reducer instead of acetone.
 
y5mgisi;n76408 said:
Ok great. My project is kind of garage bound so wet sanding would be an inconvenience. And I'm just building a driver/work/play truck anyway. I want it to look nice but don't feel the need to go the extra mile for perfection on something that WILL get scratched and sit in the rain and so on. I'm thinking I'm going to go through 4 mixed gallons of epoxy by the time I'm all done.
Click to expand...

all of my wetsanding gets done in the garage, you don't have to use so much water that it becomes and inconvenience
 
Thanks for the guidance guys!

It's a two tone. White stripe down the center of the side and the rest is a fairly dark red. Nearly burgundy. And I'm going to use Wanda paint.
 
I sure am having trouble deciding what to do now. Maybe the two coats of epoxy followed by feather fill over the body worked panels and then block and epoxy over that?

To he honest I'm not super paranoid about waves as long as there is no visible sand scratches and shrink spots. To me that's the ugliest thing about cheap paint jobs is when you can tell exactly where the bondo is underneath.
 
I don't think this is something that can be decided for you, none of us can feel the bodywork and pics do not make a good inspection. But if you are a novice at bodywork, a heavier build primer is going to make for a much, much better result.
 
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