polyester primer

shine

Member
i have spent an exhausting week trying to help a guy shoot slicksand . no matter what i told him he has done everything wrong .

first off imho you cant stir poly with a stick . wasted effort . way too many solids .
you cant just refill the cup . pot life will catch you .
you really need to reduce it 5-10 % . will save you a lot of headaches .
even after stirring you need to strain it . you'll never get there with regular paper cone strainers .

find a mixing blade at home depot or a hardware store for your drill . i have a batter blade from an old mixer with a rod extending it a few inches .

find a painters pail at least 2qrt .

mix no more than 1 qrt .

add your reducer and mix for at least 3 min ( not 20 seconds ) to break up the solids .

strain into another pail using a Binks red cup strainer .

when ready to shoot add your mek and stir well . your racing pot life now so don't strain again . any extra poly needs to be added in the beginning not at the end . by the time you spray a cup pot life is biting you in the butt . your nozzle if full of settled solids and kicking .

rinse your gun well between cups or you will get dry spray or horrible peel .

use at least a 2.0 preferably a 2.3 .

i explained all the above to the young man . he ignored it , dumped it in a cup stirred it up with a stick then created a disaster . i stopped taking his calls .
polyester is a pia , you just cant screw around with short life materials . high solid poly is like shooting clear. clear is big drops or little drops . poly is big chunks or little chunks . the choice is yours .

i learned this in the early 70's from a man from Europe sent over here to oversee the repairs of an aluminum body Ferrari race car . i knew jack shit about them . it had a white poly on it that had to be shot with a pressure pot . first thing i did was let it kick in the pot . this taught me about precise mixing amounts and pot life . also having to listen to a fat ass German rant and bitch for an hr .

this advice is just food for thought and worth just what you paid for it .
 
Thanks Shine. What you described is exactly what I learned - the hard way.

First time I sprayed polyester primer I mixed too much and after spraying one coat on the car the gun was sputtering and the remainder of the material in my mixing cup was setting up. Also, as I was spraying (1.8 tip) I couldn't get it to spray right or lay down with out reducing it with Acetone (recommended for the brand I was using).

So for the next project I had a game plan together that included a bigger tip, adding 10% reducer and mixing only what I could spray in 10-15 minutes.

Spraying this stuff definitely takes planning.
 
unmixed reduced 5-10 % will not laydown like mixed reduced 5-10 % . it's all about the chunks . after a round of poly what do you find in the nozzle when you clean up your gun ?
like barry says be quick , never add the activator until after mixing . poly is just like fiberglass resin . once it starts to kick it happens quick .
 
So hard to successfully help some people. o_O
I've managed to use some older leftover g-2 that I was so unsure about that I did a small mix sample first. Drill mixers definitely are your best friend with this stuff, as well as knowing your mekp is still good enough before mixing a real batch.
 
I've been using superbuild 4:1 for the last few years and the one thing I'd say slicksand has over it is no shrinkage. i dont care what anyone says, suberbuild4:1 shrinks. i have left the cups on my bench to prove it.

I do want to try clausens on this next job Im starting.
 
clausens is awesome but just a little pricey . i've used both and feel the extra cost is not worth it . i use epoxy only on vettes but slicksand on metal . actually not likely i will use either again as my painting days are over .
 
I dont get how any of them claim u can sand with 320 or 400. Thats like shaving with a spoon
Yea, no way you could sand slick sand with 320, and if you did it would look like crap. In my experience you need at least three good coats to have enough to sand below the texture. I cut it with 150, check it with powder guide coat and keep sanding :D
 
Shine, I have 3.0 can I get away of not having to reduce it? or do you still recommend reducing it? Also I"ve been on the fence on going with Clausens or slick sand, but I guess your sayin its not worth the extra cost, so I'll guess I'll lean towards slick sand
 
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