Thinning U-POL Raptor

A

aggie jon

I have decided that I am going to coat the exterior of my old jeep with Raptor Liner. UPS dropped off my first box of liner this morning. Going to be shooting the bumpers, body armor, fender flares, and running boards with black in the out of the bottle setup with the schutz gun. Looking to achieve the traditional bedliner look. My bodyshop guy mentioned some people shooting it reduced through a hvlp gun to get a smoother finish. I'm thinking this is what I am going to do for the rest of the sheetmetal. It's a ranch jeep so it will get scratched up. It just makes sense.

Has anyone done this? What percentage did you reduce it to? What size tip did you use? Thinking I may just try it through a Harbor Freight gun so if it sets up on me or gets messed up I'm out $20 bucks. I know it won't be smooth, but looking for as smooth as I can get. Color will be tinted khaki. Jeep has a nice khaki that I like on newer models. I've looked on youtube and google, with lots of different opinions. Figure I would check somewhere that I trust the opinions I'll get.
 
I have several HF guns. One that has become a parts gun, but still has a useable tip. Thinking I'll bore that one out. May bore it up to 2.0mm and have it ready in case the 1.4mm won't flow. I'm prepared for some shrink. I am not expecting a perfectly flat finish, just don't want it to look rough like a bedliner. I suppose I'll know more about the product after I shoot the bumpers and body armor with the raptor.
 
Its just drilling and reaming and lapping the needle to the air cap. There also is a different point angle on the bigger guns. I cant find the 3.0 gun I bought, but I got an ed roth card with it. There are w-77's on ebay for 17.85 with 2.0 2.5 and 3.0 tips, but does not sound like you have time to wait for it.
 
Hi, Aggie. I've spray reduced Raptor Liner with a purple HF gun several times now and I've been very happy with the results. I used a drill press to drill out the spray tip to about 2.0mm (got the gun for only $10, so what the hell). If you do a search, you can find a UPOL document for mixing the Raptor liner by weight, not just volume (there are a few different versions of their instruction manual out there, here's one for the tintable stuff, which is what I used, tinting it with SPI Med Red base coat). You can thin it by as much as 10%. I did that and use SPI Urethane Reducer for it.
I also did a YouTube video on my initial spray, which I show the mixing process and all, which you can find here. I've done two or three more, but this was the first that goes into more detail.

Good luck. I was very happy with the outcome and I think you will be, too.
 
cmfisher4 said:
Hi, Aggie. I've spray reduced Raptor Liner with a purple HF gun several times now and I've been very happy with the results. I used a drill press to drill out the spray tip to about 2.0mm (got the gun for only $10, so what the hell). If you do a search, you can find a UPOL document for mixing the Raptor liner by weight, not just volume (there are a few different versions of their instruction manual out there, here's one for the tintable stuff, which is what I used, tinting it with SPI Med Red base coat). You can thin it by as much as 10%. I did that and use SPI Urethane Reducer for it.
I also did a YouTube video on my initial spray, which I show the mixing process and all, which you can find here. I've done two or three more, but this was the first that goes into more detail.

Good luck. I was very happy with the outcome and I think you will be, too.
Click to expand...

That looks awesome! I wonder if you reduce it to 10% if it would flow through a 1.4mm tip??

I like the final result. FYI, I just drilled out my cap. 2.0mm. Did it freehand because my drill press access is an hour round trip. We shall see how it holds up.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think drilling it out was a better option. The stuff is at least as thick as SPI's regular build primer, and I'm spraying that with a 2.2mm tip.
That being said, the Raptor Liner is very forgiving. While I did get some runs in spots, I paused or hiccuped and I knew it would happen when I did (unlike runs I've gotten with epoxy where it was more of a surprise). I just hosed that stuff on in some spots. Here's another picture of the texture that I ended up with, more close up with a 1" chip brush for scale.

I will say that the texture seems to have to set up. Kind of hard to explain, but the texture doesn't really come out until it's had time to dry, especially with the first coat. There was quite a bit of time between my first and second uses of the stuff and I thought I had messed something up until I gave it the hour to dry.

Good luck,
Chris
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4398.JPG
    IMG_4398.JPG
    148.7 KB · Views: 4,426
  • IMG_4397.JPG
    IMG_4397.JPG
    170.2 KB · Views: 4,120
Well I'm all set to shoot the components with the black Raptor, if the weather would ever cooperate. We had super cold temps (for Central Texas in March) last week, now its too humid and sporadically raining. The two days that were perfect for shooting it I couldn't do it because I was otherwise engaged in gainful employment. Oh well, I guess I'll get to it eventually. I did manage to drop one bottle of the material as I was taking it out of the box. Of course, it split the bottom. I duct taped it up so hopefully it will endure being mixed and shot. I guess since it is a siphon gun the bottle doesn't get pressurized so it shouldn't blow out of the bottom.
 
I agree with your thoughts on the bottle, as long as it doesn't leak since you'll thin it out when you mix it up. You need to shake it REALLY, REALLY good (I stirred for a while) and still had some clumps of unmixed stuff to break up.

Good luck when you get there and please post some results!
 
Well, the raptor is shot. I shot the black 7 days ago using the shutz gun and the bottle. very flat learning curve. Easy easy and very forgiving. I set my regulator and tried to keep my distance uniform. I shot the tintable raptor today, reduced 10% through a modified HVLP gun. once I got the gun set right on the fan and material, I ran with it. I am beyond pleased with the results. I'll post some pictures soon.

Several things that I learned....this stuff is very forgiving. it is hard to get it to sag or run. keep a consistent distance and do it all at one time, environmental conditions will create noticeable differences in outcome. it is not necessary to lap the needle. have a small paintbrush handy to touch up any holidays or areas that get missed or lift when you pull the paint. I set my air at 55psi for both the black (schutz gun) and the hvlp.

I grabbed an extra gallon can from the paint store when I got my tint. I dumped all 4 bottles of tintable raptor into the can. I measured 100mL of urethane reducer into a mixing cup and divided it between the bottles. I shook them up and dumped into the can. I was able to get almost all of the material out of the bottle. When I mixed it, I prepared about 21oz per batch. I filled hardener to the amount, then added the tinted and reduced mix to the total mix line. Mixed well, filled the cup half full, and shot away.

For reference, on a CJ7, it took 2 bottles of black, non-reduced through the schutz gun for front and rear bumper, step rails, rear body armor, windshield hinges, hood hinges, cowl cover, upper lip of the tub, and the "Jeep" on the tailgate. It took approximately 2.5 bottles of tinted and reduced bedliner for the remainder of the tub/hood/grille/front fenders/ windshield.

Overall, very pleased with the results. Looking forward to how it holds up.
 

Attachments

  • image2.jpeg
    image2.jpeg
    188.2 KB · Views: 4,267
  • image1.jpeg
    image1.jpeg
    223 KB · Views: 3,752
  • image3.jpeg
    image3.jpeg
    186.9 KB · Views: 4,044
If you want less texture you can use UPOL Gravitex. Same goop, less texture.
If youve already purchased the raptor, you can change up you air settings and gun angle to control the texture.
Heat the raptor containers in hot water before shooting, itll lay down smoother.
 
U-POL › up4850-TDS-ENPDF
raptor black - U-POL
If the link doesnt work, google "upol raptor user manual" look for up4850-TDS-EN

Instructions on reducing with urethane reducer, air settings for different textures with shutz gun or HVLP
 
I sprayed my whole truck with Raptor that I tinted grey, I drilled the tip of a HF gun to 3/32" and then used an old fluid needle to lap the tip. The HF gun has been used many times and is still my go to for smoother finishes on liners, I used urethane reducer 20% in the mix and the finish is like a heavy orange peel. I sprayed two coats of SPI Euro clear the next day and two years later it still looks really good.
 
So on the tintable bedliner why does Raptor want just the toner? They want the binder taken out of the basecoat. What would happen if I just used the regular basecoat? THANKS! cmfisher4 what did you use, was it the regular basecoat?
 
aggie jon said:
I have several HF guns. One that has become a parts gun, but still has a useable tip. Thinking I'll bore that one out. May bore it up to 2.0mm and have it ready in case the 1.4mm won't flow. I'm prepared for some shrink. I am not expecting a perfectly flat finish, just don't want it to look rough like a bedliner. I suppose I'll know more about the product after I shoot the bumpers and body armor with the raptor.
Click to expand...
Hey I have a crazy question I’m going to shoot raptor liner on my 78 bronco . I want to thin it 20% what’s the easiest way to make sure I’m consistent with it . So 20% of the weight of the raptor liner in the bottle ? I’m kinda confused . Any help would me much appreciated
 
My paint supplier has cups with percentage markings in the very last column, Check your supplier for this type cup. I also reduced raptor and sprayed my old f 150, I used the tintable version and added single stage to get the color I wanted and added reducer to the mix from a mixing cup.
 
Hi Bronco. Yes, I just measured out by weight. If you look at post #5 above, I have a link to a few things, one of them the instructions for the tintable stuff which provides mixing by weight, including thinning it. Unlike other paints, I guess they verified the weights instead of volumes. I haven't had any problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top