Tiger stripes

AAE

AAE

Learner
Would someone please give an explanation on what causes and how to prevent stripping?

I did a job silver job yesterday with an LPH300 with a 1.3 tip. Fan was wide open and pressure was around 15psi. Material was about half. I ended up with some minor stripes. I have had some challenges with this gun and stripping. I probably can't really blame the gun.
 
basically inconsistant wetness and dryness of the paint being applied. the wet areas the metallics sink and lay different than the dryer areas. a poorly adjusted gun is a big cause of this. if its spraying heavy in the middle and lighter on the edges for instance. also spraying too close to the panel.
 
Does anyone have experience with the LPH300? I have seen where some say to spray the 400 at 25lbs. Is the 300 similar? I am thinking the answer is yes.
 
Does the LVB Purple cap from the LPH-400 fits the LPH-300?

I ask because if it does then you could try that out, I bought the Purple cap for my Iwata about a year ago and I was never really satisified with it, UNTIL I got my dumb ass to the Iwata webpage and downloaded their adjustment settings for it. What a difference it made!!!

I never would've have guessed that I had to use it with the fluid all the way out, fan all the way out and very little pressure, say around 8PSI and 4" from the panel.

The basecoat lays down rather wet but very even, and it makes a world of difference with some tricky metallics.
 
I use my LPH-400 with the orange cap at around 16-20 PSI, when I go over 20 PSI I have a hard time controlling the basecoat, specially when trying to blend metallics. Yet again I have very little experience behind the spray gun and even less experience with color matching etc.


Is there any big downside to spraying basecoat at lower pressures?

I will never forget the day I went into a bodyshop just to drop some SPI clear, then walked by the spray booth and saw this silver BMW being sprayed, the painter had just finished laying the basecoat and the thing looked like he had used a sprinkler instead of a spray gun!!!!

I could literally see big fat wet droplets of paint on that hood, I saw this car when finished and I could not find any single trace of blotchiness, tiger stripping, nothing..... except quite a bit of texture in the silver, as opposed to a finer finish of the metallics.

I dont mean to hijack your thread AAE, I just think is sort of related and I'm very curious to know what the experienced pros have to say.

Jorge.
 
Hijack away! I know I am setting myself up here for scorn and ridicule but I need to give full disclosure. I was doing the hood,roof,trunk and a quarter on an escort but my compressor is 4 gallon and generates all of 6cfm. Before you blast, remember I do mobile work. This was at my shop though.
 
i think air was your problem . get it covered and then dust it. i dont really like drop coats but it may be your only choice.
 
I tried a drop coat but probably didn't do it right. I'm not accustomed to doing these big jobs so it is a learning curve. I need someone to put in writing that I need a bigger compressor so i can show my wife.
 
AAE I'm not about to blast anyone, I recently started doing mobile work myself so I know what you're dealing with. If anything I pay special attention to your posts because I can
learn a thing or two from your experience in mobile stuff.

Some dealerships let me use their own air supply, just run a 100-125' of hose with high flow fittings and go to town, big difference as opposed to my electric compressor.

How do you like the LPH-300 compared to the 400?

I use the LPH400 and LPH80 but sometimes I wish I had a gun that's in between, the only one I've seen is the LPH300 but not sure if I want to pull the trigger on one or try a SATA minigun with a 1.4 tip.
 
I have the 300. I like it for clear but haven't gotten it dialed in for base. My fav. guns are minijet3 with a 1.0 tip. Barry says that that tip is the same as a 1.3 in a big boys gun. I have a horrible set up at my shop.
 
I had some tiger stripes with my LPH400 1.4 but only in one place on the car. It turned out I had somehow bumped the air control knob and dropped the pressure by 2-3 PSI. I bumped it back up to 20 PSI where I had it set before and it sprayed perfectly. So I agree the air supply/pressure is most likely your problem.
 
i know this won't help you mobile guys, but i always try to shoot my high metallic bases late in the day, then wait to clear until the next morning. the extra dry time helps considerably with the striping issues where the clearcoat reactivates the base & causes the flake to shift.
 
I had a problem in the past spraying a silver hood with my old Iwata LPH 98 and changing to a slower reducer cured my problems.
 
AAE;7232 said:
I tried a drop coat but probably didn't do it right. I'm not accustomed to doing these big jobs so it is a learning curve. I need someone to put in writing that I need a bigger compressor so i can show my wife.
Click to expand...

Any one serious about painting for a living MUST HAVE an air compressor large enough to handle the job. (There you go. :))
 
AAE;7258 said:
Standox mixed 2:1
Click to expand...
Not familiar with Standox personally, but have customers who use it. I have found that some basecoat lines have more glitches with metallics than others. Dupont Chromabase comes to mind. (Have used it, don't care for it or Nasson) I have found that good quality air and consistent pressure are must haves to spray metallics correctly. Using a slower base coat reducer will help too. But what may be more of a factor is how wet you are spraying the basecoat. On-site painters tend to spray a little dry because they focus more on spot repair and blending. This is not a knock but an observation. You may have to adjust how you spray (ie; lay the basecoat wet enough for it to flash a little longer) your base to give the metallics enough time to lay down before the solvents flash off.
 
the psi that gun is dependant on the aircap and its printed right on it. silver cap i believe is 16-19psi or right around there somewhere. its not 29. thats a sata psi rating.
 
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