What gun adjustment do I need to make for this?

Lizer

Lizer

Mad Scientist
Earlier this summer (when it was very hot) I was laying down single stage very slick.

Now I’m getting more of a factory orange peel similar to what you see on late model cars now. It’s not near as slick as I used to spray it.

From an LPH400 with silver cap, I’ve been spraying 2.5-3 turns out at 35 PSI, holding it about 4 inches from the panel. With trigger to the first stop, I turn my fan in until I see the air pressure just start to bump up on my regulator. This summer I’d even sprayed as much as 4 turns out. I was moving fast but still putting it down very slick.

I’m still using the same slow hardener with my Wanda single stage that I was using this summer. So the only thing that has changed is the air temps. I was using retarder this summer as well and am not now. It was in the 80’s spraying earlier this summer and low to mid 70’s spraying now (because I’m spraying this truck in pieces as a solid red SS).

Based on these pics, what adjustments would you recommend I try?

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For some perspective, this is how I was spraying earlier this summer.
 

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Judging from your pics. it's not orange peel, it's texture from spraying too wet/heavy. At least the last pic has that look.
Suggestions. Cut your fluid back a bit. Not intimately familiar with the gun you use so I'll give you a generic suggestion of 1/4-1/2 a turn in. Or speed up your passes. Or a combination of both. And separately you probably could tighten up your overlap a bit as well. Not much but that in combo with cutting the fluid back and/or speeding up slightly will fix it. You are close so don't change anything too drastically.
 
Hotter weather you can spray wetter and it will slick out better. Cooler temps you have to adjust a bit and dial it back a touch.

If you can do a test panel with your adjusted settings that would be a good idea. I'm just looking at the pics sometimes it's hard to see what is actually going on from a pic. I am pretty confident in what I said above though.

If for some reason it looks worse on your test panel (don't think it will) then you would do the opposite. Open up the fluid a bit. Leave overlap the same. Leave your speed the same. It doesn't look dry to me though from the pics, it looks heavy.
 
The retarder might have been helping it lay out better depending on how much you were adding. Somewhere years ago there was a thread about guys using retarder to make clear lay down flat.

Don
 
Here is the thread

Flow coating. What's your method?

As a preface I have been flow coating all of my personal projects and the ocassional customer project for a while now. Maybe the way I do it is just how it is but just wondering if anyone else out there has any pointers, tricks, time savers on doing it. My method is to spray base then wait...
www.spiuserforum.com
 
Lizer said:
I’m also spraying at 70% overlap.
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Like I said above I would tighten it to 75%, which is effectively what you are spraying at now anyway. I'm not accurate enough to be able to tell 5% difference. But I don't really have to pay attention like I used to, muscle memory I guess. If you are already spraying at that high a pressure with the Iwata then IDK if increasing will help any. I based that solely on how the panel looked in your pics. Air pressure usually helps with what I was seeing in the pics. I would cut the fluid back some and if possible speed up your passes just a touch. Again like I said above you are not far off right now. Just need a little less coming out of the gun. Try to watch the clear/SS fill in as you are spraying. The trick to getting it slick is to let the clear/SS fill in and no more. If that isn't understanable, just look as you are spraying and you will start to see what I'm saying.
Maybe one of the other guys can tell you something different, but for me, the spray patterns don't really mean anything. Other than your gun is spraying a even fan.
 
texasking said:
IMO, viscosity drops in warmer weather. Cooling off causes texture to increase with same gun adjustments and material ratios.
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That does make sense. It had seemed counterintuitive to me though, figuring warmer temps flash off paint faster so it doesn’t have as long to flow out, and vice versa for colder.

The tricky part with this is it will spray out and look very dry on the panel, but you can’t spray it how you want it to look or it will run like crazy. Spray it looking dry and in most cases I come back for the next coat after 5-10 min and it’s flowed out beautifully. It doesn’t do that so much in the cold now. I sprayed a door and it did have what looked like a factory peel at 2.5 turns out.
 
Lizer said:
That does make sense. It had seemed counterintuitive to me though, figuring warmer temps flash off paint faster so it doesn’t have as long to flow out, and vice versa for colder.

The tricky part with this is it will spray out and look very dry on the panel, but you can’t spray it how you want it to look or it will run like crazy. Spray it looking dry and in most cases I come back for the next coat after 5-10 min and it’s flowed out beautifully. It doesn’t do that so much in the cold now. I sprayed a door and it did have what looked like a factory peel at 2.5 turns out.
Click to expand...
Use more reducer and/or retarder to help compensate and allow you to spray lighter. I would reduce it the full 10% if you are not already. Or a combination of reducer and retarder to make the 10%. Then cut your fluid back some, if you can raise air pressure and speed up slightly.
 
I already reduce 10%, would there be any hurt to adding an ounce of retarder per quart ?

I need to spray the entire box and hood yet at this point.
 
I know what you mean with the flowing clear. I’m not a big fan of clears that flow a lot. I like to know what I’m getting when I’m spraying. A good 20 years ago I sprayed a cheap 2:1 clear that would flow like crazy. Esp in the winter. I’d spray it looking like total chit knowing when I came back for another coat it would be like glass. Kinda annoying. Got used to it I guess. What if you put your product in warm water and get it to a higher temp?
 
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