REFLECTOR: Painting with Awlgrip

[Ron Brown]

Scott,

Maybe it's not Orange Peel, but it sure is lumpy!  My HF HVLP gun had 
several of the tiny holes stopped up.  I cleaned them with MEK and a small 
piece of wire.  That helped but the droplets were still pretty large - 
instead of the desired fine mist.  Yesterday, I used some Aircraft Remover 
to clean the spray head.  Worked great - even cleaned the paint that had 
been building around the "fan" air nozzles.  Now I have a nice mist again. 
I have found out that just cleaning the nozzles with MEK or acetone is not 
enough.  Awlgrip as well as the 545 primer will dry on the spray head during 
a paint session and just will not clean up with thinner.  The Aircraft 
Remover will clean the build up easily!!!

Here's a good web page re adjusting HVLP guns. 
http://www.autobodystore.com/ms6.htm

I am ordering some of the T0005 and will let you know if that improves the 
flow out.

Ronnie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Derrick" <scott at tnstaafl.net>
To: "Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list" <reflector at tvbf.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 11:37 PM
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Painting with Awlgrip


> Ron,
>
> Orange peel is not caused by a sputtering gun...
>
> Did you get some T0005 reducer to slow down the flash off time?
>
> Scott
>
> Ron Brown wrote:
>
>> Hi Bob,
>>
>> Great info about the recoating.  Sure enough, the underside of my canard 
>> came out with lots of orange peel due to the paint gun nozzle sputtering 
>> from not being clean.
>>
>> I went to the parts store and got a can of Airplane Remover - paint 
>> stripper and soaked the air head/nozzle for 10 minutes.  Then rinsed it 
>> off with water and dried with air.  Just like new again.
>>
>> I will scuff the canard and reshoot it.  Glad to hear that I don't have 
>> to take all the paint off - just scuff and shoot another coat.
>>
>> Did you get to shoot your fuselage?
>>
>> Tuesday is supposed to be a lower humidity day so I'll be shooting the 
>> bottom of the left wing - first big area so I'm looking forward to seeing 
>> if I am making any progress learning to shoot the Awlgrip.
>>
>> Ronnie
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Jackson" <bobj at computer.org>
>> To: "Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list" <reflector at tvbf.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 10:09 PM
>> Subject: RE: REFLECTOR: Painting with Awlgrip
>>
>>
>>> Scott -- can you get us a part # for that AWLgrip "Anti-orange peel"
>>> additive you mentioned?
>>>
>>> Ronnie -- we use 320 and 400 grit Mirka Gold pads on a 5" random orbital
>>> sander to take out the orange peel bumps and runs.  We also tried 
>>> shaving
>>> off the runs once and then painting over just the shaved runs with a 
>>> small
>>> detail paint brush, but it's hard to do without also scratching the
>>> surrounding area and you can still see where the run has been painted 
>>> over.
>>>
>>> We use 3M Softback Sanding Sponges (about 4x5 inches) for dulling the
>>> AWLgrip in areas not sanded as above before the  final coats.  The 
>>> 'Fine'
>>> grade foam is equivalent to 320-400 grit, and the 'Superfine' is 
>>> equivalent
>>> to 500-600 grit paper.  Once we start painting with the AWLgrip, we 
>>> rarely
>>> use anything coarser than 320.
>>>
>>> Whenever the spray gun starts sputtering you know you're in trouble and 
>>> that
>>> you're going to be doing to repair sanding later!  It teaches you the
>>> importance of really getting your gun clean after each paint session. 
>>> We've
>>> been using Klean Strip brand "Naked Gun" Spray Gun Cleaner (GSG-14) 
>>> which
>>> comes in a square red can and really does a great job of cleaning spray
>>> guns.  You still have to do some scrubbing with a brush, but this stuff 
>>> will
>>> even loosen old paint dried in the gun after a while!  It can be washed 
>>> out
>>> with water, but I prefer to just whip it out and then before you store 
>>> your
>>> gun away, run a little reducer (or T008 cleaner) through it to get out 
>>> any
>>> remaining water.
>>>
>>> Bob
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> To change your email address, visit 
>> http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector
>>
>> Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
>> user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
>> Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
>> Check old archives: http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html
>>
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> To change your email address, visit 
> http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector
>
> Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
> user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
> Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
> Check old archives: http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html
>