What Causes This? HVLP Paint Spraying

[Arcadenut]

Well it went better this time but I think I can still see some fisheyes. I took it down to get rid of the fisheyes, hit it with a tack cloth and then wiped it down with Naptha. It went on better this time but I think I can still see some, I will shoot a picture tomorrow morning once the paint has had some time to dry. It looks much better though.

I ran out of the Semi-gloss paint so I used a Rustoleum Satin oil-base paint this go around.



Great point. The can did say Acetone so that's what I thinned the new paint with.

How thick are you putting it on? Maybe putting a thinner coat and doing more coats might help.

 

[metahugh]

How thick are you putting it on? Maybe putting a thinner coat and doing more coats might help.

I thought I was laying it down relatively thin but that might be part of the issue. I'm going to spend more time spraying paint and adjusting the gun.

Sprayed again last night. Not right still but I think I know what I have to do. First I have to sand this back down to wood, I had two primer coats and then one oil coat under the one I just laid down and you can see the layers in areas so I need to start over.

Next I am painting in a relatively small space with the cabinet laying on its back. I need to drag the cabinet outside so I can blow the cabinet free of dust prior to painting, the HVLP gun will stir up any latent dust in the area and it gets in my paint.

Here is what it looks like now:

It's got to be "right" and this doesn't cut it

 

[Arcadenut]

It's got to be "right" and this doesn't cut it

What this looks like is that you have imperfections in the wood that need to be filled. If you run you hand over it, does it feel like they are indentations or does it feel 100% smooth?

 

[jimkirk]

I would take it back down and fix any little holes and nicks then prime it again and check again for imperfections and fix them.
I sand the cab for paint then look it over one last time for imperfections.
I fix them and spot prime them,resand then blow it off and wipe it down with wax & grease remover then blow it off again and go over it with a tack cloth then paint.

 

[metahugh]

I would take it back down and fix any little holes and nicks then prime it again and check again for imperfections and fix them.
I sand the cab for paint then look it over one last time for imperfections.
I fix them and spot prime them,resand then blow it off and wipe it down with wax & grease remover then blow it off again and go over it with a tack cloth then paint.

Just what I was thinking, here is where I am at as of last night:

Everything was super smooth when I sprayed the last coat but part of my problem could be due to a lack of being completely dry. These past few days have been around 90% humidity and I think this is contributing to my issues. Cabinet is ready to be sprayed again but I feel like I need to wait. It's tempting to drop down to spraypaint with a spray matte clear on top instead of spraying the oil paint but I am trying to stay the course

 

[joeycuda]

Are you not using a primer? Now, I doubt the original factory jobs had primer, but were probably lacquer on wood, but... If you lay down a primer coat, at least you'll know if there are any pinhole spots that repel paint and fisheye. Often it starts at the wood. If you get the primer on, no fisheyes, then wipe it with Naptha a couple of times before spraying the topcoat, there's almost no way you'll have any fisheye type adhesion problems.

 

[metahugh]

Are you not using a primer? Now, I doubt the original factory jobs had primer, but were probably lacquer on wood, but... If you lay down a primer coat, at least you'll know if there are any pinhole spots that repel paint and fisheye. Often it starts at the wood. If you get the primer on, no fisheyes, then wipe it with Naptha a couple of times before spraying the topcoat, there's almost no way you'll have any fisheye type adhesion problems.

I sprayed two coats of primer although it wasn't formulated for wood I haven't had issues with it in the past when I used to roll Oil paint on cabs.

The primer coat came out perfectly smooth.

 

[HunterZero]

You might have been spraying layers that are too thick, as well as having dirt or contaminant on the surface you are spraying, or dust landing on the paint after spraying. Lay down the first few coats as thin mist coats, then subsequent thicker coats will stick better.

- James

 

[metahugh]

You might have been spraying layers that are too thick, as well as having dirt or contaminant on the surface you are spraying, or dust landing on the paint after spraying. Lay down the first few coats as thin mist coats, then subsequent thicker coats will stick better.

- James

Thanks for the tip James! I just switched paint to some Sherwin Williams oil based enamel which has a 8 hour drying time versus 24 hours for the Rustoleum. I'll be spraying again this weekend, I played with my HVLP gun some more and I noticed that I had the paint volume set too high, almost all the way open. That's probably part of my issue. I need to get his down pat, I have two other games I have to do complete repaints on. Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[metahugh]

Long time no update!

I finally have some progress. I started spraying again and now I have acceptable results. Note, the marks in the finish in the picture below is not the paint, its in the wood. I didn't go back and re-glaze this part of the wood after sanding it back down the last time.

I believe the overall issue was I was laying down way too much paint. Couple that with the fact I was using Naptha as a thinner and it was flashing way too quickly. Also I was spraying at 40psi at the tip. This time I played with the paint flow and lowered the PSI at the tip to 30psi and now I got a good result. This is not thinned at all, the Sherwin Williams paint says to thin no more than 5% so I didn't thin it. The surface is smooth and I am happy with the result.

 

[joeycuda]

That looks great, good job!