Orange peel - SW Jet Glo paint

I've tried several iterations with my equipment and still get pretty bad orange peel.

Spraying Sherwin-Williams Jet Glo polyurethane and their epoxy primer. I'm using HVLP equipment with an Apollo gun and 1.3 mm tip. I have tried varying the settings on the gun, heavier and lighter application, one and two coats with 30 minute flash off per the application sheet. I'm usually spraying at 65 deg farenheit with the appropriate thinners and reducers per direction. Tried the normal amount of thinner / reducer, and increased that to the max recommended for "three coat shoots".

Thanks!

Just me

I know I just jinxed my self, and I am no paint expert, but I found that the primer must go down good and flat, and must be allowed to flash off and dry before the paint coat. (Follow dry time before before color instructions) For paint, I usually lay down a mist layer as the first coat, then go back with a med coat, and finally the flow coat. Besides the usual cleaning stuff to make sure is good, i found the SW likes to be put on thin. JMHO

eliminating orange peel with HVLP can be a challenge. Typically the quantity of paint applied changes the characteristics. I would set the air to what the gun manufacturer recommends then trying a variety of different fluid flow settings. Don't forget that fluid flow works in conjunction with travel speed, so be sure to make that is constant across your tests. I also find that gun distance makes a meaningfull difference in orange peel, so also experiment with different distances.

I use a compliant gun and it gives me almost no orange peel with clears and single stages.

Larry

Thanks. I'll try your tips. I did notice that the primer will show a very slight peel texture. I'll try drying it completely and scuff sand.

The Citation unit doesn't adjust for pressure - I can only adjust the fluid flow and the thinner mix.

I've been looking at our cars - seems that even with the best tech of the auto industry, you still get some subtle orange peel.

SgtZim said:

I've been looking at our cars - seems that even with the best tech of the auto industry, you still get some subtle orange peel.

Click to expand...

Correct. even highly refined robots cannot lay down polyurethane clear or SS without orange peel when using HVLP. However, it can be reduced to a level that is not obvious from a few feet away.

This is why I love the compliant gun. It is not hvlp, but still uses some technology to keep the efficiency in the neighborhood of HVLP. It uses 40+ PSI when spraying clear, so creates a pretty big overspray cloud. They call them compliant guns because they fall within the efficiency/overspray regulations. You can lay down clear with very little visible OP. Very little color sanding to get totally flat and I have to sand and buff everything, as I don't have a paint booth.

The orange peel is not coming from the primer coat or too short of a flash off period. It is coming from an application issue (i.e. improper gun adjustment). Yes, OP on the base coat WILL telegraph through, but won't be amplyfied much. I am guessing that is not your problem.

Larry

A pic would be helpful.

It's impossible to get rid of orange peel straight out of the gun. You can get close but there will always be some texture.

The biggest variable is you. Make sure you have the fan and flow set up correctly. Keep the gun at a fixed distance and square to the workpiece and move consistently and be sure to properly overlap passes.