clear coat

[motorhead100]

I'm doing a paint job, and i'm at the clear coat stage. To hide the paint lines, I've been doing three coats and then sanding, and then three more. Well, my problem is I've wet sanded the second three coats, and I've got what looks like little white specks in areas. Do you have any idea what these are, and should i worry about them. any help would be appreciated.
Jon

 

[TAZ]

Some ideas of what it could be.
Could the white specs be from a previous paint job that you have done? If you haven't used the gun for a while, and it did not get cleaned out good, possibly the white specs are coming out of the gun. Although it does sound as though you did not have this problem on the first three coats, so possibly hardened clear?!

A couple of other ideas.
What type of air filter do you have? Possibly it is coming through the lines and gun and ending up in your clear.

Are you spraying over plastic parts?
Sometimes plastic parts build up static electricity, so it attracts lint and dust when you are spraying.

If you don't have many white specs, you might be able to brush touch these with your basecoat color, then re-clear the panel. This works as long as the color is a solid (non-metallic) color.

Don't forget! As far as getting rid of the flame edges, you will need to clear, then take a soft rubber block,use about 1500-2000 and block the lines out. It is virtually impossible to just wetsand (without a block) the lines, then re-clear the panel and expect the flame edge to go away. This would take alot of clear. Use a rubber squeegee to see when you have blocked enough. You may be doing this already though.

[ 10-10-2001: Message edited by: Scott F ]

 

[motorhead100]

scott, I've sanded somemore, and I believe they are going away. What they actually look like are tiny bubbles in the clear. I've set up my gun like you said to in another post, hopefully, thats it. It is a new gun to me. Binks #7. do you think I should try to sand these until they are gone, or should I clear over them. I realize the obvious answer would be to sand them out, but I'm kinda worried about breaking through the clear into the basecoat. I'm guessing they are'nt real noticable when it's got a gloss, because I didn't see them before.
by the way Scott, this site is great. It's been incredibly helpful.
jon

 

[TAZ]

Whew! This is a tuff one without actually seeing whats going on. I don't know if the bubbles are moisture from the lines, or solvent pop (this happens when the thickness of the clear has been applied too thick, too fast).
I guess the best bet is that if the bubbles (which appear to be broken open now, so they are actually pits now) are very small, I would suggest reclearing the panel by applying a couple more coats. Be sure you sand these as small as possibly without actually going through the clear to the basecoat.
If they are small enough the new clear should fill these, at least to the point that you will be able to wetsand and buff the new clear nice and flat.
Hope this gets you through.
If you still have problems and you are doing motorcycle parts, you can always run the parts down to me and I'll see what I can do for you. I work at a Ford dealership in Clearwater on US 19. Probably an hour away from you. Just a thought.

Glad you enjoy the site

 

[motorhead100]

Scott, I was able to sand them out. Took time but I figured it was worth trying. Hopefully, I will get the gun right with the right technique this time. Thanks a bunch man. I think it was the "solvent pop" thing you were talking about.

 

[TAZ]

Glad to hear you got them out!