How thick?

[Stretch]

I've been noticing in some of the motorcycle/hotrod shows that have been airing recently that the painters seem to be putting the paint on much thinner than I do. I usually try to get the paint thick enough that I don't have to go over an area more than once. In these shows it appears as if they're putting the paint on much thinner which I assume would mean going over one area numerous times to get any coverage. Can anyone with more experience talk about this a little bit?

Thanks-Stretch

 

[gunzblazin]

Well I guess that all depends on what you are spraying. I would not recommend painting anything in the "cover heavy with every coat" method. I think there is too much chance for runs and sags. You get better control over your paint when you spray even coverage wet, not thick, coats. If you are spraying candy colors they get progressively darker with each coat and so you can control color and tone by spraying multiple "thin" coats. Suffice it to say, let the paint do the work. Just concentrate on getting wet coats and not thick. That should make your painting much easier to control and the color will cover just fine. Anyone else please chime in and give their opinion.

 

[Stretch]

So if I'm spraying on coats really lightly (good atomization) should I just keep going over an area till it looks wet. Seems like when i spray lighter coats that they're dry and dull almost immediately, is that too thin? Should the paint look wet on the surface even when spraying one pass of a thin coat?

Thanks-Stretch

 

[rex]

Yes,it's much better to use thin coats.It will actually dry slower your way and can cause trapped solvents because the top wants to flash off before the lower solvents can escape if you're using the proper reducer,and a common mistake alot do is use a reducer a little too fast and that can aggrevate the problem even more.Something that's very important is your gun's attomization and once again alot of people are off on this.Your first coat should go on wet but be transparent,your second might cover depending on the color but normally the third is needed to finish it off.Some of those transparent colors can need up to 5 and 6 coats.To visualize what's happening,think of covering the floor with bowling balls-one layer leaves lots of gaps and if you 'pour' it on to cover it's very thick.Now attomize it more and we're down to grapefruit.Now,not only are the gaps smaller but the coat is thinner too so subsequent coats will fill in easier.Once you're done with coverage the grapefruit job is still thinner overall than the bowlingball job.Besides the drying characteristics the overall thickness is reduced to give you a longer lasting job,especially when we get into this custom stuff of multiple layers.Hope this helped.

 

[Stretch]

Great explanation Rex, I really appreciate it. On to the next job!

Thanks-Stretch