Paint Quantity & Timing

[Stretch]

So I'm finally to the point of actually using my HVLP. I got some used tanks from the junkyard to test on, stripped them down to nothing, filled in the dings with filler and then some spot putty and just finished putting on a coat of etch primer last night. So now I can finally use my GTI.

The question is, about how much paint will it take to cover a tank. I'll make more than is needed, but don't want to waste too much either.

I guess I'll ask this too. What exactly is 'flashing?' I here people say they spray a base coat, let it 'flash' and then spray another. Does that just mean it dries a bit before the second coat goes on?

TIA-Stretch

 

[Motornoggin]

You'll like your GTI. I like mine. Took me a bit of time to get used to it and how it sprays, but the last couple of jobs have turned out fine. The amount of paint depends on how many coats you are going to apply. The tank I just sparayed was a Yamaha RoadStar with the Barrons extensions (pretty big tank). I used RM base which mixes at a 4-1-1 ratio (4 ounces of color gets you 6 ounces sparayable). I used about 16 ounces sprayable to get four good coats (2 more coats than I needed, but had to cover a couple mistakes). This was black base over black epoxy primer. Bright colors (reds, yellow etc...)seem to always take more coats to get good even coverage, especially over non-tinted primers. Take it easy, keep your cool and it should turn out fine. Take it from me, I've ruined a few paint jobs by getting impatient.

I'm not sure of the official technicalities of it, but flash means the initial portion of solvent has evaporated. You can tell in base coats as it will loose it's gloss and look more like an egg shell. Clear is harder to tell when it has flashed, but with some time and practice you can tell (too me, it still looks glossy, but not so "liquid")

Good luck and have fun!

 

[flowb417]

as far as flash time goes, most likely you'll have somthing taped off (gas filler hole). When you base just wait till the tape is dry to the touch(kinda like it's a test panel). And for the clear , wait till it's not leaving any sticky strings when you touch it(the taped off area). Thats usually the way i time things. Hope this helps.