Spraying lacquer and having a time!!

[Nicholas Bukky]

I am not new to spraying lacquers.... I have a spray booth, airless spray equipment and also just got an air assisted airless to spray with. I have sprayed MANY gallons of ML Campbell Magnamax in my shop but......
It is cold here right now, low 30's(SE Ohio) and I am having a ROUGH time getting my finish to come out well on this current project. I have the heat cranked up in the shop to about 75deg and an extra heater running in the spray room to keep the temps up. The paint can WAS sitting on the concrete floor but I have it elevated now hoping to raise the temp of the paint as well.

I am getting pin holes in the finish and if I apply enough paint to fill the pin holes I'm getting sagg/curtaining in my finish(on vertical surfaces). I'm going nuts trying to get this good!! And getting sick of sanding the runs back out!!

Any ideas or advice?
Thanks,
Nick

[Steve Jenkins]

have you tried adding about 3% retarder? The pin holes may be solvent pop from the finish skinning over too quickly.

[Daniel Berlin]

have you tried adding about 3% retarder? The pin holes may be solvent pop from the finish skinning over too quickly.

+1.
If that doesn't work, can you take a picture of exactly what you are experiencing.

[Nicholas Bukky]

I have added retarder. My air line that is supplying the air assisted airless is laying on the floor of the shop and I am wondering if the air is getting to chilled before it reaches the gun. I'm going to switch over to my reagular electric airless and see if that helps! Got to get these done today of course....

I will take a pic if I can't get it but it is white and might not be visable in a pic.

Thanks,
Nick

[Nicholas Bukky]

Well all I could figure is the air assist on my new sprayer has too much moisture in the line and was foiling my finish! I switched back to my titan airless and sanded and resprayed all of it today and it turned out well. I am going to have to get a better inline air drier setup.

Any DIY suggestions for drying compressed air??

Thanks,
Nick

[Jamie Schmitz]

Just a quick thought but this may be a situation where a turbine might be better, it might help in a cold climate by heating up the air before it gets to the material. Of course HVLP's have there quams as well,slower, orange peel,bulkier gun. Maybe you could find one to rent and check it first if you are going to try it out.

Side note:Try a razor blade for sags.

[Nicholas Bukky]

Jamie thanks for your input.
I JUST bought a Graco Merker air assited airless and am trying to get it dialed in. I have spayed probably 50 gallons of laq in the last month alone and the turbine assisted HVLP systems holds small amounts of material from what I understand. I can just stick the tube of my sprayer right down into a 5gal pail and be off to the races or runs!!

I just need to get a better inline air drier setup and I think I will have my problem solved!!

Thanks again,
Nick

[Steve Jenkins]

Years ago I had trouble with moisture also. I bought an aftercooler from Grainger. Basically it is like a car radiator with a small fan blowing air through it. It worked great. another way to cool the air is to zig-zag copper pipe up the wall That is assuming that you have some kind of air piping. anything to lower the temp of the air coming from the compressor.

[Perry Bowen]

Try adding 10% lacquer thinner. I had this problem today in Ga.

[John McHargue]

Well guys here is my two cents, I have owned a body shop for 30 years and sprayed many gallons of lacquer. Retarder is for high temperatures and used to slow down drying. Used to eliminate blushing which is trapped humidity in the paint. It will look foggy. Use the correct thinner by temperature to reduce the lacquer. First coat should be thin and light but even. Let dry to touch then you can build coats from there. The pin holes in the finish can be fish eye caused by silicone in the air or on the project, oil in airline. You can add fisheye eliminator to the paint before spraying.