Help me spray a better coat of waterborne finish

[Denis Kenzior]

John,

There are left over impressions from my wet mil gauge in the picture. There are 3 or 4 middle teeth impressions, which corresponds to 75 to 100 um (3-4 mil). I pulled it at a slight angle, but it shouldn't be a heavier coat than 4 mil or so.

I tend to spray lighter coats than that, just wet enough that it wets out and looks wet but not wet like it was applied by a brush. The surface tension of water makes it pool up at the edges and the thicker the coat the more noticeable this effect is.

I will get the Jeweler's glasses ordered. Thanks for the tip. If I had to guess, I think that the bubbles are happening here as well. I do get bits of random lint or small hairs trapped in the film, but these are few. Maybe one for 3-4 panels sprayed. What I'm seeing looks more like pimples and craters. The pimples tend to shrink as the finish continues to cure (e.g. over the next several days) and are much less noticeable by feel in 48 hours. The crater goes right through the coat, these are much harder to deal with and seem completely random.

Everything I've sprayed so far was with GF PreCat.

[John TenEyck]

I use the wet mil gage by simply putting it straight down into the finish. No angle, no dragging. Down, up, inspect. Right or wrong, that's how I gage the wet mil thickness. The tallest "leg" of the gage with finish on it is the wet mil thickness.

John

[Jim Becker]

Just to provide some solace...I'm have some real struggles with finishing a project "as we speak", too...so many "moving parts" and while I'm inching closer, I'm not were I need to be to get the glass-smooth surface I'm aiming at. Perhaps it's just because I'm using a different product than previously. Some of it was not paying attention to the teeny-tiny type on the gun components and getting a mis-matched setup for the first few coats. At least it's going to be a darn thick finish that will be pretty durable for the purpose. LOL

[John TenEyck]

I'm sure you're not alone, Jim. I'll bet a poll of fellow Creekers would show at least one finishing disaster in the last few months. Count me among them. It was a new product for me, too, one I won't be using again.

John

[Jim Becker]

I'm sure you're not alone, Jim. I'll bet a poll of fellow Creekers would show at least one finishing disaster in the last few months. Count me among them. It was a new product for me, too, one I won't be using again.

Yea, I'm disappointed since it would have been nice to patronize the local SW store. At least I have a really good, thick, transparent, albeit wavy coating on the thing at present which I'm going to level and then coat with a Target Coatings product which I know sprays well with my gear. Sheesh...