I have returned... with a Starcraft this time!

[BWR1953]

I could swear I hear her calling to you , there it is again it's saying - BW come on out here and paint me up pretty big boy - I'm waiting for you and no other , come to the garage and play. Lol .

:lol:

 

[BWR1953]

So this happened today. I was all fired up and we were in the garage early, trying to make the weather temperature/humidity window. But I messed up. Nothing big. Just aggravating. Details tomorrow.

 

[Watermann]

I think you have the complete opposite going of my boat painting method of "One Long Sticky Day" :lol:

 

[BWR1953]

I think you have the complete opposite going of my boat painting method of "One Long Sticky Day" :lol:

Well, the days can definitely be sticky when it's 98 degrees and 90% humidity! :lol:

Some "practice" efforts this morning. Still getting weird shapes even after a multitude of adjustments.

BUT! I'm pretty sure that I've finally found the culprit. Working on that issue and pix now.

 

[BWR1953]

I'll leave out all the other stuff that went on and get right down to it now.

I do believe that I found the problem with my spray pattern angst.

The nozzle (fluid tip) for the 1.3mm tip set is NOT ALIGNED in the center of the atomization (air cap) piece! :facepalm:

That means that while spraying, that tip is randomly vibrating/bouncing open and closed and binding against the side of the cap. And it also explains why I didn't have any problems when I sprayed the gray primer. I used the 2.0mm tip set for that effort and that set is perfectly concentric.

Warranty claim filed!

Fortunately, the Sprayit 33000 has a Lifetime Warranty.

 

[ab59]

Too bad you can't use the 2.0 tip for the top coats. Lifetime warranty is great most my HF stuff comes with 90 days unless you pay more . As cheap as they are you can buy a new one for a couple dollars more than the extended warranty . You always get what you pay for but got to say that the HVLP HF guns seem to be as good as the job I'm capable of doing , lol.
Do this mean you're shut down until another tip comes ?

 

[BWR1953]

Too bad you can't use the 2.0 tip for the top coats. Lifetime warranty is great most my HF stuff comes with 90 days unless you pay more . As cheap as they are you can buy a new one for a couple dollars more than the extended warranty . You always get what you pay for but got to say that the HVLP HF guns seem to be as good as the job I'm capable of doing , lol.
Do this mean you're shut down until another tip comes ?

I'm going to try the 1.7mm tip next and not reduce the paint much. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky. I did a ton of reading today and some guys were recommending the 1.7mm tip for enamel paints and others said to only use it for primer. Testing should reveal all...

Had to email Sprayit for the warranty thing and haven't heard back from them. I'll give it a few days then try again.

 

[ab59]

don't know why a little thicker paint should hurt anything. I bought the flat black Majic paint for my windshield frame and I think they want you to lay it down with no tack coat so it seems to me that if one as looking to cover the area in one pass a little thicker paint would be a good thing , but there's A LOT I don't know about painting stuff . Don't want too thick as it may orange peel or crack. I dunno , ask the wizard Watermann if he's not gone fishin. Seems like I ran across an article about someone using Majic brand paint a while back and Woodonglass had some knowledge about the paint as well.

 

[Decker83]

Witch tip did you use to spray the first coat of white? That is very strange that the tip is off like that..
The 1.7 tip will work and it will put down more paint than the 1.3 tip will.
Looking forward to seeing you get this worked out.. Good luck on the next try..:thumb:

 

[BWR1953]

Witch tip did you use to spray the first coat of white? That is very strange that the tip is off like that..
The 1.7 tip will work and it will put down more paint than the 1.3 tip will.
Looking forward to seeing you get this worked out.. Good luck on the next try..:thumb:

I used the 1.3 tip for the first color coat. I dunno what happened and why it pretty much worked. But maybe that's why I had orange peel and it wasn't really due to my terrible technique! :lol:

Yesterday I continued my research. Maybe got a little too far into the weeds. I was getting into Newtonian vs. non-Newtonian fluids and reading about using a #2 Zahn viscosity cup in order to check paint viscosity as measured in cup seconds! :laugh: :glee:

 

[BWR1953]

More testing this morning.

I mixed a small batch of paint.
4 oz. paint
2 teaspoons of reducer.

Used the 1.7mm tip set.
Removed the inline filter from the gun.

Results:




Wet-sanded a couple more spots with 1500 & 2000 grit W/D paper. Missed a spot!


We're ready! :nod: Just need the weather to be right.

 

[BWR1953]

No joy this morning. Returned the LVLP kit and ordered a replacement.

Life goes on.
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[Decker83]

I sure hope the new spray guns work for you this time.. This has been a long drawn out process for you..
Sending good vibes your way..

 

[ab59]

Well that's a bummer. Looked like you were on your way to a finished paint job soon. Hope the new gun works good and the job goes smooth . It'll just be a memory soon and the job will be done.

 

[BWR1953]

Thanks guys. I'll keep plugging along no matter what. :nod:

 

[BWR1953]

So here's the deal.

The boy and I had a 90 minute weather window for painting yesterday morning and got out there early. Started to do some pattern testing with acetone in preparation for shooting the paint and the regulator/pressure gauge failed.

Fine. Researched online and found an identical unit close by at an auto parts store. Bought it and burned up much of our window time doing so. Got home, installed the new gauge and continued testing.

A few minutes later, while testing, I discovered that even though I'd tightened the 1.7mm air cap down hand tight as far as I could, that it still allowed the air horns to spin freely. As freely as a propeller on a toy airplane. The air horns could easily move while I was painting. :frusty:

By then our window had closed and I'd had enough, so we packed up the entire LVLP kit and took it back to HD. Had to jump through some hoops but finally got a replacement ordered. It's scheduled to be here in 2 days. I have a doc appointment down the road that day so painting isn't possible. The day after that it's the boy's birthday and I doubt that he'll want to paint the boat as his present! :lol:

The weather windows are getting smaller and smaller, so if I can't get the painting done in the next couple of weeks I'll just have to wait until October. Or something.

Bought the new gauge and got it installed.


Old vs. new.

 

[BWR1953]

The boy and I were in the garage this morning and I was telling him of other things that we can work on after we get the boat painted.

Once I'm satisfied with the white color coat I plan to just let the boat sit in the garage undisturbed for a week. Then we'll tape and mask off the areas for the black accent color and paint.

And once I like the accent, we'll unmask and let the boat sit completely undisturbed in the garage for another week followed by 3 additional weeks of "rest" before I'll be willing to flip the hull and put it back on the trailer to continue with the hull work. Maybe longer if I have other non-hull stuff to finish.

In the meantime, while the hull is drying, we can work on the dual seat bottom storage boxes, the console caps, the 50hp Mercury and other assorted stuff which will need to be done to complete the boat.

I had the boy clean up the seat bases, end pieces and aluminum L-stock this morning. We'll do the rest while the boat dries.

I'd planned on cutting the end pieces to size but am now thinking that I'll take them back to the shop where I bought them and have them bend them down a little so that I'll have flanges to drill through at the bottom and to provide support for the seat bottom at the top. I'll cut the L-stock into sections to make brackets and will rivet everything together.

Seat bottom stuff.

 

[BWR1953]

Yet another good day bad day for me today.

Received the new spray gun kit. There was NO padding in the box at all and the gun was damaged! When I tried to unscrew the air cap, it wouldn't come off! It's like the fluid nozzle was glued on. I'll have to take it back to HD tomorrow.


My young bud came over this evening with his wife and their new 2 month old son. Cool!

While he was here he found out what was making the horrible noise on my mower deck. I'lI be buying a new pulley tomorrow.
​​

We talked about my boat painting situation and he volunteered to let me use his HVLP gun. I advised of the air deficiencies and asked him (again) if he would be willing to paint the KF. He replied that he might be able to do it this weekend. Maybe? We'll see.

One step forward, two steps back. Again.
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[ab59]

Well I have faith in you BW and with a little better luck you'll get her done soon. chin up , tomorrow is a new day.

 

[Watermann]

Another set back, man oh man when will things turn around for the KF paint job!

Hey the pics didn't come through on my end.