Paint Blochy

[MetRamos]

I've been having troubles laying out a ford mettalic blue, medium wedge wood, I set the gun at the recommended 26 psi but have way to much over spray it seems like, I have the Tekna ProLite, and im spraying PPG Shopline, I tried turning down the pressure and it seemed better but could still see the spots and didn't know if that would be recommended since its designed to spray at 26. Any help?

[Len]

I've been having troubles laying out a ford mettalic blue, medium wedge wood, I set the gun at the recommended 26 psi but have way to much over spray it seems like, I have the Tekna ProLite, and im spraying PPG Shopline, I tried turning down the pressure and it seemed better but could still see the spots and didn't know if that would be recommended since its designed to spray at 26. Any help?

The better a gun breaks up the paint the more it looks like it's putting paint into the air but in reality a "compliant" gun like the Tekna must put 65% of the paint on the surface at the recommended pressure. Turning down the pressure will definitely put more paint on the surface but it may result in some undesirable results. If you're getting inconsistencies in the color it's probably caused by a combination of using inexpensive paint and improper technique for that paint product. Try laying on lighter coats and allowing it to dry a little between coats. You may need to put on a "drop coat" to even out the metallic, this means that you dust a light coat on top, allow it to dry then apply your clear.

[impactair]

Hey everyone, I have been watching this forum for a while but this is my first post. I just picked up a prolite as well and got to play with it a bit today. I ran some nason ful-base green metallic with medium reducer through it and found similar issues. The only difference was that everything seemed good until my second pass. everything seemed to lay down smooth, but within a minute or two the whole thing went blotchy. I have never seen paint act like this. I was using the te10 air cap with temp around 75 and very high humidity. This seemed to happen whether I sprayed heavy or light . I thought my passes were too close but it seemed to get worse the farther away I was. I even tried a fade against a white background with jet black to see the transition and my harbor freight gun seems to have a more even pattern (Top and bottom was very blotchy) I did reduce the paint 1:1 but that is allowed per nasons tech sheet on the paint. I am going to try the te20 air cap tomorrow, but any ideas on what I may be missing would be greatly appreciated. Also does anyone have any experience with the hvlp air cap for base coats?

[Len]

Hey everyone, I have been watching this forum for a while but this is my first post. I just picked up a prolite as well and got to play with it a bit today. I ran some nason ful-base green metallic with medium reducer through it and found similar issues. The only difference was that everything seemed good until my second pass. everything seemed to lay down smooth, but within a minute or two the whole thing went blotchy. I have never seen paint act like this. I was using the te10 air cap with temp around 75 and very high humidity. This seemed to happen whether I sprayed heavy or light . I thought my passes were too close but it seemed to get worse the farther away I was. I even tried a fade against a white background with jet black to see the transition and my harbor freight gun seems to have a more even pattern (Top and bottom was very blotchy) I did reduce the paint 1:1 but that is allowed per nasons tech sheet on the paint. I am going to try the te20 air cap tomorrow, but any ideas on what I may be missing would be greatly appreciated. Also does anyone have any experience with the hvlp air cap for base coats?

It sounds like a problem with the paint not the gun. When you say "blotchy" do you mean light and dark spots or differences in the gloss? Are you spraying with the fan fully open?

[impactair]

I think it may be the paint as well. There are no streaks or anything like that. when the paint goes on it looks a bit wet, but perfect. a couple minutes later it starts to look like a bad candy job. sort of like mottleing. I guess like poor coverage or what you would get if your overlap was too wide. The finish is flat, but has round spots, some darker and some lighter. Something you would usually only see with metallics. This did it with metallics and solids.

[Dennis N. Schmidt]

Many people think that the better the gun atomizes the better it would be for basecoat. This is almost never the case. I use a cheap Astro EVO for base and my PLUS, Tekna or SATA RP's for clear because these high end guns overatomize base, particularly metallic bases.

Iwata in fact was the first high end gun manufacturer to recognize this and introduced multiple aircaps for the LPH400LV for just this reason. Their silver cap atomized too well so they introduced the purple and orange aircaps which intentionally produce the larger droplet size that works best for basecoat.

Most pros use HVLP guns for base as they produce larger droplets which is what you want for base. In my case I've used my SATA Nr2000 for base and RP's for clear for a long time. Others use the GTI for base and the PLUS for clear in the DeVilbiss line. With my Iwata's I change the aircaps.

So my recommendation would be to use the HVLP cap for base.

[Jayson M]

I completely disagree with your statements about compliant guns over atomizing basecoats and making metallic bases difficult to spray,that is completely untrue.I do not know of one pro who uses HVLP for base or clear coat for that matter, it used to be common back in the late 90's early 2000's.I used an rp for solvent base for 8 years after a gti and never looked back metallic control was much easier.The tekna with the 7e7 air cap works very well for solvent base or waterborne at 22-25psi,the hvlp caps don't IMO.I would also agree that the base your using could be part of the problem.What air cap are you using on the prolite?You might have to drop your pressure and increase your distance or do a drop coat to even out the metallics.

[impactair]

I disagree as well, my first gun was an nr2000 and I hated it for base. It's tough to keep an eye on your overlap while moving fast enough. For me it was more difficult to learn. I played around a bit more today and after throwing the te20 cap on, dropping the pressure and moving jut a hair further back I have had great results. I played with some solid colors today and I think I was just putting too much on per pass. now that I got the hang of it I have to say this is one of the best base guns I have used. I think it is closer to hvlp than most rp guns I have used but the overspray is minimal, and even at very low pressures the atomization is great. Thanks for all the help, from everyone who posted.

[MetRamos]

I still havent been able to figure out what the problem is, I tried using the HVLP cap on my prolite and it still does it, I tried to go slower but the paint looked to wet that it had a gloss to it. I sprayed a non metallic black this week and it even did it with that, I guess im going to have to keep trying different things. until I get it down.

[Len]

I still havent been able to figure out what the problem is, I tried using the HVLP cap on my prolite and it still does it, I tried to go slower but the paint looked to wet that it had a gloss to it. I sprayed a non metallic black this week and it even did it with that, I guess im going to have to keep trying different things. until I get it down.

A lot of inexpensive paint has a tendency to mottle very easily, try using different/better paint products of the same or similar colors to see if that helps.

[another2centsworth]

My best blends come with RP not HVLP.

[williams772]

I still havent been able to figure out what the problem is, I tried using the HVLP cap on my prolite and it still does it, I tried to go slower but the paint looked to wet that it had a gloss to it. I sprayed a non metallic black this week and it even did it with that, I guess im going to have to keep trying different things. until I get it down.

Are both of these basecoats? Are they both Shopline? My personal experience with PPG basecoats is that while the less expensive lines(Omni & Shopline) seem to save money they really don't because it takes so much more material to get good coverage. I love using shopline primer and really like the shopline clear, I use Omni MTK for single stage jobs but for a B/C job I'll always use DBC, twice the money but use half the amount usually.

[impactair]

I had issues with nason and shopline, both are cheap but i have never had issues with them in the past. I noticed the trigger is much more sensitive on the prolite than most other guns i have used .much less movement. I had to open the fluid control just over a turn to get better results. Try using an opaque color and see what your coverage is per pass and adjust the fluid accordingly. it was weird that i did'nt even realize how much paint I was dumping on the panel. I ran some hok silver, valspar silver and a shopline gold at all around 18 psi with the te20 cap and the gun handles better than anything I have used. It is like an lph but much faster and more comfortable. I guess the taper on the needle is much shorter or something because the trigger barely moves and dumps a ton of paint. I know it seems simple but sometimes we all overlook the simple things. Just keep tinkering, I am sure once you figure it out you will be very surprised at how great this gun is.

[MetRamos]

Are both of these basecoats? Are they both Shopline? My personal experience with PPG basecoats is that while the less expensive lines(Omni & Shopline) seem to save money they really don't because it takes so much more material to get good coverage. I love using shopline primer and really like the shopline clear, I use Omni MTK for single stage jobs but for a B/C job I'll always use DBC, twice the money but use half the amount usually.

Yes they are both base coats and both shop line, I will try it a few times more, and maybe try ShopLine Plus, but if it doesn't change, I will be moving up to a better line. I know that you pay for what you get. It's just been given me problems from the start, sometimes it looks better after I clear it, but you can still see the blochy in some light if you look closely.

[CA. 280]

This was the result of a totally unscientific test I did comparing Deltron DBC base to Omni base.
Both are straight from the can both are moss green metallic. The lack of pigment in the Omni
is pretty apparent. You do get what you pay for.000_0002-001-2.jpg