Epoxy primer sealer spraying dry

[junk]

Ok every time I spray a coat of primer on this truck roof I get dry spray. Really bad. I mixed the epoxy primer as a sealer per the tech sheet. When I sprayed it I had a ton of dry spray. I have come to the conclusion I must have really bad technique on this truck cab. It's an 89 ford crewcab. I was using my Tekna copper. Air pressure was 21. Fluid wide open and the spray was slightly decreased from wide open. Last night I sprayed the front of the firewall and it turned out really nice using the exact same gun, settings, product and mix. Would a bad angle cause trouble? I'm wondering if I'm holding the gun at a. Ad angle to the surface. Although the entire surface has a rough surface.

So any tips or tricks to help this? I'm wondering if I should tighten up the pattern and maybe drop air pressure down to 17 or so? I am a little confused with why it went great last night and tonight was a flop.

Well back to sanding and cussing.

[Len]

The most frequent reasons for a dry spray problem are a fluid tip that is too small for the product being sprayed and/or poor technique. In many cases you can correct either of these problems by altering your technique as you spray.

[mkrog1]

Ok every time I spray a coat of primer on this truck roof I get dry spray. Really bad. I mixed the epoxy primer as a sealer per the tech sheet. When I sprayed it I had a ton of dry spray. I have come to the conclusion I must have really bad technique on this truck cab. It's an 89 ford crewcab. I was using my Tekna copper. Air pressure was 21. Fluid wide open and the spray was slightly decreased from wide open. Last night I sprayed the front of the firewall and it turned out really nice using the exact same gun, settings, product and mix. Would a bad angle cause trouble? I'm wondering if I'm holding the gun at a. Ad angle to the surface. Although the entire surface has a rough surface.

So any tips or tricks to help this? I'm wondering if I should tighten up the pattern and maybe drop air pressure down to 17 or so? I am a little confused with why it went great last night and tonight was a flop.

Well back to sanding and cussing.

It,s the angle,try to keep as close to 90 deg. as you can.

[Len]

It,s the angle,try to keep as close to 90 deg. as you can.

If the angle was the only problem you would usually get wet and dry stripes, if it's equally rough it's usually the tip or spraying technique.

[Skalabala]

Bring the gun closer to the surface that needs to be sprayed.
3-4 inches
And important, how is the viscosity of the primer? And the temperature you spray at and the fluid tip size?

[junk]

I'm going to hit this lightly with some 320 dry later to knock off the dry stuff. If I need to resell I'm thinking about using my finish line 3 with the larger tip.

As I was able to use Tekna Friday night but saturday was a flop I'm guessing the way I have to paint this roof is killing any of my technique and my ability to adjust for the small tip in the Tekna.

[junk]

It was 74 or so in the shop. I did end up getting closer. My Tekna has a 1.2 in it right now. The viscosity seemed fine to me. Thicker than base coat for sure.

[Len]

It was 74 or so in the shop. I did end up getting closer. My Tekna has a 1.2 in it right now. The viscosity seemed fine to me. Thicker than base coat for sure.

The 1.2 is too small, switch to a 1.4 for spraying epoxy primer for a sealer.

[junk]

Yeah I actually had a 1.3 tip in it. Anyway I knocked down the roughness with 320 and shot it this afternoon. Color and clear layed out great. The truck sits about 7' tall so I'm not overly worried if I have a spot or two that i don't like, but it did turn out really well. Especially considering what a disaster I had last night.

Fairly confident that I was moving too fast when I shot the sealer and I was probably too far away. I know I ended up shooting slower and closer when I shot the clear to get it a wet coat than I would have thought. Here again using the 1.3 in the tekna. I'm a touch concerned about the color coat coverage as I haven't had it in the sun. I did do spray out cards checking coverage with 2 coats and 3 coats and the 2 coats seemed to cover just fine. I couldn't tell where the white, grey, and black areas on it transitioned. And I checked it in the sun.

[mkrog1]

If the angle was the only problem you would usually get wet and dry stripes, if it's equally rough it's usually the tip or spraying technique.

I'm just going by what he said,that he sprayed the firewall and it turned out fine with the same gun and setting.

[junk]

My angle was not awesome either. Towards the center especially on the 1st side I ended up holding the gun at a slight angle away from me to get to the center. I painted this from boards between two step ladders. It worked, but one side felt awkward and I had a harder time reaching the center with good form.

I'm really glad the paint and clear layed out well though. I'll keep playing with this sealer. I probably need to order up a 1.4 tip for my Tekna also.

Once again thanks for the help guys. I don't have anyone local to bounce Ideas off of. So if it wasn't for this forum I'd be doing even more trial and error.

Thanks,
Jeremy