hardener temp. questions

hi, I m panting my truck outside in my carport in the elements. I have put the shop line color coat on with a medium shop line reducer and the results are good except for a few fruit flies that landed on the fender. I will lightly buff with 600g wet paper then clear coat. I am using PPG shop line JC830 2.1 VOC production clear with PPG medium shop line hardener.

I have concerns with the temperature when I will clear coat and I don't see it getting any warmer. Like I said I have the medium hardener 75-90 F or 24-32 C. I am dealing in Celsius and the temp seems to be pretty consistent in the afternoon at about 17 deg C.

(1) Should I go buy the low temp PPG hardener 65-75 F or 18-24 C. since temp seems to be about 17 deg C which is pretty close to 18 deg C?
(2) If i use the medium hardener and it is too cold what will happen?


thank you in advance this is my first time painting and I have watched way too much on youtube I think.

Jim

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Originally Posted by Jimi

hi, I m panting my truck outside in my carport in the elements. I have put the shop line color coat on with a medium shop line reducer and the results are good except for a few fruit flies that landed on the fender. I will lightly buff with 600g wet paper then clear coat. I am using PPG shop line JC830 2.1 VOC production clear with PPG medium shop line hardener.

I have concerns with the temperature when I will clear coat and I don't see it getting any warmer. Like I said I have the medium hardener 75-90 F or 24-32 C. I am dealing in Celsius and the temp seems to be pretty consistent in the afternoon at about 17 deg C.

(1) Should I go buy the low temp PPG hardener 65-75 F or 18-24 C. since temp seems to be about 17 deg C which is pretty close to 18 deg C?
(2) If i use the medium hardener and it is too cold what will happen?


thank you in advance this is my first time painting and I have watched way too much on youtube I think.

Jim

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Hi Jim, you should be OK with those products because the temp is close. Just be sure to allow enough time between coats so that you don't generate a lot of runs.

Thank you I will buy the low temp hardener.

I previously sprayed some clear coat with medium hardener on the doors when the temperature was fine for the hardener but I got what I believe is orange peel.
I have drained my compressor as it had some water in it and I have a moisture filter near the gun on the hose.

Any recommendations as to how to have a better texture with the hardner clear coat results?

Pic has the appearance of being applied too heavy. I would either pick up my hand speed or back off on the distance to panel a bit. How are you setting up your gun? You can use either the slow or medium reducer. If you use the medium reducer just extend your flash time prior to next coat and check your tape lines for adhesion prior to applying next coat.

Paint gun set to about 37psi spraying about 8 inches away and have paint flow sent to lowest setting of 4. Also using a moisture filter.

The pic shows the texture I got after clear coat on the door. The colour went on nice and was pretty smooth. I did 1:1 paint with reducer. The clear coat that appears bumpy was 4:1 clear to hardener. I didn’t use reducer with the clear coat but PPG sheets say I can use .5 of a part. I only used reducer when spraying the colour blue on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimi

Paint gun set to about 37psi spraying about 8 inches away and have paint flow sent to lowest setting of 4. Also using a moisture filter.

The pic shows the texture I got after clear coat on the door. The colour went on nice and was pretty smooth. I did 1:1 paint with reducer. The clear coat that appears bumpy was 4:1 clear to hardener. I didn’t use reducer with the clear coat but PPG sheets say I can use .5 of a part. I only used reducer when spraying the colour blue on.

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couple of things, most painters set their guns pretty much wide open on fan and paint flow. then adjust your speed and distance to get the finish you want. you might want to go ahead and add reducer to the clear as well so it atomizes well. usually around 10% or so. using slow reducer will let the paint flow a bit longer, but might allow it to sag if you're not used to it.
set up the gun like this, open the fan all the way, then turn it in till it just clips the top and bottom. turn the fluid all the way out (full flow) then with the trigger pulled, turn it in till you feel the trigger start to move. the adjust the air for best atomization. 37 psi is probably a bit high, but all guns are different. set the air with the trigger pulled. i'm usually around 31-32 psi with mine. but sometimes i bump it to 33-34 depending on conditions.
watch the paint hit the panel, don't focus on where your hand is. and do a practice panel first.

the low temp hardener is not necessary, you're plenty close enough with what you have.

bmarler is absolutely correct once gun is set up correctly.. "watch the paint hit the panel, don't focus on where your hand is. and do a practice panel first." I personally don't have any problem over reducing PPG CC by as much as 20% and sometimes much more. BC is much easier to apply and flow because of its viscosity, give your CC the same consideration but understand it will always have a heavier viscosity and you need to adapt to it by adjusting your reducer, pressure and speed. Again, just as bmarler stated "watch the product hit the panel", adjust your speeds and distance on the fly. If this doesn't work I add more reducer. All this is done on a practice panel prior to hitting your project.

BTW, if you add more reducer you have to extend your flash time prior to next coat. If you reduce beyond TDS (I almost always do with PPG) you will need to apply 1-2 extra coats for minimum build. Keep us posted

thank you to everyone for the advise, I sprayed more clear coat and adjusted my gun settings but I think the coat wasn't wet enough, I was getting worried as the outside temperature was decreasing from 18 C where I started so didn't spray a 2nd coat (I am painting in my driveway) Saturday afternoon the temp will be about 19 deg C so I will try for 2 coats in the afternoon after work.

if the surface texture is orange peel when I am finished I will sadly get 1 of the denim pads to cut polish and a polisher. I am running out of time regarding temperature.

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Originally Posted by Jimi

thank you to everyone for the advise, I sprayed more clear coat and adjusted my gun settings but I think the coat wasn't wet enough, I was getting worried as the outside temperature was decreasing from 18 C where I started so didn't spray a 2nd coat (I am painting in my driveway) Saturday afternoon the temp will be about 19 deg C so I will try for 2 coats in the afternoon after work.

if the surface texture is orange peel when I am finished I will sadly get 1 of the denim pads to cut polish and a polisher. I am running out of time regarding temperature.

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you are indeed on the edge for temperature, but we don't know all of your conditions. you might be totally fine. you ideally want the temp to remain at 16-17c or better for 24 hours after spraying. a degree or two probably won't be a problem though.
peel isn't the end of the world, as long as it's not dry spray you can sand and buff to make it look like a show car. just be sure to apply enough clear so you have the film build required for a lasting finish after you sand. we all add reducer to help it lay down smooth when needed, don't shy away from it. but follow rons advice to add flash time and more coats.

Thank you
I will apply more clear as it just isn’t wet enough after spraying but trying to avoid runs. I will turn up the paint flow to the max. I think I was moving too fast for the volume coming out of gun.

I have a piece of cardboard to practice on but it really doesn’t give me an idea how the texture will be on the panel.

Jimi I think you're clicking on the wrong button. You're "reporting posts" instead of just posting them. The last one I got the second one a few minutes ago. Reported posts go to monitors so that they can delete them if necessary.

Attachment 32036Attachment 32037

That's rough. What kind of spray gun and what is the fluid tip size? Is the orange peel only in the clear or is the color coat also rough.