I did finish laying down the clear, there will be more questions regarding that. I used a catalyzed spot putty to fill the pinholes, it may have been bondo brand if I remember. I will try with a paint suit, I admit I did the painting in my regular clothes, unthinkingly, I was indeed probably the source of some dust. I also went through the booth and caulked some door seams and the space around the air line from the shop, I realized those may have been bleeding high velocity air from the rest of the shop. I'll also try rigging up some kind of grounding system for the parts, which are mostly fiberglass and some carbon, so I don't know how well that will work due to poor conductivity of the part. what kind of anti-static wipes are usually used?

here are the finished clearcoat photos, you can see the dust caused some definite trouble, I was able to wet sand the clear down with 1500 and will try to buff it, but ultimately I'd like to get set up and running so I can finish jobs without needing to wetsand

This is what we are currently using for anti-stat..... https://tamcopaint.com/collections/clea ... ucts/hr398
Works great on all plastics as well as fiberglass....

NFT5 wrote:Dust nibs are a fact of life. They happen in the best full downdraught booths,...

...Agin on dust, most actually comes from you. Clothes that have fibres, tiny flakes of skin, hair, dirt and oils. Make sure you wear a full paintsuit when painting so you're covered top to toe. It really does make a difference.

You have a much nicer setup than I do, there is a reason that I call my shop "The Pig Barn" as at one time that is what it was. I use open doors with no filters and a little cage fan sitting on the floor for exhaust, not exactly "Pro". I have had some pretty good results and haven't done any cut n buffs yet (though I want to). My biggest problem is still the nut behind the gun.

Some of the tips these guys have given me which has helped a lot:
a) Blow out the area the day before, not the day of shooting - makes sense as it gives the airborne garbage time to settle.
b) I always wet my floors - some days multiple times.
c) I wear a painter's coat (usually with shorts )- I couldn't believe what a difference that made.
d) My final wipe down is with a water based W&G remover to help reduce static
e) Use good tack rags - pretty cheap really

I am going to go ahead and start another test part, I attempted to cut and buff out the first clear job and I think it wasn't hard yet, I couldn't seem to get the sanding marks out without putting swirl marks back in. Hopefully I can make this one better from the get-go and possibly not require a cut-buff

I painted a new part with the same primer, I laid it down probably too thick and wound up with a surface that looked like it had some solvent pops, however, dust seemed to not be stuck to the surface at all. in this case, the part was set on a block of aluminum that was wired to the ground of the building through an outlet, the floor was freshly mopped, the hose to the gun was wiped down well. after force curing the primer and wet sanding 800 grit, I laid down the paint layer, again prepped by mopping the floor, cleaning the hose, blowing myself down with the gun, grounding the part. the paint had no evidence of attracting dust, I laid down one very thin coat followed by two coats wet enough to keep a wet edge while applying.

I put down a clearcoat, using 4:1 activated 2k, reduced 20%, seemed to go on fine, but my dust bunnies crept back onto the part, I think it may have been that I don't yet have a paint suit, I also neglected to freshly mop the floor, so there may have been dry areas that kicked up some dust. the part was similarly grounded. there are also some weird fisheye looking things on the top, on the first, dryer coat, they showed up after it flashed, the second and third wetter coats seemed to flow over them but they are definitely low spots. (the last picture is actually the first one taken, took it after laying on the first tack coat of clear)

Are you blowing your pants and shirt off with the gun in your booth? If so, don't.
Get a paint suit or jacket.
Ask the forum's experts about those pinholes.
What is the temp in your shop?
How long are you letting your clear coats flash?

Wait a day or two, hit your pieces with some 600/800, then shoot with some over reduced clear after a week.

I wait 15 minutes on tack coat and about 25 for thicker coats, my paint suit is arriving tomorrow

I built my own paint booth and am constantly having problems with contamination. I use a leaf blower, vacuum and wipe it down and still get stuff in the clear.

It has a 7700 cfm fan and twelve 20X20" filters, also has an OSB vent that exits out the rear door of the shop.

I didn't know about the static electricity problem.