Random musings from an average day
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:51 am
Well, two days, actually.
We had this little baby come in for paint to whole left side, plus front and rear bars, lip spoiler, mud spats and mirror.
Most of the repairs had been done by the customer, as a means of saving money. Normally I don't do this - it just makes work that you're not getting paid for, but if you paint over a crap repair the result will be crap and I don't want crap work associated with my name.
So, you do what you have to to make the repair acceptable for paint.
The body wasn't too bad - some uneven sanding and a couple of high spots. Fixed those and took it in for a couple of coats of high fill. (first freebie).
Blocked that back and then back in the booth for base and clear.
Oh. Had to colour match first. That took nearly a whole day, including 3 hours by the paint company rep before we got the colour good enough to go edge to edge. Yes I have a spectro and we could get close but even after 10 mixes and spray out cards it still wasn't right. In the end the answer was a homoeopathic quantity of Transparent Maroon. Seriously, 3g (that's one drop) in a litre of reduced colour nailed it.
Painted the body first and used a clear that our distributor had asked my to try. (mistake) It's cheap at $170/7.5l kit and it's worth every cent you don't pay. Rubbish. Using a Pro Lite with TE10 cap just couldn't get it to lay flat and match that typical Mazda finish. A buff would fix it (next freebie) but lesson is not to try an unfamiliar clear on a job like this.
Finished painting it at midnight last night.
This morning get the bars and various bits in to paint. Again, repaired and primed by the customer but no big problems so just sanded again. Washed, Prepsolled and water/alcohol clean. Good to go.
Well, not quite. Had to dust a little 1K primer on a couple of rub throughs. First pass and this happens.
Take them all out. Wash again, Prepsol with grey scotch. Wash and dry again.
Take them back in. Primer goes on ok this time. Flash, sand, water clean and ready for base.
Hmmmm. I'm using Cromax 610 base and usually do one tack coat, then 2 x medium wet. After tack coat his primer starts to fry up. He told me it was a 2K primer, unknown brand but bought from a reputable place. So I'm looking at this, with 6 hours to go before he's due to pick it up.
Don't know what the problem is but don't have time to strip and re-prime. So take a punt with some (very good) Axalta fast primer to seal it up. (another freebie) Lost an hour but surface good.
Paint and have to use fast clear to have any chance of getting it back together on time. Again with the Pro Lite (love that gun) it goes on like glass.
We actually had it ready by 6.00pm and the customer was out of his tree happy.
Makes it all worth while, doesn't it? He handed over $2K and drove away with a smile from ear to ear.
Now the funny bit. I started this thread to talk about the effect that temperature has on paint, especially metallics. This was one of the spray out cards that I did.
I tape the card to an aluminium stirring stick. Temperature was about 28C outside, probably 24C in the booth. But the coldness of the metal transferred through the card and you can really see the difference. No wonder we can't get plastic bars and metal panels to match.
Avagudweegend.
We had this little baby come in for paint to whole left side, plus front and rear bars, lip spoiler, mud spats and mirror.
Most of the repairs had been done by the customer, as a means of saving money. Normally I don't do this - it just makes work that you're not getting paid for, but if you paint over a crap repair the result will be crap and I don't want crap work associated with my name.
So, you do what you have to to make the repair acceptable for paint.
The body wasn't too bad - some uneven sanding and a couple of high spots. Fixed those and took it in for a couple of coats of high fill. (first freebie).
Blocked that back and then back in the booth for base and clear.
Oh. Had to colour match first. That took nearly a whole day, including 3 hours by the paint company rep before we got the colour good enough to go edge to edge. Yes I have a spectro and we could get close but even after 10 mixes and spray out cards it still wasn't right. In the end the answer was a homoeopathic quantity of Transparent Maroon. Seriously, 3g (that's one drop) in a litre of reduced colour nailed it.
Painted the body first and used a clear that our distributor had asked my to try. (mistake) It's cheap at $170/7.5l kit and it's worth every cent you don't pay. Rubbish. Using a Pro Lite with TE10 cap just couldn't get it to lay flat and match that typical Mazda finish. A buff would fix it (next freebie) but lesson is not to try an unfamiliar clear on a job like this.
Finished painting it at midnight last night.
This morning get the bars and various bits in to paint. Again, repaired and primed by the customer but no big problems so just sanded again. Washed, Prepsolled and water/alcohol clean. Good to go.
Well, not quite. Had to dust a little 1K primer on a couple of rub throughs. First pass and this happens.
Take them all out. Wash again, Prepsol with grey scotch. Wash and dry again.
Take them back in. Primer goes on ok this time. Flash, sand, water clean and ready for base.
Hmmmm. I'm using Cromax 610 base and usually do one tack coat, then 2 x medium wet. After tack coat his primer starts to fry up. He told me it was a 2K primer, unknown brand but bought from a reputable place. So I'm looking at this, with 6 hours to go before he's due to pick it up.
Don't know what the problem is but don't have time to strip and re-prime. So take a punt with some (very good) Axalta fast primer to seal it up. (another freebie) Lost an hour but surface good.
Paint and have to use fast clear to have any chance of getting it back together on time. Again with the Pro Lite (love that gun) it goes on like glass.
We actually had it ready by 6.00pm and the customer was out of his tree happy.
Makes it all worth while, doesn't it? He handed over $2K and drove away with a smile from ear to ear.
Now the funny bit. I started this thread to talk about the effect that temperature has on paint, especially metallics. This was one of the spray out cards that I did.
I tape the card to an aluminium stirring stick. Temperature was about 28C outside, probably 24C in the booth. But the coldness of the metal transferred through the card and you can really see the difference. No wonder we can't get plastic bars and metal panels to match.
Avagudweegend.