First time ever spraying anything for me. Bought Tamco's epoxy primer and am just using the cheap harbor freight gun. I laid down a few coats but there seems to be a bunch of white specks throughout certain sections of the rear panel of my car. I just used a moisture filter and pressure regulator at the base of the gun. Think it may be moisture that got through the filter? I still need to do body work and all that on top of this so hopefully it's not a big deal but I'd like to get things dialed in a bit better when I go to spray the rest of the car. Thanks.

Hard to say for sure.
My guess is dust since it is only on certain panels.
What size tip on the spray gun?
What pressure at the gun with the trigger pulled full open?
How long did you stir the epoxy?

No worries if you are going to apply filler and 2k primer at some point.

If you are going to be spraying anything important think about this: Why spray $200 - $600 a gallon paint through a $20 gun?

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:Hard to say for sure.
My guess is dust since it is only on certain panels.
What size tip on the spray gun?
What pressure at the gun with the trigger pulled full open?
How long did you stir the epoxy?

No worries if you are going to apply filler and 2k primer at some point.

If you are going to be spraying anything important think about this: Why spray $200 - $600 a gallon paint through a $20 gun?

Thanks for the quick response! I did spray it outside so dust could certainly be it. I did clean the panel really well and tacked it at the end but dust wouldn't surprise me.

Gun has a 1.8 tip. I probably stirred the epoxy by hand for about 4-5 minutes. Think maybe I didn't get it mixed well enough?

Ok so I'm an idiot. I looked at the tech sheet and saw "Gravity feed 30-40psi". I didn't even see in big bolded letters "HVLP 8-10psi" so I actually sprayed it with the regulator at the gun set to 35psi.

4-5 minutes is plenty of mixing time.

You will get a lot better results spraying epoxy primer with a 1.4 tip. The 1.8 tip is good for 2k build primer.

HVLP guns are meant to run at 10 PSI but that is at the Cap, not the inlet pressure.

Your spec sheet on the gun should tell you what the CFM requirement and the inlet pressure to get 10 psi at the cap. Not sure about China Freight guns.

My guess is that 35 psi at the gun with the trigger pulled full open should be pretty close for that gun.

if you think you might have a water problem you best investigate it and find out for sure. water will ruin your paint job.
Jay D.

I see what I think are your White spots hard to see with the Orange peel and that color.

What did you use to clean the Panel with before spaying?
How long after cleaning with your final wipe of what ever before you started spraying?

I use a 1.4 for Epoxy myself, also the HF gun is a known air hog are you sure your compressor can keep up with it?

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:4-5 minutes is plenty of mixing time.

You will get a lot better results spraying epoxy primer with a 1.4 tip. The 1.8 tip is good for 2k build primer.

HVLP guns are meant to run at 10 PSI but that is at the Cap, not the inlet pressure.

Your spec sheet on the gun should tell you what the CFM requirement and the inlet pressure to get 10 psi at the cap. Not sure about China Freight guns.

My guess is that 35 psi at the gun with the trigger pulled full open should be pretty close for that gun.

Thanks I'll check the guns spec sheet and see what it says. As far as buying a cheap gun, I read a lot of reviews that said it's a good enough gun for shooting primer. I've never done this before so just in case it didn't work out, I wanted to be able to back out of it without having spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on equipment that I might not ever use again. So I figured I'd use the HF to spray at least the epoxy and then if everything seems to be going ok I can upgrade the gun from there.

Doright wrote:I see what I think are your White spots hard to see with the Orange peel and that color.

What did you use to clean the Panel with before spaying?
How long after cleaning with your final wipe of what ever before you started spraying?

I use a 1.4 for Epoxy myself, also the HF gun is a known air hog are you sure your compressor can keep up with it?

I used a composite disc and a little wire wheeling to get it to bare metal. Rubbed it down with 80 grit by hand. Then I used acetone, followed by wax and grease remover. After that I used a little acetone on a tack rag and then a clean tack rag as a final wipe down. I'd say it sat 6 or 7 minutes before I started spraying. Did I fudge something up there? I was kinda following a Kevin Tetz video for cleaning except he used alcohol as a final wipe and I didn't have any so I substituted acetone.

Compressor is a 60 gal Ingersoll rated at 16cfm at 40psi. I also only did the rear valance of the car so I didn't do a whole lot. I shot 3 coats with a 20min wait time in between coats. Rear valance isn't all that big.

Get rid of the acetone. Acetone and lacquer thinner will leave a film residue on the panel.

Wash your panels with soap (I use Dawn) and water using a Maroon Scotchbrite pad and then rinse well. Blow dry with an air hose making sure to get all the water out of the seams and crevices.

When dry put some Wax and Grease Remover in a spray bottle, spray it on the panel and then wipe it off with a clean shop towel before it dries. You should be wearing gloves at this stage. (https://www.amazon.com/SAS-66519-Powder ... ile+gloves)

Let the panel sit for at least 10 minutes, longer in colder temperatures, before applying epoxy.

For clean up use cleaner grade lacquer thinner, I buy it in 5 gallon can from local jobber. Sometimes Sherwin Williams will have it on sale.

you should never use any reducer or thinners on your tack rag, I don't know what It could do but it just isn't right. I would think it would dissolve the waxy material on the rag and get it all over your paint work.
Jay D.

Thanks guys I'll do it this way the next go round. Appreciate all the advice!