What products are you using?

The base I use can be taped over in like 30 minutes, so yours still be gummy doesn't sound right.

giulianoseguro wrote:the paper kept getting gummed up and had blots of paint in it even though it has dried for over a week now. I started at 800 but did could still see the wavy build up of the metallic flakes.

Base coat is not designed to be sanded so the "gumminess" is in its' nature.

Looking at the photos in your first post you don't need to be playing around with P800 on a whizzer, instead blocking out that uneven mess with P80, then P180 and re-priming it. On the bar the earlier paint needs to be feathered flat - P180 on a block should handle that.

After priming the (now) flat surface, block (not DA) the surface with P800 before base coat.

When you respray the base, light even coats. Runs in base coat mean that you're spraying way too heavy.

Thanks everyone!

Just wanted to circle back, I was able to sand the base smooth with P600 then P800 and level out the metallic and the base and things turned out ok in the end. Dry sanding was the issue apparently, when I transitioned to wet sanding things started to improve and it wouldn't gum up. Proceeded with light even coats for base later. It's not 100% perfect but I'd say it's good enough for a first time ever spraying I guess

Lots of lessons learned which will hopefully prevent similar mistakes in the future.
Thanks everyone for the help on this thread!