Getting Fish eyes or carters??

[benherr]

Originally Posted by powdersparky

I used liquiguard for the first time on saturday and had the exact same problem on the flat parts. The round parts came out fine. It looks like oil or silicone contamination. I will do more flat parts this week with and without liquiguard closely following the instructions.

powdersparky,
Well I've done four pieces now and the last one was a little better. I preheated the piece first and didn't use the liquiguardPC. Just =cleaned with Acetone and then PC. I purchased some Purple Power degrease. I'm now trying the purple degrease before preheat, then I'll clean again with Acetone and then PC. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Ben

[benherr]

Originally Posted by benherr

powdersparky,
Well I've done four pieces now and the last one was a little better. I preheated the piece first and didn't use the liquiguardPC. Just =cleaned with Acetone and then PC. I purchased some Purple Power degrease. I'm now trying the purple degrease before preheat, then I'll clean again with Acetone and then PC. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Ben

OK, Just finished the fifth piece and It is getting better following the procedure I spelled out above. Some Pitting, as best as I describe it and a few craters, but better than the past four pieces. the pitting looks like as if rust was breaking thru under a painted surface. I think my next try will be as follows:
1. clean with Acetone
2 clean with purple power degreaser
3. Pre-heat for 10 minutes at 350 degs
4. clean again with Acetone
5. PC
6. bake

I noticed that when I use the degreaser I get some areas that have a pronounced whiteness to them. I'm preheating now and will use acetone after the preheat.

[benherr]

I think I finally got it right or at least close. I did the following steps:
1. cleaned the piece with Acetone
2. Cleaned with purple power cleaner/degreaser and rinsed with water.
3. pre-heated piece to around 300 degs for about 10 minutes.
4. let cool down to around 100 degs then cleaned again with Acetone.
5. PC and baked

The piece came out with only 2 carters, one very small and one a little bigger.
I still have what I'll call like a snake skin effect in the powder coat, which I believe you can see in the photos attached.

Can anyone tell me what causes this and how to correct? Am I using too0 much powder or not enough, etc.?

thanks,
ben

[powdersparky]

That is what is called orange peel or OP.It looks like not enough powder.Is that super mirror black you're using.I always get a little OP with it. Try more powder shooting 10 inches from the part. Look in the Caswell can and see how the powder looks(greyish colour)This is about the colour you want on your part before it enters your oven.When your powder goes from black to greyish you're good to go. Put your part in your pre-heated oven at 375 then lower to 350 once in the oven.That part looks thin so it should come up to temp quickly so 15 min. should be sufficient.If failure persists try out the super wet black or the black cat urethane with a clear coat.These two powders always seem to come out super smooth for me.You can also try an epoxy primer before which I use on gas tanks or fenders.

[benherr]

Originally Posted by powdersparky

That is what is called orange peel or OP.It looks like not enough powder.Is that super mirror black you're using.I always get a little OP with it. Try more powder shooting 10 inches from the part. Look in the Caswell can and see how the powder looks(greyish colour)This is about the colour you want on your part before it enters your oven.When your powder goes from black to greyish you're good to go. Put your part in your pre-heated oven at 375 then lower to 350 once in the oven.That part looks thin so it should come up to temp quickly so 15 min. should be sufficient.If failure persists try out the super wet black or the black cat urethane with a clear coat.These two powders always seem to come out super smooth for me.You can also try an epoxy primer before which I use on gas tanks or fenders.

powdersparky,
Man, thanks for the info. This has been driving me a little crazy. I'm using the super Wet black on billet aluminum and the stock is 1/2 inch thick. Great info on the pre heating of the oven, which I hadn't been doing. Do you usually put a finish coat over the wet black?

Ben

[benherr]

Powdersparky,

I think you hit the nail on the head. I pre-heated the oven and applied a heavier coat of Powder and this time the piece came out looking really good. a slight orange peel, but nothing like I had earlier and only 1 or 2 carters. See photo below.

Thanks for the great info.
ben

[Harleydad]

Originally Posted by benherr

Powdersparky,

I think you hit the nail on the head. I pre-heated the oven and applied a heavier coat of Powder and this time the piece came out looking really good. a slight orange peel, but nothing like I had earlier and only 1 or 2 carters. See photo below.

Thanks for the great info.
ben

What gun are you using and at what psi? Whats the gun to part distance you're spraying at.
The reason I ask is that if you have to much air or the gun is too close to the part, you may be blowing powder off contributing to the op effect.

[benherr]

Originally Posted by Harleydad

What gun are you using and at what psi? Whats the gun to part distance you're spraying at.
The reason I ask is that if you have to much air or the gun is too close to the part, you may be blowing powder off contributing to the op effect.

harleydad,

using the Caswell hobby gun that sells for $99. the air pressure is set to around 10 Psi. this last piece came out a little better, not so much OP. still getting the feel for the proper amount to apply. this last spray was a little heavier than the previous applications and it does look better. I'm spraying from about 8 inches away from the piece.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated and thank you for the reply.

Ben

[FigureLLC]

Originally Posted by benherr

Powdersparky,

I think you hit the nail on the head. I pre-heated the oven and applied a heavier coat of Powder and this time the piece came out looking really good. a slight orange peel, but nothing like I had earlier and only 1 or 2 carters. See photo below.

Thanks for the great info.
ben

good progress! getting there!