First attempt with a spray gun

Nathan said:

First I wet sand with 2000 grit sandpaper then I polish in two steps using car polish. First step is medium cut polish (aka swirl remover) and final step is finishing polish. I use Sonus SFX-2 and SFX-3 but other car polishes will work. I have a Porter Cable 7424 polisher and I use it for the first pass of medium cut polish on body tubes when finishing large rockets. It's still necessary to finish the job by hand. After polishing I apply car wax, usually a synthetic paint sealant wax like Blackfire Wet Diamond.

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Thanks Nathan,

I just ordered the Porter Cabel polisher and the SFX1, 2 and 3. I need it for my car anyway.

Here it is after wet sanding and polishing. . .

Wow that is so spectacular!

BTW, I received my Porter Cable polisher and the SFX1, 2 and 3 yesterday. The polisher did not come with a cover for the polishing pad so I decided to try by hand. I am shocked by the result, it looks absolutely amazing, like a professional finish using this stuff...of course the wet-sanding to get there is the biggest part. Once I get a pad cover for the polisher I am going to give it a go with the polisher then finish up by hand just to remove some of the swirls from the quickie test I did yesterday.

Thanks again for the tips.

mpitfield said:

Wow that is so spectacular!

BTW, I received my Porter Cable polisher and the SFX1, 2 and 3 yesterday. The polisher did not come with a cover for the polishing pad so I decided to try by hand. I am shocked by the result, it looks absolutely amazing, like a professional finish using this stuff...of course the wet-sanding to get there is the biggest part. Once I get a pad cover for the polisher I am going to give it a go with the polisher then finish up by hand just to remove some of the swirls from the quickie test I did yesterday.

Thanks again for the tips.

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Thanks, the best way to use a PC 7424 is with a velcro backing disk and interchangeable foam pads. I wouldn't recommend using the big white pad that came with the polisher, especially if you plan to use it on your car. I use CCS pads: https://www.autogeek.net/lc-ccs-6inch-pads.html


For rockets the power polisher is really only useful for large sections of tube, and you will need to follow up with polishing by hand there anyway. But it is a big help when polishing large rockets like this one. I hold the polisher in my lap with the pad facing up, and roll the tube back and forth over the spinning pad.

Nathan said:

Here it is after wet sanding and polishing. . .

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VERY nice job!

There's nothing like spraying with a gun.

Nathan said:

Thanks, the best way to use a PC 7424 is with a velcro backing disk and interchangeable foam pads. I wouldn't recommend using the big white pad that came with the polisher, especially if you plan to use it on your car. I use CCS pads: https://www.autogeek.net/lc-ccs-6inch-pads.html


For rockets the power polisher is really only useful for large sections of tube, and you will need to follow up with polishing by hand there anyway. But it is a big help when polishing large rockets like this one. I hold the polisher in my lap with the pad facing up, and roll the tube back and forth over the spinning pad.

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Thanks for the info, I ordered an assortment of Lake Country 6.5" pads and their 5" dual action backing plate. Once I receive it, have a chance to polish with it and finish by hand I will shoot you a pic of the results.

Another thought on spraying... Once I realized how great a finish I could get wityh a HVLP cheapo spray gun from Harbor Freight ($12.00 on sale!!), I transitioned very quickly to catalized urethane paint which gave me the high gloss and TOTALLY eliminated the polishing which you know is quite tedious. It is also extremely durable, being hard to chip and remains somewhat flexible compared to laquer. There are health dangers to spraying without a proper filtration mask but I was lucky enough to befriend the owner of a body shop who lets me spray in his booth any Saturday while he does shop cleanup and preparation for his upcoming week. Needles to say, dust becomes a non issue in a downdraft spray booth. For smaller rockets I can sometimes get some free leftover paint from cars he does a panel repair on, but of course I can't choose the color LOL. I started off with SEM high build primer in spray cans for my first job and then went with urethane primer for subsequent rockets as it is much more durable.

You can check out my X-celerator level 2 spray job HERE . That was my first try at urethane base coat- clear coat (called 2 stage paint).

I've attached painting photos of my L3 project, a Gizmo XL that I painted with 2-stage (base coat + clear coat) Dupont Nason urethane. This rocket has landed hard a couple times and still no chips.

Getting a Wildman 4" darkstar ready to paint in Nason single stage black. No clear coat needed which eliminates extra work and cost and I've seen how nice the gloss is on this stuff. Again much more expensive than laquer.

That's what I'm a fan of for sure..
Davie,, I am amazed at the time, effort and trouble Nathan and Michael put into their paint work..
The results they get are more then impressive..
I never knew you could get results like that out of a can..
I know Nathan is spraying with a gun now and enjoys it greatly..
I would love to see both of them try an activated / catalyzed 2 part Urethane paint..
They both are so meticulous that they came up with a great finish with lesser paints..
So I don't know how much better the finish can get..
But I'm sure they'd have an easier time of it with these professional products...
They just work easier....

Teddy

DavieRockets said:

...There are health dangers to spraying without a proper filtration mask

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What type of filtration mask is the correct one for spraying urethane?

wfcook said:

What type of filtration mask is the correct one for spraying urethane?

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The activated / catalyzed clear is very serious..
The pro's that spray it often / every day use a positive pressure hood on top of a Tyvek suit...
There's an air flow into the hood from outside the booth so fumes / vapors can't get up into the air your breathing...

I don't think a carbon cartridge filter will do it...

Teddy

onebadhawk said:

The activated / catalyzed clear is very serious..
The pro's that spray it often / every day use a positive pressure hood on top of a Tyvek suit...
There's an air flow into the hood from outside the booth so fumes / vapors can't get up into the air your breathing...

I don't think a carbon cartridge filter will do it...

Teddy

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Thanks, Teddy, that's sort of what I thought. That's why I have stayed away from Urethanes.

FINALLY flew it today, about one year after I started building it. This is on a CTI I470.

On the money Nathan,,,
Beautiful flight...
Long overdue right,,lol...

good for you Nathan...

Teddy

Beautiful shot of the liftoff and the range. Congrats.

Nathan

I'm glad to see you back. Nice work with the gun, but I knew you'd take to it.

Nathan, ya did a beautiful job on the paint and awesome flight!
Iffen ya want to step up into automotive bc/cc at some time, it's pret amazing the results. As stated up a bit, clear coat when layed right requires no sanding or buffing.
And if ya think about trying it, look for a local jobber( auto paint seller) near ya and go see if they have any mismatched paint to sell. They usually sell em pretty cheap and great for practicing. Clearocats though don't get mismatched. Ive had many projects( other than automotive work) that I wanted a clear coat on and used autobody master production clear and its pretty nice and economical. Theres other clearcoats on the market tat arent bad price and good quality. Kirker makes some pretty good products and have a nice clear.
As far as that metallic paint messing up electronics I read up a bit.....
I'm askin some others about this but I think the metal flake in metallics isn't metal. There may be some that actually are but I'm not sure. It may be something to do with rattle can paints as i havent sprayed an auto paint that the flake was metal yet.It would be impossible to use metal for flake to achieve all of the crazy colors of flake available.

Some are pearls, some are metal.

I heard catalyzed urethane are bad because it contains isocyanates, which can be absorbed through the skin as well as being a breathing hazard. Which is why they wear full body suits and a fresh air system while spraying it. I think they might have the isocyanate free types that might be less dangerous. Lacquer is good, problem is in some states like CA it is impossible to get them because of environmental laws. I'm not sure what it means by enamel... most enamel I have seen takes forever to dry and it never really dries hard, instead it reaches a hard gum consistency after about 6 months of cure. I've seen enamel where you can add catalysts to it which makes it dry rock hard in a few days.

It's mind boggling that lacquers are banned in some states for being polluting yet they want us to spray stuff that's even worse for your health...

Talkin to a couple people that know more than me on the subject, there are paint manufacturers still using actual metal to create the metallic effect but which ones are not the easiest to find out. Probably best to contact them.
There is a way to get around it but not sure yet with rattle cans, but if using a spray gun it's possible to purchase flake( which is usually a type of plastic) and mix into a clear. Spray one or two coats and then 2 coats of straight clear.

Nathan great job on that metal flake finish. I am looking into a compressor and an HVLP gun as I am looking for that metal flake shine for my Ultimate Darkstar. I. have painted enough rockets now that I want to go to the next level. Do you know what size of tip is on your paint gun? Did you use it for prime, coat & finish? Just trying to figure out if one tip or gun can do it all.

glenbo said:

Nathan great job on that metal flake finish. I am looking into a compressor and an HVLP gun as I am looking for that metal flake shine for my Ultimate Darkstar. I. have painted enough rockets now that I want to go to the next level. Do you know what size of tip is on your paint gun? Did you use it for prime, coat & finish? Just trying to figure out if one tip or gun can do it all.

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I used this spray gun which has a 1.5 mm tip https://www.tcpglobal.com/TCP-G6600-15_2.html?sc=120&category=2665055#.VM-lCC6Ds4M I didn't use the gun for primer, I used the same thing I always use which is Duplicolor high-build filler primer rattle cans. No, one tip can't do it all. To spray high-build primer with a gun you would need a bigger tip, like about 2.2 mm.