Orange Peel

[brooklyn]

Doing the $50.00 paint job on my FJ40's doors and everything has been going okay, but I just wet sanded them down and have a bit of orange peel and need to know what to do next. Do I know put another coat of paint on them "milk consistency" or do I keep sanding until all the orange peel is gone? I am blending with mineral spirits.

Just don't know if you paint to cover the orange peel.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[Joe Egolf]

I would use a sanding block with 320 or 400 depending on paint thickness and degree of orange peel . I do not think more paint is the answer.

 

[TemeculaTim]

Painting over orange peel will not help much if the surface is not as smooth as possible. My experience has been to wet sand with 1200 grit until smooth and them re-coat. If the orange peel comes back - but not as pronounced-you may be able to polish it out. I use 3M Perfect-It II polish.

remember- finish paint will show even the slightest imperfections in the surface- preparation is 95% of a good paint job.

good Luck,

Tim

 

[abecker]

just painted mine (first time). I found the hard way that whatever your surface looks like the paint will look like. For example I had orange peel in my primer thinking the paint would fill in the low spots. Then painted and it looked exactly like the primer. Had to take that down with 500-600 until the primer was smooth and then paint again. In the end still very minor peel but that can be taken down with 1200-2000 and polished out like Temeculatim said.

have fun. Aaron

 

[brooklyn]

will sand some more...

thanks, I didn't know if the additional paint would fill in some of the orange peel...will sand some more until smooth...i think i should have wet sanded earlier in the process...bu

i really want to learn this technique so I can move on to bigger painting projects...

 

[cruiserbrett]

are you spraying the paint? make sure its thin enough, and that you have enough air pressure, and that the pressure is consistent. Those two factors cause orange peel.


buy a piece of sheetmetal and try thinning the paint. test it on the vertical piece of sheetmetal. testing on horizontal surfaces is of no help.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

CruiserBrett wrote,

"make sure its thin enough, and that you have enough air pressure, and that the pressure is consistent. Those two factors cause orange peel."

Well, that's not correct I'm afraid. While low air pressure can definitely contribute, the main problem is that the paint has been under reduced. The paint comes out of the gun, atomized like little tiny round ball bearings of paint, and hits the surface. Depending upon temperature, humidity and paint mix, the ball bearings of paint will begin to spread out after they hit the painted surface. If there isn't enough solvent in the paint to help it flow enough, or if the solvent flashes off prematurely, the ball bearings of paint spread out and into one another, but only partially. This is what causes the orange peel surface - incompletely spread balls of paint.

Heavy coats should be avoided, and the spray gun should be nice and clean and give a good pattern.

 

[ontherox]

Thin it with laquer thinner not mineral spirits!!

Done a few near show quality jobs with rustoleum,its the only way to go.

 

[okie]

I would use a sanding block with 320 or 400 depending on paint thickness and degree of orange peel . I do not think more paint is the answer.

I hope your not suggesting the 320 to 400 for wet sanding right? seems a little rough to me.

you have a beautiful cruiser by the way

oh i bet you mean 320 for sanding and recoating correct? I think i just misunderstood you.

 

[ontherox]

Yeah 400 wet would be good for recoating,then hit it with some 1000 before buffing...if you plan on doing that anyway?

 

[brooklyn]

laquer thinner

Getting ready to get back to painting - had an issue with a SM420 get in the way, mine died, ordered a NOS, that was bad, got a replacement. One week job turned into 4 weeks.

Never heard using laquer thinner suggestion before. I will check that out...thanks. I have the hard doors completing apart, and want to get the paint done correctly as I have invested in all new door seals.

Don't want to have it come out looking bad -too much prep work has gone into this.

I don't know how anyone paints a complete car/truck over two weekends.