Will air pressure, pattern or paint "cocktail" affect this?

along with a few other things, tip size on gun being one. if the paint is too thick for the tip being used the paint wont atomize enough- the gun will throw out little spatters/globs of paint- and leave what youre seeing, which is called orange peel.
, PSI at the gun( not sure what gun youre using but 60psi seems awefully high). fluid control, fan pattern all have to be set.
then its up to gun control- distance from surface, speed of movement, and overlap %.

start with the gun- what gun and what tip size?

 

I'm using the purple HF gun and followed the "tune up" procedure. It sprayed the primer like a champ, which is confusing me since it was so much thicker.

I should clarify, 60 psig at my compressor, the gun is dialed a bit back. Would too high of air pressure cause this though? I'm not sure if I'd call this orange peel - its more like sandpaper. I set the pattern to be more scattered than concentrated because I was getting some streaking on my first door, and I was likely too close… like 8" away.

 

Sounds like "Dry Spray", where the paint is atomizing and drying before hitting the surface. Usual fix is a combination of reducing pressure, reducing distance from gun to surface, and thinning the paint more. You want the paint to go on wet and remain that way long enough for it to flow out smooth.

Cheers,
Brad

 

That sounds like what maybe I'm experiencing. This is my first time spraying and I got a false sense of security with the primer because it was so nice.

So, I'll now admit this as everyone can laugh at me, but would this "dry spray" be accelerated if I told you I spraying outsides, about 75-80 deg, in the sun…? (central WI)

Since I have no experience at all with spraying, I'm not sure if its drying TOO fast… For example, I have 5 standard kitchen cabinet doors on a table. I spray them all, and by the time I get done with the last one, the first one is nearly dry - I wouldn't touch it, but I likely could. There might be a spot or two that still have the wet "sheen" look, but mostly dry - that too fast? (My estimate is 5 min or so).

I can for sure thin more and cut back on pressure - I jacked the pressure up because it "felt" like it was working better, plus I was having paint flow issues, which I resolved (glob of dried paint stuck in strainer) - I now use the paper screen funnels when pouring my paint in - there must have been a dried blob in the can that make its way to my cup.

Also, I have 1.5HP 35 gal air compressor that obviously runs enough during my 1.5-2 hr spray campaign - I'm sure that air is getting warmer and warmer over time and likely makes this issue worse?

 

Your comp. is pretty small for what your doing

Try 30-32 psi

You will probably need to cut the paint about 60/40 with that gun (60%paint)

 

maybe I misspoke… I believe its 35 gal… Its about chest high on me (I'm 6' tall). I'll check.

So, that seems like a lot to cut - I hope it doesn't mess with the paint too much. Label says (and gives specs) for spraying, but says thin sparingly with water if needed. Would one cut it 60/40 with floetrol, or should I do mostly water and just a sensible amount of floetrol?

So, in the end, I'll be spraying no matter what - if its rough, well, its rough. It'll still look better than brushing the inlay portion (they are raised panel doors). So, if it ends up rough, would it be possible to sand it down some with a 220 grit (maybe finer?) sandpaper and just lightly roll the raised and flat portions to get the sheen of the door to match that of the cabinet? I have a buddy that used a paperbag and/or cotton cloth to "sand" his stuff between finish coats.

 

60/40 is a lot…...but thats what it will take with your setup.

Your assessment is correct on sanding between coats

you may need 3 or more coats

220 would be about right

 

I'd like to thank everyone for helping me - last night was a 90% success. I started off with thinning 60/40, but it looked way way too thin and I wussed out - so I ended up around 30% water. I adjusted my air pressure down to I believe 40 at the compressor and opened the regulator wide open at the gun, so I was maybe a little shy of 40 at the gun. Holy crap, what a difference. It laid down a gorgeous wet coat that took closer to an 1.5hrs to dry. I was very happy with the results but knew the wife might reject 3-5 of them (out of 39) for further rework (some had some crap in the corners I must have missed when blowing off and wiping down, one of them you can see I did a crap job of sanding etc). I might have really pushed the limits on the weight of the coat though - I didn't have any runs, but there were a few places I was nervous that it would, but it didn't.

I took a peek this morning and everything looks darn good, with the exception of 2 things

1. A few of the doors have a spec of dried paint or a spec of dirt that must have settled on them while drying. I've dealt with this many times with poly, but never paint - Can I take saw a wool cloth or something and lightly buff those little nubs out similar to poly?

2. A few of the raised panel portions look streaky - not like I missed spots while painting (I overalapped and they all have 100% coverage) but more streaky in the terms of sheen. You cannot tell looking straight on, but if you angle the light just right you can see the sheen isn't completely uniform. I am thinking of maybe a quick and dirty final coat, but maybe with less material further distance away for a wider pattern to help "blend" it all together. But if I do this, I'm worried I'll venture down the path of dry spraying again.

 

one thing i am guaranteed- i can clean surfaces and area to have it better than an operating room. pull the trigger on my gun and BAM- dirt appears!
one thing to remember when thinning- it is wise to keep notes on the ratio and be rather precise as if there is touchup necessary, the paint will need to be thinned to the same ratios to get color match.

that streaking might be caused by overspray.

 

Yep, I kept notes (i even had graduation marks on my mixing cup) and made marks on my gun for the settings as well. And, yes, dirt… I blew all the doors off a few days ago, wiped down with a wet rag. I did the same yesterday minutes before shooting, and of course, still got a little crap here and there. and of course the occasional (I think it was only 1 this time) asshole gnat that decides to crash land in my wet paint.

Anything I can do to help this streaking at all? Its not bad…but I notice it, maybe noone else will. My inlaws just got brand new custom cabinets (painted) and paid top dollar, and I could see it on theirs as well…

 

im not sure if it would help with latex paint, but something i do when shooting auto paint thats metallic:
after i get the coat on, i go back and do a mist/dust/fog/ drop coat.costly mistake learning that- i did an 87 blazer in its original brown metallic( not the factory name there. it had a wicked copper/bronze flake that just blasted awesomeness when sun hit it. sprayed the blazer in my booth.very well lit booth,too looked great! then pulled it into the sun- major tiger stripes.) basically wait til the paint flashes, the turn the air pressure up a bit,hold my gun about 2 feet from the panel and shoot the paint in semi fast strokes. ive done it for single stage metallics( and base/clear) and it gets everything even.

im sure someone else with more experience with latex can offer advise.

 

tom, I was thinking the same exact process as you stated. Hopefully this is possible, even after the pant is fully cured.

 

So the doors are done - I took all the advice here and the paint went on nice and wet and no issues…sort of.

I have them all mounted now and they look ok. I'm the biggest critic and my wife only requested I re-do one door (they are raised panel doors and one of them the grain is super heavy on the curved portion of raised part and the paint looks super wavy because there is a light right about it). However, I'm not real happy with the finish on some of them. This water based enamel (Aqua Alkyd by hallman lindsay) takes on a very plastic look when you get it heavy, which occurred on some of the doors. I'm sure to the average person it looks fine, but its bothering me. Really tempted to take some scotchbrite pads to it to maybe take a little of the sheen down or something. Not really sure what to do.