Automotive Clearcoat w/ hardener?

Boomyal

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I just got done repairing and painting two fenders from a Harley, that got beaten to death in a fall off of a trailer loading ramp. It took a long time but I am very proud of the results. They are black and they look real good after their paint job.

My question is, how long should I wait before going after them with a polishing wheel and cutting agent. I used three base coats and five clear coats. It has been three hours and I can now touch them. I wouldn't want to handle them yet as I feel they would still print. I had one minor sag of the clearcoat which needs to be color sanded out and minimal orange peel.

How long should I wait?
 

MTboatguy

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What type of paint is it Boom? And are you air drying, or using heat lamps to dry?, is it regular automotive paint? And beings I am very familiar with most of the paint shops in Vancouver, Who did you get it from?
 
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Scott Danforth

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I myself spray ppg products (Ditzler). however even with the hardener, I let the paint cure for a few days prior to wet sanding and buffing.
 

Boomyal

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What type of paint is it Boom? And are you air drying, or using heat lamps to dry?, is it regular automotive paint? And beings I am very familiar with most of the paint shops in Vancouver, Who did you get it from?

Bob's Paintland, of course, MT. Corner of 99th and Hwy 99. It was whatever they sell for automotive base coat/clear coat. Nice thing about Bobs is that when they can, they will sell you pints. The base coat got thinned with medium reducer, 1 to 1. The clear coat used 4 parts clear and one part hardener. They came out pretty darn shiny, but I have one sag that needs wet sanded and a wee bit of orange peel that will disappear under the wheel.
 
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Boomyal

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I myself spray ppg products (Ditzler). however even with the hardener, I let the paint cure for a few days prior to wet sanding and buffing.

The paint vendor told me 3 days but I had always thought it was like 2 weeks.
 

MTboatguy

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I have bought a lot of paint from Bob's, they are very good at what they do, I would give it at least a week before I started sanding on it, also when I was young, we used to paint spare pieces of metal and get runs on purpose, so we could test sanding at different stages that way we knew when we could sand the final product.

How has the humidity been there lately, even with auto paints with hardener in them, the humidity will make a difference.

By the way, right after I retired, I did a couple of months working at the RV shop behind Fat Dave's on that corner, and my job...I repaired bodies on RV's and Painted them. So like I said, I bought a lot of paint at Bob's.
 

Boomyal

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The humidity was low today plus I had a fresh filter on the HVLP gun, However, on one of the early coats of clear, there appeared a water droplet on the paint. My friend asked when the last time I drained the compressor tank..It had been forever. We opened the valve and nothing came out, We stuck a little screwdriver up in the valve and probably a pint of the ugliest liquid started to ooze out of the tank. After that, we had no issues. Three hours after painting, you could touch the surface without any tackyness.

 

Bob_VT

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Those look great. LOL yup draining compressors and water filters are a must in my book. Black is a tough color to get correct.
 

bruceb58

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You need to drain your compressor daily after each use.
 

Boomyal

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........Those look great........ Black is a tough color to get correct.

Thanks, Bob. That's what my friend and I concluded. If we did that well with black just about anything else would be possible. I went back out this morning and looked them over. They are so near perfect I am not even sure I want to do anything more to them. The one little sag I have, on the back trailing edge of the front fender is hardly even noticable.
 

bruceb58

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Maybe. I have a mechanical engineer friend that had to do expert witness testimony on a tank explosion from someone who didn't drain his tank every day. Made a big impression on me.
 

MTboatguy

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Boom, I have seen several pictures of portables with auto drainers on them, there should be no reason that you can't put one on it.
 

Boomyal

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Maybe. I have a mechanical engineer friend that had to do expert witness testimony on a tank explosion from someone who didn't drain his tank every day. Made a big impression on me.

Yes! I have been remiss. But it is such a pain to get down on my knees and figure out which direction to turn that valve and then have to use channel locks to finally open it.
 

Tim Frank

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My portable has a 2' piece of 5/16" reinforced clear vinyl tubing attached to the tank drain. I moved the drain **** to the end of the tubing.
Easy access so i am not tempted to skimp on draining.
 

bruceb58

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My portable has a 2' piece of 5/16" reinforced clear vinyl tubing attached to the tank drain. I moved the drain **** to the end of the tubing.
Easy access so i am not tempted to skimp on draining.

What pressure is that tubing rated for?
 
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