Jump to content

Removing Bumps And Splatter


Recommended Posts

OK, I used an acrylic paint from a spray can. Jet black colour.

The result was horrible - lots of bumps (paint drops) and a fair amount of tear drops and splatter.

How to remove the messed up paint? It's thicker than the good layer, of course.

Should I sand the bumps down? What number should the sanding paper be?

How long should I wait until the paint is cured enough to be sandable?

And can I polish the painted body and neck using sanding paper only? I would like to skip the buffing wheel part.

Thanks dudes!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like you have been spraying way to thick of coats!

Sanding it out is fine! If you want to keep the color, start out around 600 grit and see the affect. It may be you will need to go a lower grit if the drops and splatter is that extreme.

You really don't need to use a polishing wheel but using something like Micro Mesh paper up to 12,000 is really close to polished with little buffing needed afterward but you may discover, using a wheel will likely speed up the process conciderably.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for your reply, Gorecki!

Yes, I sprayed it with way too many layers of paint :D

I used a whole spray can for just one body and neck and I suppose that I will have to wait forever untill the paint is cured and ready for sanding.

I will sand the bumps down but I am afraid that I could over-sand the good layer and the wood would pop out under it :D

Isn't grit 600 too coarse? I'm so afraid of ruining the stuff...

I don't want to apply any new layers over the sanded ones.

PS:

Some people claim that acrylic paint cures very fast but in my case the layers are to thick, so I believe I will have to wait a month or two before it's redy for sanding.

What do you think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for your reply, Gorecki!

Yes, I sprayed it with way too many layers of paint :D

I used a whole spray can for just one body and neck and I suppose that I will have to wait forever untill the paint is cured and ready for sanding.

Sounds to me like you need to take a trip to the tutorials section...there's some excellent info on finishing your guitar. Maiden69 wrote an excellent step-by-step for the sanding/sealing/painting part, really helped me a lot, you should be able to find it.

You should also go to the main Project Guitar site. Also have a search through this section for a link for Stewmac's "Trade Secrets". And then there's reranch 101 (sorry, no direct links, I'm feeling too lazy right now).

And after you've read all that, you can consider sanding back the paint and starting all over again. Yeah, I know, but you'll get a better-looking guitar out of it. Look at this first try as a learning experience.

For one thing: you don't need a lot of color coat. That's just there to give the guitar color. It dries pretty fast, a day or so does it. What comes next is the CLEAR coat --and getting that on is an art in itself. Once you have that on, you'll have a good two weeks to a month of waiting.

I'm just a beginner at this myself --but some of the people in this forum are amazing at finishing guitars. Many of them have put up all the info you need to know...and I got plenty of help and advice when I was finishing my first guitar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't grit 600 too coarse? I'm so afraid of ruining the stuff...

I don't want to apply any new layers over the sanded ones.

PS:

Some people claim that acrylic paint cures very fast but in my case the layers are to thick, so I believe I will have to wait a month or two before it's redy for sanding.

What do you think?

You can start higher than 600 but I've never seen anything below 600 take out a drip within the same day. :D

My experience has been acrylic doesn't cure very quickly, especially the thicker it is without more dry time between coats.

You must have sprayed extremely quickly because one can is hardly enough most often a few cans...at least as clear coats go. I would let it cure for at least one month before sanding.

As idch mentioned, http://www.reranch.com has a great method tutorial on painting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:D

NICE GOREKI!!! :D

But yes you are right Goreki, acrylic doesnt dry fast without proper spraying. On my Kramer project i had to spray the color(metallic silver) very lightly in multi coats, but it was rock hard within 2 days. Also you have to consider what the conditions were where you sprayed.

Don't forget to use a sanding block if you are going to attempt to salvage your guitar B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

lots of bumps (paint drops) and a fair amount of tear drops and splatter.

What is the average height of these bumps etc? If they are bigger than 1 mm. then I would use a bit coarser than 600 grit. But better safe than sorry, try the 600 first and if you find they aren't going down very fast and your paper is clogging give it a few swipes with 320 then work it up to a finer grit. Be sure to use a block on the flat areas.

And as far as rattle cans go, keep shaking them! And when you get about 3/4 thru the can set it aside for some other use and grab a fresh can. Thats when all the spitting starts, because you have less pressure.

Edited by Southpa
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Southpa, you are right, the can started spitting big drops after some use (it was at the very beginning - the can was almost full to the top). But when I discovered what was causing the annoying spitting, it was too late and everything was already messed up.

When the can starts spitting, you have to turn the nozzle clockwise or couter-clockwise (it really desn't matter) and continue spraying without spitting.

This worked for my spray can (a Greek piece of utter junk, I should't have bought a Greek product and I will never do it again)

Shaking the can only helps you keep the paint well mixed.

I asked several guys that are into car painting about spray cans and every single one of them laughed hard in my face. :D

Edited by DrummerDude
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I asked several guys that are into car painting about spray cans and every single one of them laughed hard in my face.

Ya have to remember these guys think in terms of cars not guitars. :D I've had good and bad rattlecans myself. I usually keep a chunk of cardboard near me and give it a quick blast to clear the nozzle and make sure its working right before shooting the guitar.

And there are some brands that use MUCH better nozzles that have adjustable fan for shooting up/down or sideways. They just pop off and can be used in place of those cheap conical spray nozzles.

Edited by Southpa
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...