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Hair In The Clear Coat


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Hello all,

This is my first post on the forum so bear with me...

I'm working on finishing a guitar I built with nitro. I finished all the color coats and just started clear coating it. It seems like no matter how meticulously I search the guitar and remove hair, dust, and debris before spraying, no matter what, when I spray the hairs and dust fly at my guitar like missiles and get lodged in the clear. I've also tried blowing out the cavities with air, and wiping over the guitar with a tack cloth. I'm spraying in a booth I have set up in my basement with plastic draped from the ceiling and a shop-vac to vent out the fumes.

Any tips on how to avoid getting hair and dust in my would-be perfect finish?

Thanks for the help!!!

p.s. I can get pics posted soon if anybody's curious. I've got a pretty ambitious five color scheme going.

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Hello all,

This is my first post on the forum so bear with me...

I'm working on finishing a guitar I built with nitro. I finished all the color coats and just started clear coating it. It seems like no matter how meticulously I search the guitar and remove hair, dust, and debris before spraying, no matter what, when I spray the hairs and dust fly at my guitar like missiles and get lodged in the clear. I've also tried blowing out the cavities with air, and wiping over the guitar with a tack cloth. I'm spraying in a booth I have set up in my basement with plastic draped from the ceiling and a shop-vac to vent out the fumes.

Any tips on how to avoid getting hair and dust in my would-be perfect finish?

Thanks for the help!!!

p.s. I can get pics posted soon if anybody's curious. I've got a pretty ambitious five color scheme going.

Move your finishing operations somewhere else, LOL

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Bro when you spray you actually create a static charge and any fibres will stick to the finish or are drawn to it like a magnet! Spray elsewhere and wear a paper overall and don't spray in that nice wool jumper, wear cotton underneath your overall as well sounds daft but they will find their way onto the finish, hope this helps.

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Well - the first thing I would do is move the nitro operation outdoors - or at least out in the garage where fumes won't collect in the house. If you and your housemates aren't dead within 5 years I'll be surprised.

After that - most good spray booths actually push air through a filter and then into the booth, i.e. the booth has air flowing out of it. You'd like to vent the fumes but if you're also pulling air out, then you need to adjust the CFMs of the "push" and "pull" fans so that you have positive pressure inside the booth, i.e. you're pushing more air in than you're pulling out. The air that isn't vented will escape the booth outward.

With your shop vac setup, you're actually pulling air into the booth - and you see the result.

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I am not familiar with Nitro, but I use 2 part automotive clears. Since I need to cut/buff them anyway - lint, dust, bugs, etc. really don't mean a thing. They are just on the surface, and when I start the cutting process with my 1000 grit paper - it removes it all. If Nitro needs cutting and buffing as well - I wouldn't think you don't need to worry about it - unless they are deep in there. In which case - sounds like you need a different room to paint in. Or get a good vent system going that sucks everything out of the room while you are painting.

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Take a spray bottle and lightly spray down the floor and walls of your booth with water before painting.

The water will help control the dust and debre and keep it away from your paintjob.

It also helps prevent static charge. :D

Edited by DGW
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Get busy and clean your basement. And those paper coveralls you see painters wearing aren't just to prevent them from getting their clothes dirty. They also prevent dust, lint ...and hair from contaminating the work.

So true .... that's why I paint naked. :D

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So true .... that's why I paint naked. :D

A thong may be a better choice. You don't want to gum up the works. LOL :D

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Get busy and clean your basement. And those paper coveralls you see painters wearing aren't just to prevent them from getting their clothes dirty. They also prevent dust, lint ...and hair from contaminating the work.

So true .... that's why I paint naked. :D

But that doesn't work for me, I'm too hairy. My friends call me a baby gorilla. I probably contribute more hair to the house than the dog. Even the Borat thong won't help.

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Are you sure it's actually hair? nitrocellulose is naturally hairy and sometimes little strands stick together in the air as you're spraying and look like hair on the finish, but it'll just redisolve in the next coat. I've airbrushed with lacquer paint and when it's not thin enough it completely dries in the air and comes out like spiderwebs.

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nitrocellulose is naturally hairy

huh??!!

I know, you cant make a statement like that without being able to back it up, so here's a picture of some red lacquer i just sprayed (which i intentionally sprayed badly to show this effect): hairy lacquer

If it starts to dry out in the air it likes to stick together in long hair-like strands as opposed to blobs, so = hairy :D

It looks like you've sprayed paint onto dust that was already there, but really it's the paint itself.

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nitrocellulose is naturally hairy

huh??!!

I know, you cant make a statement like that without being able to back it up, so here's a picture of some red lacquer i just sprayed (which i intentionally sprayed badly to show this effect): hairy lacquer

If it starts to dry out in the air it likes to stick together in long hair-like strands as opposed to blobs, so = hairy :D

It looks like you've sprayed paint onto dust that was already there, but really it's the paint itself.

Me thinks what you're seeing is just the fibers from the cardboard you sprayed it on. :D

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nitrocellulose is naturally hairy

huh??!!

I know, you cant make a statement like that without being able to back it up, so here's a picture of some red lacquer i just sprayed (which i intentionally sprayed badly to show this effect): hairy lacquer

If it starts to dry out in the air it likes to stick together in long hair-like strands as opposed to blobs, so = hairy :D

It looks like you've sprayed paint onto dust that was already there, but really it's the paint itself.

Me thinks what you're seeing is just the fibers from the cardboard you sprayed it on. :D

Would you like to see the same picture with a spray on plastic ? Believe what you want... my 2 cents is if you've done everything to keep dust away and it still looks dusty, it's probably just the lacquer so don't worry about it. You can lightly sand the strands off when it dries.

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