Orange Peel help

[Jude]

I'm spraying my first body using Preval and nitro thinned 2:1. I'm not the best judge, but I seem to be getting significant Orange peel. I sprayed 4 tinted coats followed by 8 clear coats. If I flat sand, I'm getting into the tinted coats.  Any advice? I'm spraying from about 10" away.

Thanks

[Bizman62]

Almost any lacquer should level by itself to a certain extent when wet. Obviously that didn't happen here.

A friend has an issue with his tinte coats: The tint seems to start bubbling through by some chemical reaction when the lacquer is already semi hard! That's a difficult issue.

For the very basics, spraying the lacquer consists of several interactive elements: Pressure, distance, temperature, viscosity, air v.s. lacquer and hardener. The closer you spray the more hardener you can use and the less pressure you need. The warmer your painting booth the less hardener you need. Spraying in a hot place from far with plenty of hardener using high pressure and much air will make the lacquer drops to partially harden in the air before hitting the surface which will cause a rough finish. Low pressure in a cool space and little hardener will cause runoffs.

 

[ADFinlayson]

Orange peel is the symptom of the lacquer drying on the surface before it has had a chance to level itself out. Try holding the can a bit closer to the work so it has less time to dry in the air, you can also try gently warming the body with a heat gun (very gently) before spraying - obviously i you're using rattle cans, that's a 2 man job.