PaintIt

I run about the same on my compressor and gun. I also use a Iwata LPH400 for clear but it is overkill on something like a guitar ora bike frame.

DGW - I think that a 1.4 tip may be your issue. You would need to move pretty quick to not build a really thick coat. I use a 1.0 in my Sata Mini Jet and this allow me to slow down which really helps in the tight areas that get overlap. I am guessing that you see the most pop in areas that get overlapped while clearing and the flatter areas that get sprayed thinner are better.

Ther are a few ways to spra thinner coats - Thinner clear or move faster or both . Adjusting the gun to each method is important but I would not usually go down on air pressure to spray a thick clear thinner. once you get the gun spraying correctly leave it and learnhow to spray with it. I have used the same settings on my gun for about 4 years and it always works. I would suggest that you start doing some practive spraying and get as much gun time as possible.

I would say this is solvent pop and has nothing to do with contaminants. Basically as said before the surface is drying before the clear below can gas out and it causes small bubbles. This can be a issue of the coat thickness or not letting the previous coat flash long enough before recoating. I live in New Orleans and it is hot and humind and I lay it on thick and very rarely see any pop. I like to use the Dupont Chroma clear 7900 which is a 3/1 mix. You do not use any reducer with this clear so the chance for pop is greatly reduced. It can also be reduced some with blender but then you have to spray much thinner and increase the flash times between coats. On the bicycle frames that I paint I use 2 wet coats and flow it like glass and pop has never been a issue. The great thing with the 7900 is the high build with a few coats.

this is a example of my clear with the 7900, 2 coats and no polishing. this is a professional photo shoot from kgsbikes.com . All of the lettering and color is painted also!

I thought about Vinyl too, just can't imagine the fun of weeding it all.

If I did it using vinyl I would then burst it and uses the hexes as a mask and airbrush in the lines. The mask would be way to delicate if you tried to manipulate it as just the lines.

Are you just trying to do the top or back and sides too?

Yeah I would probably use the hexes also and airbrush the gold lines on top of the other colors. The only reason that I would do this is because metallic gold covers in very light coats so it would be easier to bury in clear.

Either way the pieces are transfered using application tape and would not be much different

Id use 1 shot, as I have recomended in the past.

Just use a wax and grease remover first.

I would also use 1 shot if you are looking to do this over the existing finish without relearing or needing to sand. You will also get the cool texture of the raised paint that will simulate blood actually on the guitar. I would thin the paint some to get it to run and splatter easier.

I do have a 52 inch ink jet HP plotter actually.... as well as a couple multifunction HP inkjets

for normal printing. Laser printer though is ancient... not even sure if it works.

Are you you using transparencies then PaintIt?

Edit - Let me add something else in here...

Why "wouldn't" using the technique described here: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/logo.htm

sandwiched in between layers of clear work just as well as other methods described?

My curiosity is getting the better of me.

I have a sign plotter that cuts vinyl paint masking. The artwork is done in a vector format such as corel or illustrator and then the plotter cuts the mask. I do not like using transparencies or water slide if possible to do my work. Almost all of my work is done with paint. I do lettering and patterns daily with paint and masking. If you want a perfect pattern a paint mask of low tack vinyl is prob best but I like using the mesh material as the design is not perfect and gives character.

If you draw the pattern you could get a local sign shop to cut the mask.

If it is supposed to look like the picture then spray the color fades first and then lay down chicken wire, fish net, laundry bag or anything that gives you the desired pattern and spray the black. It will com out excellent. I do it all the time on other types of projects to get patterns.

EDIT -- I looked at the guitar pic an it is different than the photoshop.

Spray gold and then lay down the pattern material and spray the other colors to make your fades. Not very hard as you will find out. Hope you are using a spray gun and not cans though. Also spray straight down into the pattern.

You could get a mask made to do this with relative ease. I cut stuff like this on my plotter all the time also for special effects that require a stuck mask.

I am looking to paint "hot rod" style flames on a guitar body. I was wondering on how I should handle the masking of the flame.

Should I:

1- Prime the body, outline the flame shape with tape then mask the inner portion of the flame with tape and apply color to the rest of the body. If this happens, I would have to then unmask the inner portion of the flame, mask the rest of the body and then color the flame.

2- Prime the entire body. Then put my first layer of color over entire guitar. Once that has cured. One layer of clear, then allow that to cure then outline my flames and mask rest of body. Then I would shoot the flame color.

Which way is better and how long to allow for total cure? I don't want lines to appear in my color coats from masking.

Option 2. If you are using automotive paints no clear would be needed but you need to clear within the MFG window for open time. Usually 24hours. You should not need to sand the base color unless it is out of window.. If it is a metallic color you cannot sand without damaging the flake and having to recoat. I like to use intercoat clear ( clear basecoat ) over anything that needs to stay unclear for awhile and this allows for scuffing without damaging the artwork or basecolors and gives the clear the proper adhesion.

don't know if this will help, but i'm bringing my image to some shop to get it printed into a decal, so i'm guessing that its a printed vinyl decal. any tips/advice/precautions i should know about these things?

to be honest, i'm not sure myself.. i'm guessing its either a water slide decal or the type that people use on cars..

i realize that this question is an extremely dumb and seemingly asked by a retard for people of such superior inteligance such as yours, and so i humbly bow my knee to your evident superiority just to ask you this one question. is it so hard to take some time to answer such a simple question?

Since you asked so nice......

I would cut a paper pattern of what the decal needs to be cut like and then transfer to the decal and cut. If this is a vinyl decal I would use a small amount of soap and water to allow the decal to be positioned perfectly before squeeging it down. If you use water I would use a blow dyer to warm the decal and get it to stick well before removing the application paper from the top of the decal ( if there is any )

I use 2K for my bike plastics and I ran a good quantity of thinner after and I have had no problems with it. If I had an expensive gun, I might go thru the trouble of taking it apart, but my gun is $28 worth, so no biggie...

I have Sata and Iwata guns and I do not dismantle very often. Just run laquer thinner through the gun to ensure that it is clean. I shoot mostly 2k clear and it can sit in the gun for a hour or so with no issues on cleaning. The issue with ultiple coats in hot weather is that the clear does thicken so the last coat may not spray well. If It is a big job I will mix enough for the first coats and then a new batch for the last coat.

If the paint is not metallic it should not be a big issue to scuff t with a scotch bright pad( I would use gold )

Windows can be worked around by using intercoat clear like sg100 from HOK ( I prefer dupont hot clear ) as already mentioned.

What intercoat does is not extend the window but allow you to scuff and not damage the paint or fragile airbrush work.

Now even after 24 hours if you spray intercoat over the base it will melt into the base because the solvents rewet the base and then you would have good adhesion and a fresh in-window surface for the clear. I like to use dupont 222s midcoat adhesion promoter if my base is out of window along with scuffing.

For clearing you should clear with 2-3 wet coats and let dry 24 hour and then sand out all of the peel and imperfections and reclear .

By having a cleared and sanded surface you can get it really clean and the final clear will lay like glass. You could sand and buff the first session of clear but I find it less work to relear adn then sand and buff an almost perfect surface ( if needed )

I paint a lot of odd things so I would say find a shop that does custom work to do your clear if you cannot do it yourself. The for odd shapes they paint the better.

You can buy a foil material from the craft store that is a gold foil and is used over a laser printed image to make the black text gold or whatever color you buy. First you print the image with a laser printer and then you cover the image with this foil and run it through the laser printer again or a laminator to fuse the foil to the toner. This could be done with clear water slide paper for laser printers also.

The sign shops have a material called Sign Gold that is cut on a plotter. This suff is very thin gold leaf material with a adhesive backing and comes in engine turned, plain and and few other finishes. This would be the quickest way.

You could also buy a gold leaf kit at the craft store and do it yourself. Practice first

There are quite a few ways to create a real chrome effect.

I cannot see putting a guitar in a vat of hydrochloric solution to does the nickle and chrome plating ( chrome is clear by the way )

So the options are sprayable chrome systems or Vacuum metalization processes.

Sprayable chrome requires a perfectly polished black paint job that has cured for about 10 days if it is uro paint. The production systems do put out a real looking chrome finish. The mirra chrome and others that you do from a paint gun are not really chrome, just chromeish.

The Vacuum Metallization will also require the part to be prepared perfectly and then sprayed with a copper paint to allow the metallization process to work. Basically they vaporize the metal into a vacuum chamber adn then attract it to the part with electrical currents.

As I said before , very expensive and as others said t may not last due to the wood . I Think that with a Uro primed adn painted boby with clear and ten doing the chome it would not show much of the shrinkage.

chroming non metal objects is not the same as chroming metal.

Most of the systems require a perfectly painted and buffed black surface and then they use a special machine that sprays the chrome material. Alsa corp makes a product called mirra chrome but it really does not look like true chrome, more like shiney alum. they also make a $7000 machine that does a real chrome look.

If you contact Alsacorp.com they will do it for ou or refer to a dealer. I would expect no less than $500 for the process.

yeha i would do it out side for sure

i think there some way out using static currents or somthing to help as well .......not 100% sure though year 10 science is as far as it went for my in affraid

That would be by putting opposite currents through the paint and the body of the guitar IF it was metal. It would work if you gave the paint a negative charge as it came out of the can causing each drop of paint to repel the other spreading out more. But it would also require the guitar to be made of metal to attract the paint, and have a positive charge. I think I'm right?

What about a layer of conductive paint applied before the colour layer?

If you wanted to use this method, then yes. I'm not completely sure that the conductive layer would be needed though. Also, I'm not sure if the advantages are amazing: smooth first coat & paint conservation. If you want to do this, then the most important part would be running a current through the nozzle of the paint can. Also, would this not lead to an attraction by dust for the positively charged particles? All bits of dust have different charges.

I think this is what you are looking for from alsa. Alsa

Only $6000.00. I think I would invest in some sandpaper and polishing compound first.

I was wondering if anybody has tried to do a Rootbeer finish (ala Gibson Les Paul). If so, how did it turn out and would you share the recipe? I am thinking maybe dark brown, sand back and then amber/light brown?

not familar with that finish bu tyou could use rootbeer candy over a gold base to make a sweet color.

If you're using a nitrocellulose lacquer, then here's what I'd do.

I'd get a sanding block, and sand the rear of the headstock with the chip.. but just on the chip end. I'd feather it as I went back towards the middle of the headstock. Use 320 grit paper there. Dont need to take it 100 percent to bare wood, just prelevel the finish to a great extent. Then shoot the end again with two or three coats, and level down again (can do this immediately as its a reverse from drop filling). Reshoot and level. When the bottom "rises up" to the point of being even, reshoot once more and let it sit for several weeks. You might need to relevel it one last time and reshoot it. But in this way, you're "bringing the bottom up and taking the top down at the same time, then adding more thickness. I was shown that by a custom car painter, and used it recently on an L6s top that had some screwholes that I plugged. Drop filling would have taken forever. Just be sure to use a sanding block (I use a rubber 3m one from Home Depot for this sort of thing).

I second this method whether it is nitro or uro.

As for using epoxy I would be cautious since epoxy yellows from uv exposure. I work with a lot of Carbon Fiber and it will yellow if not Cleared with a good auto clear with uv protection or if it is raw carbon it can be protected with 303protectant that is a uv blocker for fabric, fiberglass, etc.

I generally sand with 1500, 2000, 3mtrizac3000 and then regular 3 stages of 3M perfectit compounds. the 3000 makes the surface have a satin shine and make the buffing realy quick.

If you are using uro clear I would say the pitting is solvent pop that has been sanded open. Not familar with laquer clears and if this happends or not. Caused buy not waiting long enough for coats to flash off and little bubles form under the surface and when sanded look like little pits.

Has any one used Alsa's Speed Clear? (Catalyzed PolyUrethane) I will be doing a strat with thier Spectra FX and they reccomend to use thier Speed Clear. I will be using the Killer Kanz. Also, they recommended that I would only need one can of clear, is that going to be enough? I thought I heard that the Poly Urethane goes on heavier than laquers, but don't remember where I saw that.

Thanks,

Scott

I do not use Alsa clear or the Killer Cans but I have several friends that use the spped clear over the mirra chrome. Most only use it to seal the chrome and then go to a regular high build clear. Speed clear does not have the gloss reetention thata slower curing clear has though and will die back. If you are sanding and buffing this should not be a big issue. Most spray cans have about 3 oz of paint in them, not sure on the killer cans. I would think that ou could get a couple coats out of one can.

Not sure all the sizes available in the KK but you could paint several guitars with 2 oz of KK. To use the Kandy Koncentrate you need to buy SG-100 intercoat clear and reducer and mix in about 10% KK. The nice thing is that it sprays and dries just like a basecoat so if you want to do a burst or other work it can be done quickly. If you use the UK Kandy it needs catalyst and a full day to dry but has to be cleared when spraying the candy and will be much thicker.

If you want small amounts check www.coastairbrush.com, they have a full selection of HOK and can set you up.

will it interfere with the kandy and the hardeners in the kandy? it says it can be sprayed over all of there bases, but i guess if i cant spray it over the sealer, i could probably spray clear then kandy, then clear again, right?

If you are using the UK candies from HOK all it is is Clear with Kandy in it. This would be the same over the sealer as Clear. Compatibility with the sealer could be a issue so test it first. I prefer to use candy concentrate or KK from HOK in Intercoat clear as it sprays like a basecoat. You will need to clear your candy in window otherwise it has to be sanded before reclearing.

has anyone done any cool graphics. other than dyes and solid colors. im talking about airbrush work ,etc.

depends on waht you think is cool. I have only done a few guitars but airbrush cool stuff daily.

Frankenstein Guitar

Check my profile and there are some others.

those are so cool. I love the inlays