We're taking the 'Velle to the paint shop this weekend to shoot it. Just finished all the blocking and re-shot it with primer and now we're wet sanding. We're using bc/cc and I've done some practice shooting with it but I've never painted a whole car. We have a booth that a local guy is letting us use for the weekend.
Any tips would be most welcome.
oh yea, we have a cheapo hvlp gun from Harbour Freight and that's what we're using. (Man, I don't want to screw up $300 worth of paint!)

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The ongoing saga of the MALIBRUISER 70 SS fake
MALIBRUISER (http://www.motorhead.iwarp.com)

At least you asked before you started.
Sometimes it is easier to paint a car in parts. If you can get the fenders, doors, deck, and hood off, then do it that way. You just need to be careful when putting them back on. If not start at the top of the car and near the drip rail. Paint front to back out to the center of the top overlapping each pass by about 1/3 the width of the spray pattern.
When you get to where you can't reach, RUN to the other side of the car and start where you left off. You should finish on the drip rail on that side. Paint the hood and deck next. Then the sides, one panel at a time, overlapping the previous panel. Put at least 3 coats of paint on the car.

Don't worry if you get a run.
You are most likely going to color sand or wet sand the paint before clear or buffing.

Try to avoid orange peel, but it will be hard to do with that cheap gun. Run your air pressure as high as high as required to get good atomization. Test it on a piece of cardboard or something. If you get some orange peel, don't worry. With 3 coats of paint, there will be enough to block with 600 or 800 to get rid of it. Use some liquid dish soap in the water to help stop the paper from grabbing or loading up. Keep the water on it!

If you are going to clear afterword, give the base coat at least 12 hours if you have used hardener. 48 hours if no hardener.

Be sure to mix the paint correctly using the components recomended on the can.

Pay attention to the temperature in the booth at spray time. If it is too hot, don'e spray. I orange peeled the krap out of a buddies car because I was using medium temp reducer and it was 95 deg in the booth. One advantage though, there was no way it would run. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif

Get some cheap coveralls for paint booths.
You would be surprised how much lint comes off your clothes while painting.

Use a tack cloth immediatly before shooting first coat.

Have a helper manage the hose for you.

Get a short step stool that you can stand on to do the top.

That's all my advice.

Good luck, and remember. You really can't goof it up to where it can't be fixed or blocked and buffed. As a matter of fact, most really nice paint jobs are blocked and buffed.

Dave

Just a comment about the time between base and clear. I am using DuPont Chroma system and the spec sheets say the clear must be sprayed over the base in a day or less. Read the instructions on your product!

I shot the jambs, under the decklid, etc this weekend and the base dries really fast which would make it difficult to get runs. The clear dried much slower, so I will have to be cautious about runs.

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1968 Chevelle SS396 - Yellow 4 speed, air, factory Buick interior
1998 Camaro Z28 - 6 speed
1999 Nissan Maxima SE - 5 speed
2000 Passat Wagon - 5 speed tip

Thanks for the info. We'll be doing the whole thing in one day because it was hard to even find anyone who would let us use a booth, and he finally did it reluctantly. We might re-think it and block before the clear. I'm sure that would make a better job. I'll have to read the can and see what it says about time between bc and cc. It's not a show car but it has about 2 or three months worth of body work in it. I can't count the number of times we just had to stop and entirely re-do a section because it wasn't quite right. Geeze, it's still not perfect but it's still pretty straight. The way I figure it your own labor is basically free. Well, back to sanding...


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The ongoing saga of the MALIBRUISER 70 SS fake
MALIBRUISER (http://www.motorhead.iwarp.com)

I agree with Gary. REad the directions on the cans, and also get the literature from your paint jobber. I use strictly DuPont Chroma Base also and wait usuall about 2 hours before putting down the clear. If you wait too long it will start to cure and there will be no roughness too the base coat. If that happens you have to lightly scuff the base coat to get the clear to stick to it.

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Mat Ellison
Lincoln, Ne
70 SS 396 Chevelle
62 Impala Sport Coupe
2001 Grand Prix GT
Aces #2424
http://www.geocities.com/elliboom/Mats_70_Chevelle.html?994781720927

Hoffman-First and foremost, contact the person which sold you the paint and make sure you have P-sheets or bulletin sheets on ALL of the products you're using. Follow them to the letter. For example, PPG paint, you wait 20 minutes or so before applying the clear, but follow the sheets. Second, if you can borrow the painters gun and have him show you how to use it you would be better of them a cheap gun. It may be worth it to pay the painter 100 bucks to stand around while you shoot it so he can give you advice. You might even learn something in the end. Don't worry about the orange peel, that will come out when you color sand. One more thing, it a good idea to nib down any impuraties before he spray your last coat of color. 1000 wet should do it, 600 for larger stuff. Take your time.

It's DuPont Nason base with Chromaclear clear. I haven't read the can yet but I will meditate on it for awhile before this weekend.

Thanks guys. We thought about paying someone to shoot it but we havn't payed anyone yet and that includes engine, trans and rearend rebuild as well as replacing a rear quarter. The guy who is letting us use his shop is a manager and doesn't know squat about painting, so as usual we are on our own. I thought about borrowing a gun but I have a lot of time with the one we have. It is the only one I have ever fooled with. Using it is also a kind of macho budget DIY thing.

first and foremost, read the techsheets.. Anything anyone tells you here is bunk unless it comes from the tech sheet!!!! when you are ready, take the sprayer (empty) and walk the car as if you were going to paint it! Keep the gun 6 to 8 inches from the surface, and keep the gun parallell to the surface at all times. don't move the gun in an arc. Imagine you are painting a brick! start at the roof, work into the drip rail, and under drip rail into window openings (basically go top down on paint. Make sure you know where your hose is at ALL times! a littl rub in the paint will be the death of you http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif if at all possible get the car off the wheels and onto jackstands to make the wheel lips more accessable! Take your time spray light to medium coats, it's easier to add more paint than it is to deal with runs! Average tack time (to recoat) is 15 minutes for most paint in optimal conditions! some paint will go on real nice and in your 15-20 minute flash time will run like the dickens.. so be careful.. Make sure you tape off everything you do not want painted.. and go to the floor with your paper! Good Luck!

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X-Ray View of my Chevelle :D (http://www.normieschevelle.com/sideview.jpg)
Getting Closer (http://www.normieschevelle.com/passfull.jpg)
my baby in primer (http://www.normieschevelle.com/prime/primerdrv.jpg)

Of course you get a crash course in MARTINSR'S "Basics if Basics"! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif Listen you have some super recommendations here. If I may add, take your time, there is not reason to get in a rush. Spray all the edges on each panel you shoot FIRST. In other words when you start to spray the fender, first get under the lip and the bottom edges, THEN apply the paint across the fender. Try not to break the stroke right at the seams of panels, go past them or stop short. It is very common to build up too much at the edges and get runs. Wash the car good and BLOW IT OFF, every single crack AND under the body, wheel wells, grille, taillamps, etc. As a painter I used to prep under would make me repeat like a private in boot camp. "You can never get a car too clean" "I CAN'T HERE YOU"!!! "YOU CAN NEVER GET A CAR TOO CLEAN, SIR"!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Painting basics
Being HVLP and low VOC products are the way the industry’s going I will be referring to them in this discussion on painting and paint guns. Most all basic issues dealing with HVLP can be applied to conventional guns, atomization is atomization. The HVLP just arrives at it differently.

The object of the spray gun is to break up the primer/sealer/paint/clear (I will call this “PSPC” from here out) into small particles and lay them in neat little rows on the panel being PSPRed. So the whole outcome rests on how well the gun is doing this. Picture the droplets of PSPC coming out of the fluid tip of the gun and then the air “slapping” them into smaller droplets.

You have two things that help you with this process, air and solvent. Solvent can mean something that is already in the PSPR from the manufacture or something the manufacture has told you to add to it. By the way, you should always mix in proper ratios as instructed in the tech sheet. The thinner (less viscosity) you get the PSPR or the more air you have at the fluid tip of the gun the more it will break up the PSPR. The target for you is getting the perfect balance needed. Too much solvent and the PSPR will have no body, fill, durability, etc. Too much air and you blow the PSPR everywhere but the car, poor adhesion, excessive texture, etc.

So, the answer is proper air supply and gun (and fluid tip) choice and how you adjust it.

With today’s high solids-low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound, you know the bad stuff that goes up into the air we breathe) products there is less solvent. And with HVLP guns there is less air at the cap to break up the PSPC, proper air supply and gun setup is more important than ever.

FIRST THINGS FIRST, your compressor and air supply.

An HVLP gun requires more VOLUME of air to operate (the V in HVLP, High Volume Low Pressure). Now you may notice that your HVLP gun is adjusted at maybe the same PSI as an old conventional gun, around 50 lbs at the gun (many HVLP guns are set at much lower though) so where is the “Low” in PSI they are talking about? It is at the actual air cap where the air and paint come out. An HVLP gun has only 10 lbs at the cap while a conventional has upwards of 50! So the VOLUME of air (CFM, Cubic Feet per Minute) is the key to proper atomization with an HVLP.

If you have a gun that requires 15 CFM you will need a compressor and plumbing that will produce that at a very minimum. There are HVLP guns that need as little as 7.5 CFM so you can get good results even from a smaller compressor. Air supply is a complete subject by it’s self so lets assume that you have the air supply needed and move on to gun set up.

So atomization is the key, but why? Why can’t you just lay it out wet and let it “flow”, as an old painter will say. Picture a jar full of bb’s, they will represent well small, atomized droplets of PSPC. The gaps in between the bb’s is solvent. Now picture a jar filled with marbles, they will represent large, poorly atomized droplets of PSPC. The gaps in between are, you guessed it, solvent.

If you apply your PSPC in large poorly atomized droplets, what you will have is a film full of solvent. This can and will cause slow curing, shrinkage and dieback (the loss of gloss in the hours and days after application).

So, now that we have learned the need for gun set up, how do we do it? Lets start with the fluid tip choice. The newer high solids low VOC PSPC products need to be broken up more, so a smaller fluid tip is needed.
Basically you want the smallest fluid tip that will still allow you to PSPC the particular part you are PSPCing keeping the entire thing wet and in a fair amount of time. In other words a 1.0 tip would be beautiful for clearing one fender, but would be lousy to paint a complete. The application would be way to slow and the first panel would be way to flashed by the time you got around back to it. So you need to compromise, a 1.3 is a great all around tip, while a 1.5 though getting a little big, can get you by. If you read the tech sheet on the particular product you are shooting, it will have a recommendation for fluid tip size.
There are needs for other tips, for instance when shooting polyester primer you may need as big as a 2.3, but for urethanes and epoxies, the 1.3 or 1.4 will work great. If you plan on using a pressure pot or paint a bus, all bets are off and we would need to study a little bit more.

As an example of the use of a 1.3 tip I did a test once that proved the point well. I shot two panels of metal with a med solids urethane primer. One was shot with a 1.3 super high atomizing top of the line topcoat gun. The other was shot with a 1.5 (or a 1.7 I can’t remember) “hoser” primer gun. Three coats were applied and after a full cure (the one shot with the larger gun took MUCH longer to flash and cure by the way) the film thickness was measured. The one shot with the 1.3 tip was 2 tenths of a MIL thicker! The larger gun laid out the marble sized droplets full of solvent and when the solvent flashed the film shrank.

Air supply is a subject that could fill many pages by it’s self. So we are going to assume you have that covered and move on to gun set up.

You need to “tune” your gun EVERY TIME you use it just as you would tune a guitar before you perform. This is done with a very basic spray out pattern test. This very basic test tells you how your gun is atomizing and you adjust it to achieve the best atomization you can.

Lets do a spray pattern test:

Set the fan width as need (you don’t want to change it after you have “tuned” the gun). Turn out the material knob about 2 ½ turns. This is the “mixture” adjustment, kind of like the idle screw on a carburetor. The farther in it is screwed the lower the fluid to air ratio is and the smaller the droplets will be. The farther out it is, the higher the fluid to air ratio is and the larger the droplets.
Set the air pressure at the inlet to the gun to the manufactures specs. On an HVLP gun this spec is usually found on the gun and is the maximum PSI it can have while still maintaining the maximum 10 lb at the cap for legal HVLP transfer efficiency (68 %). You are now ready to do a test spray out.

Tape a piece of masking paper on the wall for the test. Hold the gun at a right angle to the wall, just as if you were going the wall. Hold the gun at a spread out hands distance (about 8” or 22cm). Pull the trigger to completely open for a split second and then close it. You want an ON-OFF wide open-completely closed in ONE movement. You should have a cigar shaped pattern with complete coverage in the center with fading coverage going away from the full coverage cigar shape in the center. The center should be fully covered without any runs. If you have runs, either you are holding the trigger too long, you are too close or the gun is simply applying too much material. In which case you need to screw in the material knob or turn the air pressure down. But most likely if you have turned the material knob out the 2 ½ turns and the air is set at the factory specs, you are just too close or holding the trigger open too long.

The droplets you see trailing off the center are what you will use to “tune” your gun.

Turn in the material knob to make the droplets smaller (and or raise the air pressure). The balance you need to attain is the smallest droplet size possible before you loose the coverage desired. In other words if you turn in the material knob too far, not enough material will be coming out to cover the panel!

Now, you’ll notice that I said, “raise the pressure to the gun”, while earlier I said to set it to manufactures specs. We are talking a very small adjustment. It is a fine balance in material to air ratio and a little more air than specified is okay. Even if it is an HVLP gun the inlet pressure recommended is to maintain the 10 lb limit at the cap. Well, about three quarters of the country has no regulations for HVLP use so if you go over the 10 lbs all it will do is atomize the material a little better. You may loose a little of the benefits of HVLP though. But remember you have a lot of control with the material adjustment knob.

After you are happy with the droplet size, DON’T TOUCH THE FAN CONTROL. It will change the PSI at the cap and will change the atomization you worked hard to get.
Do this spray out every time you spray as material change, temp, and humidity will necessitate a spray out droplet pattern test. Good luck!


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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

Hoffman, you mentioned blocking before the clear. Under no circumstances should you do this. With some products, Du Pont included, you will cause all kinds of adhesion problems if if you do this, even if you apply another coat of base. With ALL products, sanding the base and not applying more base before clear will result in scratches under the clear that will be just plain ugly. I urge you to take more time to get to know your system. It seems like you are rushing too much and I think you will be sorry in the end.
Gordon VM
Restoration Motorsports

I agree with Gordon, Don't sand the base coat! If there is dirt specs present after shooting the base coat, nib sanding to remove dirt must be followed by more color before clear coating. Please read thru the tech sheets and good luck with your project this weekend!

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Frank Z.
Astro blue 70' El Camino SS 396 project complete!
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/70elky396-front-lh-view.jpg
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/70elky396-front-view.jpg
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/70elky396-lh-front-view.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/my1970ss/

Thanks for all the advice! I printed it out so I can study it in detail. We finished wet sanding using 600 per the manufacturers recomendations. The whole car is about as smooth as a car with faded paint. Man, it looks good! I need to pick up some tech sheets and look over them CAREFULLY. All I got from the paint store were a few cans of paint. This is my first paint job and It sure has been a learning experience.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hoffman7476:
Geeze, it's still not perfect but it's still pretty straight. The way I figure it your own labor is basically free. Well, back to sanding...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

He He

I hope you laid down a guide coat to make sure your straght. I thought mine was straight too before I took it to my dad to
paint..he guide coated it and found about
Fifty small hail dents in mine that he repaired before he shot it..Still missed a few but would have been alot more..I thought it was darn straight when I sent it to him.
I agree don't worry about runs too much..If you don't get a few in the clear then your gun its probably not spraying!! Finish sand the clear and buff it and it will look nice!
Good Luck



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best regards
Importtech

Gordon, that is a very good catch there, you saved hoffman some BIG trouble.

Guys, DON'T EVER SAND BASE unless it specifically says to do so in your tech sheets. Sanding that Chromabase before clear would be a HUGE mistake. Not only would you see the scratches through the clear but you would LOOSE adheasion. Many base coat paints like Chromabase, Sherwin Williams Ultrabase, Martin Senours Tec/BASE CAN NOT BE SANDED. They can have light dirt "nibed" off with 1000 where JUST the dirt is cut down and then more color applied.

But let me tell you, there WILL be some dirt in the paint. I know this sounds like crap but your clear will bury it. Even if you see it in the clear when you are done, you can cut and buff the clear to perfection. So don't freak when you get the color on and there is some dirt or lint particals in the paint. I have "saved" some really dirty paint jobs by buffing. It is true that some colors dirt in certain colors of paint will be seen as a little speck of a different color under the clear. But you did say this is not a show car, you just can't make it flawless. Heck, start looking at the "show cars" real close at the next show you will see these things in the paint believe me.

Heck, at a very respected show here my area (they had their 52nd aniversery this year) there was a new inductee into the hall of fame. The guy IS the painter and known for paint alone. I decided to really get down and study the PAINT, not the wild graffics or striping but the PAINT. It was full of dirt and sand scratches! But at even five feet away this was a "hall of fame" paint job, so don't sweat your little dust in the paint.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

I neglected to say in my first post, I did not use BCC. I used Acrylic Enamel as the color and sprayed some blue pearl urethane over it followed immediatly by urethane clear. I let my base coat dry for a week because the two are not really compatable. Solvent in the base coat will make the clear peel 10 to 12 months later. The automotive companies found this out along with me. I shot my sons truck with black laquer and blocked it out, then sprayed the clear. this was several years ago. The clear is still peeling off. You guys are right about sanding the color coat. If you are not very careful, you will get lines from the build up on the sandpaper. That is what makes the scratch. You can't block it out of the clear either.
I have some nasty ones on my deck lid. The light was bad on that end of the car and I didn't notice until it was cleared. Oh well, nothings perfect. But, I did do it myself and I'm not a professional like Gordon and MRTINSR. By all means, follow the tech sheets on your paint and reducers. Oh, and something
I haven't read here, WEAR A GOOD RESPERATOR! Make sure the cartridges are rated for removing hazardous particals and vapors.

You say this is your first paint job?
Practice on some test panels before you go to the booth.
Good luck.

Dave

Another note: the base coat doesn't usually shine very good when you are spraying it ... don't worry the clear fixes it. If you are spraying metallic paint watch for "striping". If you see your pattern lines developing while your spraying you will have to change your last pass pattern and "mist" on the last coat of color. Also mist your first coat of clear so you don't get the metallic so wet it melts again and leaves a bad pattern. Don't get in a rush and put the clear on to fast. Spray a coat and get outta there and watch the clock. Don't go back and spray earlier then the can says. I even wait another 5 to 10 minutes to make sure all the solvent has escaped from the last coat of clear. When the clear is dry to a light touch it's ready for another coat. If you coat it to early it "solvent pops" and has little craters all over. For mixing paint you can stick a metal ruler in the can to get the right ratios ... you know ..2 parts to 1 part and so on. When putting on the last coat of clear try to spray parts that are hard to buff "wet". These are spots like door jambs, fender extentions, & around the drip rails. It takes practice but don't try and make the clear go on super glossy. Everytime I do that when I come back in the booth I have mud slides (runs). You have to leave the booth with a little texture in the paint....when you return it has flattened out.When you do get a run you can just leave it and sand it out when you buff. I have used masking tape to pull off excess paint from a run ... careful! The paint with hardener in it is okay in the gun for almost four hours, much longer and it hardens. Don't paint your favorite parts the most, like the hood, put even coats on the whole car and start a pattern that you follow with each coat. The rocker panels are hard to get underneath and you can bet when your painted car goes on a lift you will just die at all the spots you missed! I always paint those parts first and make a mental note to hit them with each coat. Air blow yourself off before you go in the booth and wear protection meaning: long sleeves, long pants, at least a cap to keep your hair outta the paint, a good respirator, and stay outta the exhaust fan way so the paint goes out the booth and not on you on it's way out.
You learn something new everytime you paint and I say "GET IN THERE AND HAVE AT IT!!".
Next paint job you do won't hardly scare you at all. Jump in the shower as soon as your done at scrub all that over spray of ya. Sorry about gettin long winded here.

Depending on what company you go with, you can purchase "lock down" type coatings that are meant as a blender. For example, PPG has a DBC 500 that can be applied between color and clear. This allows you to tape off your stripes and keep the color (metalic) from moving or leaving a line prior to clearing. Its also works well to see if your color is matching prior to CC&gt;

Dino, have you read the tech sheet on the DBC500? http://www.ppg.com/refinishftpsite/msds/engusan080800000013767.pdf
That is not a "lock down" coating it is a color blender. It is basicly very "watered down" lacquer clear with a slow solvent for melting the edge of a clear. I would rethink using it as you are, you are basicly putting a lacquer coat in the middle of your urethane bc/cc job!

I have found that if you don't have the time to put down the stripes before clearing, just go ahead and clear it. Then sand the whole thing down and tape off the stripes, unmask and reclear the whole thing. But personally, unless it is a custom job, just bc/cc the whole thing, tape off the stripes and shoot them in SS urethane. If you don't hose on a bunch of color there will be very little edge.


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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

Martin, the reason I like Spies Hecker so much is :
1. The base coat has no window for applying the clear. Actually the window is 20 minutes to infinity.
2. The base coat can be sanded between coats without fear of loss of adhesion
3. The base coat goes on even without dust coats of special efforts to avoid stripeing or blotching.
Gordon VM
Restoration Motorsports

Thanks again guys. Our gun is an hvlp job. It has one knob at the base of the grip right beside the air inlet, one on the left side of the grip and one on the back. I know that the one on the back controls paint volume and the one on the side controls air (Like the mixture screw analagy) but what is the one on the bottom? Could someone describe setting it up again (hint hint Martin http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif explaining the setting of these knobs? Also when the sheet says 45 lbs do they mean when the trigger is depressed or released. The time draws near!

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The ongoing saga of the MALIBRUISER 70 SS fake
MALIBRUISER (http://www.motorhead.iwarp.com)

Martinsr- I would of e-mailed you direct, but I can't from work. Anyway, this is a place to learn. I hate to tell you this, but DBC 500 can be used as a lock down clear. The newly revised tech sheet specifically notes that if your using the product as a "lock down" then you can not base more than 3 coats. I tell you what else you can use it for.(this is great) After the second base coat, cocktail 1/2 of your remaining color with the same amount of reduced DBC 500. Spray this as your final color coat. It prevents modeling of the metallic and assist in blending the colors. It also gives excellent holdout at that stage of painting. I just completed a complete on a 72 El camino and it did exactly what I wanted it to. I am a fan of PPG for these reasons and I would certainly recommend it for someone going two-tone of striping. But in the end, you have to do what is comfortable for you...

Dino, why these companies don't keep thier web sites up to date is beyond me. Sherwin Does the same thing. I have not seen that info, the "updated" tech bulletin http://www.ppg.com/refinishftpsite/docs/tb-062_Deltron_Cut_In_System_for_Replacement_Parts.pd f has nothing about that. They refer to it being a "cut in" clear but that is it.

Gordon, that Spies sounds like super stuff.

Hoffman, all that info is in the "Basics of paint atomization" http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif



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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

So how do you tell what the pressure is at the tip?

Hoffman the only way to tell what pressure you have at the tip is by a special gauge that screws on or clips on the end of the air cap. That will tell what pressure you have, I believe those gauges cost around 40 bucks which was the last time I priced one. Most guns I know of use around 10 lbs at the cap or tip.

The valve at the bottom is how much pressure you have coming into the gun. As for the setting it depends on the brand of gun look at the intructions that came with the gun. The 45lbs is when you have the trigger pulled meaning air is flowing through the gun.

Hoffman I suggest that you have someone in the business show you how to use the gun and set it up. If the settings are wrong your paint job will suffer. I would not just JUMP into this, you need to practice many times before you paint an entire car. Painting a fender and painting a complete car is two totally different things. Spraying a complete car for the first time is very nerve racking and you being a first time painter I take it,I cant imagine.


The use of DBC 500 for a "lock down" coat is not recemmend by PPG. Its just like what martin said used for a blending additive, like if you were clearing a quater but didnt clear the roof or other quarter you would make a blend on the sail panel, the use of DBC 500 would help melt the new clear into the old.

Good luck and happy painting...Eric

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1970 chevelle
1970 chevelle SS455 not a typo its a buick baby
1949 and 1972 chevy trucks
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/sevt_chevelles

Hoffmen, take Erics recommendation and spray some small pieces to get the hang of it.
Eric, what do you mean the first time you paint a complete it's "nerve racking", heck I have been a basket case for years with every complete! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif It just effects me that way, I know it doesn't sound very profesional, just being honest. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif
I don't know of any company that sells those cap pressure guages for only forty bucks, mine as around $105.00! Anyway you don't need it. That is for LEGAL HVLP "proof" only. Just set up the gun to the manufactures recommendation and then use the guide I have outlined in the "Basics". http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

I thought that DBC500 didn't sound like a good idea for laying between your base and clear. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/eek.gif



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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

Martin you got me there...I get nervous as a @hore in chruch even when painting just a fender. You should have seen me the last time a did a complete it was in the dead of winter and I was sweating like a stuck hog just thinking about it and if I remember right I was even taken home by some nice men in bright white coats...LOL.

Hoffman I do body work for a living...am a metal guy that does very little painting now. When i was ready to spray my chevelle I was so nervous about it and havent done it in such a long time that I had our painter paint it for me. Painting is not like riding a bike you must do all the time to remain good, its not easy to learn if you have no one to show you how.

You take the time now you will thank yourself later, please whatever you do dont rush it and dont live by your goals, if you cant meet them so what...Eric

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1970 chevelle
1970 chevelle SS455 not a typo its a buick baby
1949 and 1972 chevy trucks
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/sevt_chevelles

My opinion on DBC550 is this. It's a "band aid" solution to a problem and another un-necessary product for PPG to sell. (You have to know how some of these corporations think). What I mean by this is, PPG base coat is known for blotchiness, mottelling, and a rough texture. That's why it can't be blended without dust coats, DBC500, etc. Also PPG is very poor at color matching, making blending more difficult.
On my soapbox again: Spies Hecker base coat matches matches better than any other product that I have used, covers in 2 to 3 coats without any special tinted sealers (read, more product for Du Pont to sell-value shading), can be re-sanded and re-coated without fear of loss of adhesion, can be clear coated within 2o minutes or days if necessary. It's texture matches perfectly even on high-end European cars and can be blended without any unnecessary products like DBC or DBU500.
Martin, I hope you get a chance to try and use Spies soon. You will be amazed, and will throw everything you have used in the past in the garbage. This product is more user friendly throughout the whole priming and painting process than everything out there. Call me sometime if you care to chat further about this. 708- 371-3790
Gordon VM
Restoration Motorsports http://groups.msn.com/Restorationphotos/shoebox.msnw?Page=1