Spraying paint at home advice?

[shadango]

Well, at least I tried.

I have spent weeks of spare time on the hood/scoop project.  Got it to the point of being ready for color coat saturday morning.

Got up with the roosters and sprayed it.

Thought it laid out great.

Then I realized it hadn't.

The first foor of the hood i sprayed is PERFECT..literally perfect.......then it goes to hell.

Had two passes that got "sandy".......and even though I laid on two coats in different directions, I still have some tiger striping.

And the scoop looks like crap.....like it has no color on it at all, and I KNOW I watched the color lay on it when I sprayed it on.

Not sure what the problem was.....weather? Humidity? technique? mix? spray gun?  air? quality of air?

Trying to decide what to do...

....buy more paint ($70 at least) and try again is the cheapest route but whats the point without knowing what I did wrong.....

....sand it back down and farm out the final color spray to a real painter......$$$

....sand it down some and get it wrapped.....

I am disappointed....I really thought I could do it.....   

[dodj]

I am disappointed....I really thought I could do it.....   

You can. You laid down perfect paint at the beginning right? So you CAN do it. Maybe it was the mix in the cup, I don't know but if it were me I would try to find out what changed, correct it, and try again.

[shadango]

I had similar issues with the primer coats and was trying to solve the issue each coat..   

Obviously I didn't find the issue.

[Rdchallenger12]

And this to me is what I am terrified the most about doing my car having never painted one... Keep going back and forth on giving it a shot or forking out the $$$

[shadango]

Exactly.

It's like gambling......will the next hand be the winner or the one after that?  Lol

[turbostang7]

I saw on another thread that you were using a Harbor Freight gun, I have never had luck with those. It always tiger striped no matter what I set it at.
you could get a really nice fan pattern on the test panel but as soon as you walked over to the actual project it was off again. Could be your issue.

[shadango]

I saw on another thread that you were using a Harbor Freight gun, I have never had luck with those. It always tiger striped no matter what I set it at.
you could get a really nice fan pattern on the test panel but as soon as you walked over to the actual project it was off again. Could be your issue.

Yeah I was wondering too.....though they say 'A poor craftsman blames the tool"...LOL.....

Still, spend $100 more for paint and another $150 for a new (non harbor freight) gun to try again?

 

[turbostang7]

at that point you are almost to the cost of a professional spraying just a hood.

[rhamson]

Well, at least I tried.

I have spent weeks of spare time on the hood/scoop project.  Got it to the point of being ready for color coat saturday morning.

Got up with the roosters and sprayed it.

Thought it laid out great.

Then I realized it hadn't.

The first foor of the hood i sprayed is PERFECT..literally perfect.......then it goes to hell.

Had two passes that got "sandy".......and even though I laid on two coats in different directions, I still have some tiger striping.

And the scoop looks like crap.....like it has no color on it at all, and I KNOW I watched the color lay on it when I sprayed it on.

Not sure what the problem was.....weather? Humidity? technique? mix? spray gun?  air? quality of air?

Trying to decide what to do...

....buy more paint ($70 at least) and try again is the cheapest route but whats the point without knowing what I did wrong.....

....sand it back down and farm out the final color spray to a real painter......$$$

....sand it down some and get it wrapped.....

I am disappointed....I really thought I could do it.....   

It sounds like an overlap problem to me. I try to adjust the volume to a misting fan while half lapping the pass. The first car I painted tiger striped and I came back over it in a closer pattern which solved the problem. The HVLP guns will reduce the over spray while the siphon cup sprayers will shoot more paint in a smaller section. Even coats are based on overlaps.