When I shot the first round of sheet metal for the Diamond T pickup, I used a "new" paint gun that my wife had bought at a yard sale (I know, I know, hammer me for using cheap junk, but I'd feel uncomfortable with good equipment ). It's a NAPA gun, and seemed to work just fine, and it clearly never been used. I mixed up the first batch of color, poured it thru a strainer, and shot the tailgate. Immediately, the paint "fish-eyed", terribly. My first thought was that the prep cleaner solvent wasn't dried and wiped off, or the water separater maybe needed drained. No on both counts. I ended up washing the tailgate down with laquier thinner, tried again, same thing. Instant fish-eyes. I reduced another cup of paint, and used my old "Sharpe" gun, no problems. As an experiment, I dumped the paint from the "new" gun, shot in a headlight bracket, no fish-eyes. When I finished with the color coat, I tried a cup of clear in the new gun, foolishly on the left front fender. This after a careful rinse and cleaning of the gun, and yes, it still fish-eyed, but not as badly. Again, I dumped the contents of the cup into the other gun, no problem. The few fish-eyes in the fender will sand and polish out. After letting that coat tack, they covered. I think, I'm not gonna stress about that right now. If I have to I'll scruff the fender and re-clear it. When I finished up, I think I found the culprit. The NAPA gun has a little br*** screen in the pickup tube. This thing LOOKED clean, but after being used on the first round of painting, it must have had little bits of catalyzed paint, or maybe even bits of corrosion (it had turned sort of black) that ended up with the gun spraying contaminants. Without that in, I shot some clear on the inside panels of the box (over the epoxy primer, these are hidden) and no fish-eyes. I've never had this problem, and admittedly I've been using the old Sharpe gun for 25 years and I only paint once or twice a year. I'm the first to admit I don't know what I'm doing, but this was a new item on the list of horrible errors for me. Brian The close up of the fender you can see a couple of "pimples" that I think will polish out. In any case, they're down in the "shadow" of the fender under the headlight, and behind the bumper.
wow , what a drag. I was going to suggest something that the previous owner used to clean it with may be contaminating your gun.. sounds like you found the culprit...?
did you clean the gun before using it?sounds like it could be oil from the factory to preserve the gun for shelf life.just a guess.
Yeah, I shot some laquer thinner thru it the first time before I used it, and had no problems shooting the other parts (hood, grill shell, running boards, inner fenders, headlight buckets and some other little parts). I cleaned it carefully with laquer thinner after using it, and was really shocked when I had the fish-eye problem. I've had basecoat fisheye on a panel I'd just wiped down with prep-sol and hadn't quite flashed off before, and thought that was maybe what happened here, but the problem I'm sure was that little screen being contaminated with what was probably microscopic bits of paint (clear being the last I'd used) coming off it. Brian
Looks good to me Brian. You know we are living parallel lives half a world apart. Get it nearly right, stuff it up, scratch your head, do it again (not quite as well as the first time), and then call it good enough. Pete
heres some good advice for you; don't buy anything from NAPA if you're expecting quality in return....because y ou won't get it. everything is cheap and 99% of their stuff comes from china. spend the money and invest in a nice gun.
You need to look at the degreaser that you are wiping your panels down with. The Duplicolor **** from the auto parts store is horrible. I tried using it once, and it wouldn't evaporate. Make sure you use a good quality degreaser from the auto paint supply. I wouldn't think it's because of your gun, it has to be your panels. Unless your air is introducing oil or water into your paint. Also make sure your air supply is dry and oil free.
mine dont shoot fisheyes but it does shoot dust and the paint they sell around here has a gravity problem. some times it is pulled to the floor. i know it has nothing to do with the mixture or the shooter or the whiskey.!
brian, glad you figured out the problem, because fish eye can be a pain in the *** to remove if too many and too deep. a little tip for any deep fish eye, mix up a little clear with your hardner and reducer, and take a straight pin, dip the tip of the pin in the mixed clear, and then hold the pin in the middle of your fisheye and let the drop of clear roll off the pin into the fisheye. let the clear completely dry and then sand smooth with the rest of the panel and buff.
LOL, I know the gun isn't anywhere near the quality as the Sharpe gun I've been using, which isn't any good either, but it does shoot primer nicely. No more using it for color, and I've thrown all the little br*** pickup screens away too! Actually, I only used it so as to be able to tell my wife I'd used the gun she bought for me. Nobody in the shop but me, no silicone, no WD40 anywhere near the part of the shop I paint in. The paint I dumped from the fish-eye gun into the one I always use didn't fish eye, so I know it's nothing in the paint, nothing in the (new) guns cup. It was the little screen. If all my projects went together without some horrible calamity at every stage, I wouldn't have anything to talk about here! Brian
Fish eyes can be caused by contamination in the gun, contamination(most likely water or oil) in the air, the surface being sprayed could be contaminated, it could even be something wrong with the material being sprayed. Glad you found the problem. The air control side of a gun(usually a seal) can get stiff. Sometimes people incorrectly lube them with oil.
LOL, looking at the pictures now, of my "paint booth", it's a wonder there isn't more **** and dirt in the paint than there is. I only had one winged insect dive bomb one rear fender, and was able to pluck him off, leaving only a couple of legs, that I just buried in clear!
It has to be silicone contamination. Silicone is the only thing that will fisheye paint. That being said, silicone is used in an endless variety of products and materials. The two most memorable silicone contaminations I remember involved Tide laundry detergent and floor sweeping compound. One of the painters at a GM dealership could produce "fisheyes" by just walking by the paint booth or a freshly sprayed panel. After about 2 months of trying to figure it out, I asked what his wife washed clothes with. He said Tide. I called an 1-800 number to see if there was any silicone in the detergent. I finally got to talk with one of the chemists in the lab, and he said, yes they did have silicone in some of their soap products. His wife changed laundry soap and the problem was solved. The other one was at another dealership. Fisheyes were driving the painter crazy. I helped him trace it to the room the air compressor was located in. It seems that the janitor had recently started storing his sweeping compound in that room. The room was very warm with the compressor running and the sweeping compound contained silicone (listed right on the label) which was outg***ing and ****ed into the compressor intake. What a mess. We had to flush the air lines, change filters, buy new air hoses, and still use fisheye eliminator for several months. Silicone is used in oils, perfumes, detergents, cosmetics, waxes, and especially "Armor All" type products. overspray
Clean your air compressor by letting the water run out. Put a in line air filter on the tank and on your gun. Get some powder dish washing soap, clean the panel. Dry it, tack cloth it. Wet the surrounding area, and try again. Yes investing in a good gun is worth it, but if you don't have the money then you cant. I have won first place and more then a dozen cars and bikes. I painted outside, use the detergent to clean it, and for small jobs a cheap HF gun.
Ain't it wonderful how people can read a post and pay absolutely no attention to what is written? Brian, could you explain your "paint booth"? Looks a lot like mine, but after painting that truck, everything would be red. Wife does not like that! Bill
Silicone is probably the hardest to deal with, but water, oil, grease, non-silicone wax, and ***orted other things can cause fish eyes too.
Bill, I'm guilty of that too, so I won't say a word! My "paint booth" is poorly lit, dirty, and has so much stuff piled, stacked, tossed, and jammed in that I'm embar***ed to say I paint in there. In fact, my wife has come out, looked around and said, "How can you paint in here?" Poorly, it turns out! I put two or three box fans in the garage door opening, lower the door onto them, and crack the rear overhead door a little. The floor gets hosed down and swept out, and I did blow the dust off the other two cars covered with blue tarps, the benches, and everything else (that was easy to reach). Actually, the paint looks pretty good aside from the few little pits that I put into the clear. Bugs are my worst enemy, there's ALWAYS a flies wings my paint jobs somewhere! Brian
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