DUST in clear coat. Help!

[Ahajmano]

I have been struggling with this for a while, but now it is becoming nearly impossible to manage.

i have a home made spray booth, but I still manage to get a ton of dust on my 2k clear coat. Any tips and tricks you guys use? Is there a better booth I can use that can eliminate this problem? 

[High octane]

I use a tack rag on my parts/bodies before I spray them and this eliminates a lot of dust particles. Try it next time.

[Ahajmano]

Just now, High octane said:

I use a tack rag on my parts/bodies before I spray them and this eliminates a lot of dust particles. Try it next time.

I actually cleaned the part immaculately, and there was no surface dust. What I’m experiencing is dust settling on the surface during and after I splay the clear. It’s obvious because it’s all on the surface of the clear. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

If the dust particles you speak of are colorless, just let the clear cure and polish them out.

Every model can benefit from a good polishing in my opinion anyway.

I use as many as 5 coats of clear on my builds and inevitably will get some dust in the paint at some point, but after polishing, in nearly every circumstance, you would never know that the dust was ever there.

 

Steve

[Ahajmano]

What do you use to polish? I notice the 2k cures soo hard, it’s dofficult to polish out the dust very well. I have tried a dremel, but it spins too fast. 

[Snake45]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wright-s-Silver-Cream-8-0-OZ/27139572

[Ahajmano]

What do you use to apply the polish? Cloth? Dremel? 

[StevenGuthmiller]

43 minutes ago, Ahajmano said:

What do you use to polish? I notice the 2k cures soo hard, it’s dofficult to polish out the dust very well. I have tried a dremel, but it spins too fast. 

I use automotive clear lacquer and I polish it out with "Micro Mesh" polishing pads and Novus polishes.

I doubt very highly that you will have any issues with polishing your 2k clear with this system.

As a matter of fact, the harder your clear coat is, the better.

It will insure that you will not polish through the clear coat to the paint.

DO NOT use a Dremel for polishing!!!

 

 

Steve 

[cobraman]

I paint in my garage and found that hanging it upside down to dry seems to help.

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Ahajmano said:

What do you use to apply the polish? Cloth? Dremel? 

Either an old flannel or cotton shirt wrapped around a finger, or flannel cut to 1" strips. I get these flannel squares at Walmart, too. One will make quite a few polishing strips. 

As Steven said, NEVER try to polish anything on a plastic model with a Dremel. Nothing good can come of it! 

[Daddy Mack]

28 minutes ago, cobraman said:

I paint in my garage and found that hanging it upside down to dry seems to help.

Upside down, YES!

Either that or immediately move the painted item to a space where this is little air circulation. I have a spare room that qualifies. I carry it upside down until it gets there.

My new paint space is a camping tent. No bugs, no sunshine, no other junk arriving with the breeze. They are cheap at yard sales.

 

 

[Ahajmano]

I was hoping my spray booth would help reduce the dust :/  It does not seem to do a great job at this 

[Daddy Mack]

5 hours ago, Ahajmano said:

 Is there a better booth I can use that can eliminate this problem? 

Yes. A real spray booth is fully enclosed with a fan that removes interior air out a duct and filters in the booth wall that clean the incoming air.

If you are using something that is less than fully enclosed, it's not a booth.

 

[Ahajmano]

Ahhh. Should I cut little holes for my hands and add a filter for make-up air? I guess that would be the only way to do it 

[1930fordpickup]

Aydin have you tried to place the painted model in an inclosed box, cabinet  or tote so that the dust in the air doesn't land on it? 

Try reading through here. Some good information and some filler. 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by 1930fordpickup

[Dave G.]

Blow your clothing off or at least wipe yourself down before you spray, especially your shirt and do it far from your booth because if it's still air borne when you turn the booth on guess where the dust is headed !. Put your mask on away from the booth too.. Half the time dust comes from us not the room. This was even a problem in 1-1 painting. I used to wear a painter suit with air fed helmet and the last thing before stepping into the booth was to blow down all I could get at with an air gun ( just a quick blow off makes a big difference). We were spraying a lot of Dupont Imron two part urethane ( that's why the air fed helmet, it was the standard of the day painting that system of paints)..

I use Formula 1 Scratch out for polishing models. Lightly scuff first with wet sand paper or micro mesh. Then polish it up. With enamel paint and if I don't have dust I just polish.

[espo]

Have you recently dusted your painting area ?? There're many possibilities for dust to gather in your paint area. I would start by using a Wet Wipe or something similar to wipe down your spray booth. Next is the general area dusty and why ? Could be nothing more than a little general house keeping of the area where you are painting. I have heard many say to never ware a flannel shirt anywhere that you are painting. The suggestion is that the static electricity and the particles from the shirt will be attracted to what ever you may be painting. This is the time of year when you would generally have lower humidity levels and that can also be a cause. One tip off on that would be if you are walking around on a carpeted floor and get a shock if you touch a light switch or someone else for that matter. Just some thoughts I hope may help. 

[Ahajmano]

That sounds like some good suggestions. Here is what I’m going to do next time:

 

1) clean the inside of the booth with a wet nap

2) take a shower and spray the model completely naked

3) vacuum several hours before spraying

4) hang the model upside down when finished spraying 

[Flat32]

If you want to see if there's dust in your painting area go in there at night, with a laser pointer, move around as you would while working, turn off the lights and see what the laser beam finds.

[Dave G.]

46 minutes ago, Ahajmano said:

That sounds like some good suggestions. Here is what I’m going to do next time:

 

1) clean the inside of the booth with a wet nap

2) take a shower and spray the model completely naked

3) vacuum several hours before spraying

4) hang the model upside down when finished spraying 

Of course.

[StevenGuthmiller]

I have an easier suggestion rather than showering before hand, painting naked, trying to spray in an entirely closed booth with hand holes, etc.

How about switching to a different clear that doesn't take so long to cure?

 

 

Steve

 

[High octane]

I spray paint outside as I don't have room for a booth and it's worked well for me over the years. I just sprayed a model body on Friday outside with the outside temps 'bout 29-30 degrees and it came out lookin' great. Of course I warm up the cans and just "shake & spray." And yes as I mentioned before that I dust the model body and parts with a tack rag before painting.

[oldcarfan]

You can usually polish it out unless it is too heavy. As far as airborne contaminants, you can only change the environment by either cleaning or moving the spray booth to another area. If it's in a garage or something, you might try misting the floor with water to keep contaminants from being stirred up by wind or walking around. We live with two fuzzy dogs so that is an issue no matter how well I de-lint myself.

[espo]

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 9:53 AM, Ahajmano said:

That sounds like some good suggestions. Here is what I’m going to do next time:

 

1) clean the inside of the booth with a wet nap

2) take a shower and spray the model completely naked

3) vacuum several hours before spraying

4) hang the model upside down when finished spraying 

This would be a great start, but you would need to hang upside down while spray painting. LOL

[DiscoRover007]

On 3/3/2019 at 10:53 AM, Ahajmano said:

That sounds like some good suggestions. Here is what I’m going to do next time:

 

1) clean the inside of the booth with a wet nap

2) take a shower and spray the model completely naked

3) vacuum several hours before spraying

4) hang the model upside down when finished spraying 

I'd use a spray bottle full of water and just spray the inside of your booth a few minutes before spraying. Also spray the floor and anywhere you could imagine kicking up dust, maybe even your pants or arms.  I'd also wash the body in cold water and then use compressed air from the airbrush to dry it clean. When dry use a tack cloth or damp paper towel wipe any last seen bits of dust. This has worked very well for me and I'd say has eliminated dust 95% of the time.