[Tyson]

Primer on the subs is done.  Next up - spray them with the Ben Moore Advanced paint.

[KTS]

Tyson,
You have so much great advice on spraying the top coat! When I first started spraying (in my younger days) 2 things were drilled into my head. Watch your hose and if you get a runner don’t freak out and try and fix it until it had completely dried (not cured), everything is fixable with this process. Good luck you got this.

[TX_Swann]

I haven't read the whole thread, but one thing I've learned about painting is, there's no such thing as too much prep.  The more time spend sanding and smoothing the better the finish.

[Tyson]

Tyson,
You have so much great advice on spraying the top coat! When I first started spraying (in my younger days) 2 things were drilled into my head. Watch your hose and if you get a runner don’t freak out and try and fix it until it had completely dried (not cured), everything is fixable with this process. Good luck you got this.

There have been many drips during the priming process while I learned the best way to use the gun.  Luckily they seem to be mostly behind us as we move into the main paint job.  You're right, mistakes at the primer stage are easy because you can just sand them away. 

[Tyson]

One question for the group - one thing I'm doing is diluting the paint with about 5% water because several people online say you must dilute latex paint or it's too thick to spray.  So I've done the bare minimum - I got the paint from the consistency of custard to about the consistency of whole milk.  Slightly thicker than whole milk.

Here's the question.  I notice that when I sand, the dried paint seems somewhat.... uhm, chalky?  Is that normal?

[nlitworld]

Sanding dried paint will always make chalky dust. Totally normal. Big thing with reducing your paint is to get the right spray consistency to lay out smooth without becoming watery to where you have runs. Season to taste if you will. As long as when you spray it and get smooth finishes (not blobby orange peel texture like a bedliner) then you're good. Last tiny bit of fine tuning should be done with air pressure (thicker paint bump up the pressure, a little thin then drop the pressure) to adjust the droplet size for smooth application.

[nlitworld]

Also, looking at the tech sheet that said a 1.8mm spray gun should use 4oz per gallon, but if you're using a 1.3 or 1.4mm you'll need quite a bit more than that. I'd be willing to bet you're at least 5% but probably more like 10-15% reduction to get it nice and smooth.

[Tyson]

Whew, thanks! 

I'm almost done with the subs, and I've done 3 coats of primer on the top of the subs, flipped them over done 3 coats primer on the bottom.  Then I flipped them back over and put 3 coat of the blue paint on the top of the subs.  As of yesterday, I am starting on 3 coats of blue paint on the bottom.  I've learned a ton about proper technique using this gun and this primer/paint simply because I varied my approach until I got it dialed in. 

The main thing I learned is I really needed to set the pressure at the tank at 80 or 90, and then use the pressure dial at the bottom of the gun to really dial in the correct pressure.  I also learned I was using FAR too much pressure initially.  I ended up with a lot of overspray and a lot of drips. 

Once I turned down the pressure and also learned how to better deal with painting seams/corners, the whole process got a lot easier. 

The only downside is I have a few mistakes/drips from the primer that I wish I could go back and re-do.  Luckily they are mostly on the interior of the cabinet and will be covered by the drivers, or the NoRez, or the speaker grills.  The tops/sides/fronts look pretty good, so I'm really pleased about that.

[Early B.]

Where's the build thread you promised??? We wanna see...

[nlitworld]

The main thing I learned is I really needed to set the pressure at the tank at 80 or 90, and then use the pressure dial at the bottom of the gun to really dial in the correct pressure.  I also learned I was using FAR too much pressure initially.  I ended up with a lot of overspray and a lot of drips. 

Careful with that habit of where to adjust the air pressure. With your gun it is less critical so this is more a piece of advice for anyone reading that is using an HVLP gun. The best practice is to use the air adjustments at the gun wide open, pull the trigger on the gun and adjust air pressure at the tank (or wall mounted airline filter unit) to get the correct recommended air pressure on the gun gauge. The danger in how you did it Tyson is that it will actually cut the volume of air which will affect the spray pattern and proper material flow. Fine for quickly little adjustment to spray a bullet pattern, but not for regular fan pattern spraying. Again your LVLP gun is less sensitive to such a thing but food for thought.

Also if you notice the paint is going on pretty heavy, don't be scared to turn down the material knob a bit and to increase the speed of your spray passes. If you start dancing around like a methed out air conditioner mechanic then you might be a little too much. Lol. Anyways I hope you don't think we're picking on your project or your diy hobbyist skills. Just trying to help with the areas of knowledge I am really good at to where you have sweet skills like Napoleon Dynamite.

[Tyson]

Careful with that habit of where to adjust the air pressure. With your gun it is less critical so this is more a piece of advice for anyone reading that is using an HVLP gun. The best practice is to use the air adjustments at the gun wide open, pull the trigger on the gun and adjust air pressure at the tank (or wall mounted airline filter unit) to get the correct recommended air pressure on the gun gauge. The danger in how you did it Tyson is that it will actually cut the volume of air which will affect the spray pattern and proper material flow. Fine for quickly little adjustment to spray a bullet pattern, but not for regular fan pattern spraying. Again your LVLP gun is less sensitive to such a thing but food for thought.

Also if you notice the paint is going on pretty heavy, don't be scared to turn down the material knob a bit and to increase the speed of your spray passes. If you start dancing around like a methed out air conditioner mechanic then you might be a little too much. Lol. Anyways I hope you don't think we're picking on your project or your diy hobbyist skills. Just trying to help with the areas of knowledge I am really good at to where you have sweet skills like Napoleon Dynamite.

Yes you are exactly right.  I also found that for me, having the pressure high enough that it vapored/misted the paint was too high.  Cutting it so it was close to misting, but not quite there, was the sweet spot. 

Because I completely disasembled the gun every night, I had to re-adjust the settings each time I started painting.  What was really helpful was using the tarp we used to line the walls as a test spray area.  Spray a bit on the tarp, adjust it so it's more fan/football shaped, adjust pressure downward was the usual pattern for me.

Also I really needed to have the material coming out so that it really was a very, very thin layer, just barely enough to actually get coverage. 

Where's the build thread you promised??? We wanna see...

Oh don't worry, it's coming!  Lots of pics and musings/learnings.  Once the main cabs are done by end of next week, or ish...

[KTS]

Nice work on taking some calculated risk to learn and sharing your learnings! I am chomping at the bit to read your write up.