[allensound]

LOL - dude, that gif is spot on.

[allensound]

Iteration TWO

Alright, you've seen all the sanding photos and now it's time to try and build things back up.  I mentioned that nick I found in the base where I did something stupid so I tried to correct that as best as possible without going too crazy.

Here's a closeup of right after spraying the first coat of the automotive filler primer



And here's another photo after that first coat dried



And...here it is after doing three full coats and letting it dry



If we zoom out a little, this is what it looked like after I finished priming the bits that needed it.  FWIW, I ended up priming quite a bit more than I had initially planned on simply because I went through the primer in a few spots right along the bottom edges.  So to make things easier on myself, I just primed anywhere that MIGHT have needed it.  I figured that was better than thinking I got everything and missing something.


Next step, I wet-sanded the prime coat with 800 grit. 


Then it was on to "touching up" the base with black paint.  Due to the amount of primer I had put on previously, it just made way more sense to go ahead and paint the whole thing.  So, that's what I did.


If you look closely more towards the middle of the base, you'll see some of that orange peel look in the wet paint - look near where the light is reflecting off the paint.  It is very likely because I put the paint on a little too thick - not thick enough to develop a run or sag in the paint, but not as light a coat as I probably should have put.


I made sure to paint along that back edge to fix the spots where I sanded through the finishes and the primer.


Having pointed out the orange peel in that photo a couple images up, what I'm deciding to do is let this paint dry completely for 24 hours and then wet sand it using 800 or 1000 to try and eliminate the orange peel.  After doing that, I'll do one more coat of the black paint - this time I'll do a better/lighter coat of the paint (not go on as wet) - wait another 24 hours and then wet-sand that before going onto the clear coat step.

Also, I ended up getting a smart power strip that allows me to see energy being used.  I thought I'd share some of those photos too...as mentioned previously, I bought a two-pack of garage/worklights from Costco that are just awesome.   Here's a wide shot of my setup for spraying:



The energy for just the fan running that is acting as my air cleaner - 53W isn't too bad.



Then, with the lights set on their medium brightness and the fan running



So the interesting thing here is on medium brightness, it's about perfect for working in the tent.  When I had them on the brightest setting, it was almost too bright AND at the full brightness the two lights were using 145W just themselves.  On medium brightness, they're right at 72W combined for the two. 

So, knowing that I'm going to be sanding, painting, sanding, clear-coating, sanding, clear-coating...it might be a few days before I have another "real" update.

[allensound]

Alright...it's been a minute since an update, and the reason is I didn't want to keep reposting more cycles of failing (I did plenty of those). 

Where I left off is I was going to try and spray the clear on closer and thicker...so I did the 4" away spray thing and the problem is the aerosol/liquid that forces the spray out was too close and not turning into a gas...so it embedded itself in the finish.  I thought it looked weird while I was spraying but being that I'm fairly new to this I just assumed it was something that I didn't know and it would be ok...well, it wasn't.  Here's a photo after I let the base dry for over three days where I was hoping that it was the solvents in the finish that would flash off.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  All the clouds you see in the finish are the aerosols that are part of the finish...



At this point I get super frustrated.  I'm GLAD that I decided to focus on a single part rather than doing them all again.  So, to anyone out there, for sure, practice on a single piece until you get it right.  In this case, the right piece to practice on (for the NX-Tremes) is the base because MOST of it won't even be seen, but you can really hone in your techniques on that piece.  That said, Lloyd, I think you got me off in the right direction.  Because I was sort of at my breaking point with this thing - basically wondering if it's even possible to get a smooth finish with a spray can, I started trying to find out everything I could about the SprayMax product.  I watched videos, read literature, etc.  Well, on the contact us page, they say to call for "Product/Application Advice" - I'M IN!!!!  They put me in touch with a guy name Pete...just an amazing phone call.  He put my mind at ease and let me know that it is indeed possible to get a great finish but you have to do it right...

So, Nlitworld (Lloyd) you were right in the approach you were telling me to do, but I think maybe some of the details won't work well for SprayMax.  Here's what I found...

The proper clear coat technique for a near perfect SprayMax Satin 2k SMOOTH finish

1. After painting, sand the paint to 800 grit (I used the Super Assilex - love it), then follow up with the gray Scotch pad (or Dura Gold gray ultra-fine) - what you're really looking to do here is remove any orange peel that may be hiding in plain sight.  What I mean is this - after painting the flat black, it looked PERFECT, however, after doing a light sanding with the 800, I could see that it was actually removing some peaks in the paint, which would tell you that there was a texture hiding in plain sight.  So I just continued to LIGHTLY sand until it all became uniformly dull. 

2. Spraying the clear, the best method I've found after many attempts and several $$$'s later - these steps apply for both the FIRST and SECOND coats

• Back up to about 8" away from the piece you're spraying. You really don't want to get any closer otherwise you'll have the problem I showed in the image above with those aerosol clouds in the finish
• The technique - Make sure you are holding the can as vertical as possible and spray pretty quickly (how quickly?  maybe 2 feet every 3-4 seconds) back and forth overlapping the horizontal spray passes by like 75% - that's right, you're overlapping A LOT - you want a wet look...this is where practice comes into play...What I've found gives you the absolute best finish is once you've gotten the wet look, you need one more quick pass over the same area again just to give it a little more volume - why?  What I found is if I do it to where it just gets "wet" (or looks like glass), when it dries you will have a texture because there wasn't enough of the product there to "lay down" or smooth out before it dries.  So if you put it on just a bit wetter than when you first see that glossy buildup, that's where you are in the right spot between not wet enough, and putting too much on to where you'll have a run.  Use the same technique for all surfaces (edges, and larger flat surfaces)
• Start on the sides / edges first (in my case, because it's the NX-Treme base, all around the edges)

[ii]After you finish the edges, move on to the flat surface [/li]
[li]If you will be doing another coat, DO NOT RUSH THE FLASHING / DRYING PROCESS!!!  The directions say to wait like 8 minutes depending on temperature/humidity conditions - my suggestions, give it a good 15 minutes and the come back.  Don't chance it - it's ok if you wait a little longer (don't want to go an hour - anywhere from 15 min to 30 min should be fine) and then spray the next coat[/li]
[/list]

Here's where I finally did it pretty dang good - this is a super close up and it looks like there's some texture in the photo but I can tell you at any (non pixel peeping distance), this looks nearly as good as a factory finish on satin black speakers I have in my house.  It was super exciting to see this - oh, and this is just an hour or so after spraying the first layer of clear...


UNFORTUNATELY, I THOUGHT I could get a whole first coat with what I had left in the can I'd used for the other base and I ran out about 3/4 of the way through painting the flat surface of the base  You can see about midway up the piece in this next photo where it starts looking cloudy - yeah....that's where I ran out of clear 





A couple of additional notes

• There is a reason you need to keep the can moving fairly quickly - I said between 3 and 4 seconds over a 2 foot section - in theory you could get the same product buildup but the problem is that when the can is moving slowly, you'll get that same concentration of aerosols that will get in your finish.  When you're moving the can at a better pace, those aerosols don't have time to concentrate in any area and they don't stay in your finish.
• I recommend working in sections - for instance, on the speaker base, because I have the base mounted and rotated at about a 45 degree angle it ends up being a pretty wide piece - like over two feet wide at some points.  I basically divided the thing vertically in half - I would paint one half and then go back and do the other side - this makes it to where the clear is staying wet while I'm spraying in a particular area and makes it easier to get a nice finish - if you're spraying in long runs, it will be very difficult to get a smooth, consistent finish

And one last note...I've thought about this several times and before I paint the baffles I'll make my final decision.  As you've seen in previous photos, I had the baffles mounted sideways so it'd be easier to reach and see everywhere (7' is pretty high even though I'm 6' tall myself).  Mounting them vertically and painting them would be the easiest because the side to side motions would be fairly short and easy to do consistently, however, the top and the bottom would be a problem getting properly without having a ladder and a larger area set up.  So, for that reason, I'll probably still paint the things horizontally, and again, the plan is to work in sections. 

So...all said, I've learned a lot.  I think I can finally get the finish I want on my speakers, and it only cost me about 6 or 7 cans of SprayMax satin 2k and hours upon hours of sanding, repainting, re-clear-coating.  It's not the most fun I've ever had, but I'm excited to finally be making some forward progress again!

That said, it'll probably be several days before I'm back with another update because now I've gotta sand down this freakin' base that I just screwed up because my can emptied out in the middle of the clear coat, and then I've got to sand and clear the baffles. 

As I've mentioned before, I've recorded a LOT of video on this and plan to create a new YouTube channel at some point after I make some good progress so people can "see" how some of this is done rather than just read about it. 

Thank you again all for the tips and encouragement.  It's been a journey.  I still have the veneer work and crossovers to do!   

[allensound]

So last night after I posted that new response, I realized that the closeup picture I took of the finish made it look like total garbage - I couldn’t really see it well until I looked at it on a larger screen later…so, I thought I’d share a couple of additional photos that show how good the clear actually does look.  So on the left of each picture you’ll see some off the shelf purchased speakers, and to the right is the base directly touching so you can (or can’t) see the difference in the finish.  Like I said before, IMO, the finish on the base looks reallllllly good.  Good enough that I would be more than happy with it on my finished NX-Tremes.

Full shot of both together - you can clearly (pun) see where I ran out of clear on the bottom of the base…


And here’s a closer in photo that will show you (IMO) just how good the clear looks on the top of the base now that I’ve learned how to apply it properly



It’s crazy how hard it is to take a photo of black and get it to look like it does to your eyes. 

Anyways, I hope this illustrates better than my previous post just now nice the base turned out…

[nlitworld]

Allen,
 It sounds like you're finally on the right side of the learning curve. Nice work so far! Once you get the feel for timing and muscle memory of spraying, it gets a lot easier and more fun from here. 

[jmimac351]

Great job sticking with it, Allen!

And Thank You for taking time to share thoughtful details to help others. 

You're helping people.  Many people won't share mistakes because they are worried about what people will think of them... but you still did.

That's your nature, and that's a really good thing.  The more gooder people around, the better. 

As for your painting grind... let me know when you lose track of an NX-Studio flatpack and realize it's been thrown away by mistake. 

We're playing with speakers, not saving lives.  Have Fun.

[allensound]

Lloyd - you're totally right.  After you get the feel for it, you no longer wonder How am I going to fail this time?! - it's actually nice to look forward to seeing some nice results!  I just cleared the first of my two front baffles and I'm pretty stoked because I'm pretty positive it turned out great!

As for your painting grind... let me know when you lose track of an NX-Studio flatpack and realize it's been thrown away by mistake. 

jmimac351 - ouch man!!!  That's a rough one.  And yes - for sure, we're not saving lives.  If anything, hopefully enriching the lives of others!

I started sanding down the speaker base from the pics above where I ran out of clear coat - so hopefully I'll get the other baffle and this base clear coated t his weekend and I'll be onto the Bubinga veneering! 

Oh, that reminds me - I saw a picture of the back of Danny's NX-Tremes - I think I'm going to buy some satin black spray paint to paint all the mdf inserts that go in the backs of the speakers...I totally forgot about those and I don't want them to be bare MDF!  Problem is, I need to shellac them before I can paint them!