Gillespie Paint Question

[pistolnut]

I've painted 4 wheels, a fender, and a door now and I'm having some issues with the Gillespie paint which are probably my fault. I'm ending up with sections that have a rough texture, at first I thought it was orange peel but I think now it is dry fall that then gets painted over. There have been several parts that I had to touch up sand and re-shoot. For some reason some bursts from the gun I guess dry as they hit the surface. I have some thoughts as to the cause:

Painting in 100 degree heat--Its hot here...

Reducing with Xylene (or too much xylene)--The guy at the parts store said xylene would be too "hot", that toulene would be much more workable--thoughts?

I'm using the tan CARC substitute--Is there any kind of texture in the paint? I've had some gritty looking stuff end up in the bottom of the cup. Is dissolves if I smush it.

Operator error--I'm sure I'm part of the problem. I'm using a regular quart non-HVLP gun, reducing the paint 20% per instructions. Maybe I don't have the gun set up right but the paint goes down great except for the occasional times that it doesn't.

I know there are some paint gurus here--any thoughts?

[Fastfrankie]

I've never used toulene or xylene...but I can tell you when its that hot, you need a SLOW reducer. If its too fast or medium, its gonna almost dry as it comes out of the gun and give you that textured feeling. My paint shop has "fast" "medium" and "slow."
I forget what brand reducer that I use, but in the summers here in NJ when its hot I always buy the "slow" reducer and even paint at night when it cools down in the shop.

[kwai]

Painting in 100 degree heat--Its hot here...

I would guess this is your problem. Paint in the shade and early morning or late evening.

[SAC715]

I would say it's the heat. We sprayed a 1942 Harley WLA last summer with Gillispie and I think it called for mineral spirits. It turned out great.

[vacca rabite]

Listen to the guy at the paint shop and move to a slower reducer.

Zach

[m5a1stuart]

IF I recall right that is enamel paint in which you should use enamel reducer.

[rboltz]

IF I recall right that is enamel paint in which you should use enamel reducer.

I'm not a paint expert and learned the hard way also.

Gillespie says to use Xylene for reduction, as you already know. I had to find that here as the paint shop only sold it in 5 gallon cans. Ace hardware has 1 gallon cans as well as Lowes. I had the same problem you have, getting it on "wet" enough even with cooler days then you have. I solved my problem with trial and error but ended up with a 3:1 reduction rather then the 4:1 recommended. On really hot days I even fudged it a little leaner.

[DAVEJ]

Use Dupont 3812 Synthetic enamal reducer 2:1 . It's going to cost a little more but to me it's worth it. Check out Army Jeep Parts website for painting tech tips.

DaveJ

[k8icu]

The CARC paint is flat and you may be seeing the flatting agent in the bottom of the cup. Make sure you mix the paint really well. And yeah paint in the evening or early morning when it's "cooler" ok only 80 degs, but that's cooler than 100.

[Duane]

I have been painting parts on my m715 project and have been using the Napa synthetic enamel reducer, they have different numbers for temp, the hotter the slower.

Duane