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Paint Problem!!!

Q

qpwoeiruty

n00b
Joined
Jan 30, 2006
Messages
8
Hi to all!! I'm trying to paint the interior of my CM Stacker (using a Motip silver metallic spray can), and i'm facing a somewhat serious problem. There seems to be a lot of dust particles sitting on my paint just after spraying, screwing my job. It seems to happen, whatever i do, even if i clean the area i'm working. Working outdoors is still a problem. As you can understand, i cannot sand the metallic paint, so... do you have any suggestion on how to avoid that? Is there any antistatic trick i can do?
 
Could you possibly get us some pics so that we know what we are looking at? Sounds like your work area has a dust problem, are you working outside or inside? If you are working inside I would suggest doing some house cleaning, shut off the heater, air conditioner, turn off all fans and let the house become "stagnant" for a short time. Then start your work. Since you are using a metallic based paint your only real option is to take it all off and start again or to try wet sanding with a high, high grit sand paper and then doing light coats. Try also rubbing down the surfaces with alcohol to get rid of any dust buidl up, or a cheesecloth. One problem you might have is that the case is not grounded so you are picking up those paint particles that are in the air. Try and ground it as best you can and if at all possible have a fan sucking out the air in the room and dispursing it outside the area.
 
I was reading on making a window for IDE drives, and what the guy said to do so that he didnt get dust particles in the drive was to go in a bath room and run the shower to get it kinda steamy. The dust particles would attach to the water particles in the air and that would weigh them down after a while so they wouldnt be floating all over the place. Now of course he didnt want it to get too steamy, since the moisture would affect the drive too, but it may not be the case for your painting. Could affect drying times though.

So that leaves us some other potential problems. You obviously dont want to paint in your bathroom. The mess and the buzz from the fumes. Maybe in a basement or a decent sized room you could set up an area to do your painting and if you have a humidifier, crank that puppy up. Not sure if it would do enough to help, but worth a shot. And definately shut down all fans, heating/ac and all. To avoid all circulation. Your big problem with this would be figuring out some way to not kill yourself. I dont know what to tell you about that, unless you SCUBA.

Now i live in the south and we get some serious himidity. Dont think you'll find much of that this time of year though. It may help somewhat, but who knows. If your not in a hurry, put the project paining on hold and do some test runs on another material with your paint, and see if it fixes your problem.

You could clean, but I frankly do anything so that I dont have to clean, and it seems like if you cleaned/dusted you'll just be stirring up the dust anyways. No way to completely fix it.
 
Only problem with adding moisture to the equation is that it will add time to your flash time. Flash time is the time it takes from application to the actual time where it is ready to be sanded. Do this too quick and you will get clumps and gouges in your newly painted case. Best bet I think is to sand it very lightly with a high grit sandpaper, wet sanding will also help keep down added dust from sanding. Once you get it good and sanded, wipe it down with a light solution of 1 part rubbing alcohol to 3 parts water. Then lightly rub down all surfaces, the solution shoudl keep the alcohol from affecting the paint. Once everything is good and dry I would apply very light coats of paint, atleast 4 hours apart. That should give you a good clean shine.
 
Thanks alot guys!!! I'll try whatever you suggested and hopefully i'll soon exhibit my newlly painted Stacker!!!
 
Those things mentioned are some good suggestions, but if you have enough space, like a garage or other work area, you should not be without something like this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=46361

This is just an example, but there are others too like floor standing and such all within about 100-200 dollars. Highly worth it if you plan on doing any painting, sanding, etc. over time. And all your stuff will stay free of dust and paint overspray as well. :)
 
when I paint, I always wash my parts in some sort of liquid cleaner (usually water and dish soap), followed by a good rinse. After that, I paint in the garage and then move the parts to a refrigerator box I have in my basement bedroom. put a tack cloth (the cheap 3m ones available at walmart) over the top of the box, and presto, no dirt nibs.
 
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