I’ve painted my last few poly blanks with MTN water based spray paint. I have had a problem with the paint smearing while laminating and putting in fin boxes. On the last board I did a green fade from nose to tail. I didn’t think there was any paint near the boxes at all, but when I was putting in the boxes the resin had green in it and it looks terrible. On the board before I had a problem with the red smearing onto the deck as I did the laps. I think I can help that issue by cleaning the spreader more. Unfortunately that didn’t help with the boxes, Any advice? Is there a water based clear I could spray over the color? Thanks for any help.
Here are a couple pics of the problem
I most often use “Flat” Interior latex house paint, that can be bought at any Paint or hardware store. “Flat” no shine. I have also used paints that can be bought at places like Foam EZ or Fiberglass Hawaii or even Walmart. I never have any problem provided I give the paint 24 hrs at room temp to dry throughly. Rout out your fin box’s before you paint. Install The fin boxes with minimal resin brushed around inside the cavity. Roll your cloth out over the boxes and then proceed to laminate. Fill the slots around the flange of the fin box during lamination. Don’t over work the resin. The more you work the resin; the more likely paint will soften up and bleed into your resin. You overdid the amount of resin at the fins. Sealing the paint on a blank is just another step that is unnecessary if your paint is 100% dry and you don’t over work it. Lowel
did you blow off blank well before spray job? If not maybe sprayed dust shifted around during lam? Just a theory
But as MC Ding said ,maybe paint not dry…
Yeah, I blew it off, but it’s interesting you say that. I laminated the board yesterday and I noticed that the paint only bled in the fade area (where is was painted lightly and from a distance). The areas where I put it on thick it didn’t get picked up with the resin at all. Almost like the fade part is a light paint dust that is sitting on top of the foam and while the heavy parts penetrated and stuck? IDK, I did blow it off well right before laminiating and I still had movement in the fade area. Good news is that it kind of evened out and blended with the part around the fins. I’m almost happy with the results. The art part is my weakest of the process.
McDing, How do you apply the latex paint, spray, brush, both?
Thanks
Spray. Thin and strain. Multiple coats may be necessary to get the desired effect. I have also used a brush and roller, but you have to have your technique and taping down to avoid bleed. Some guys seal the edge of the tape with acrylic. I have never done that.
Good luck. Early on folks steered me away from coloring epoxy glass jobs, so I only built bone white for the first 5 or 6 builds. Then of course I decided to mess around with it, searched high and low for a water based spray paint that people approved of. Bought some and it worked great on a few boards. Then one day it caused a fill coat to bubble. Such a pain in the balls to fix. All of my variables were controlled. Now Im sure quality control of resin and glass cloth and foam is much better than a can of spray paint, so I assume it was caused by the paint. Anyway, I swore it off. Besides, matching faded color dings will never look right. Back to bone white boards for me.
I don’t know why water base paint would make an Epoxy fill coat bubble. But I guess there is always something new. I’ve always done my EPS using the same process Master Stretch uses. Fill the beads in the EPS, screen and paint with Pastel water based flat paint. I’ve had guys tell me that at first glance they thought the board was a Poly. I still use spackle, thinned and spread with a plastic squeegee and my hand. Fill the voids only. I use a dedicated worn out piece of 220 to screen before paint.
cool, sounds like you arrived at a well tested process.
someday i’ll mess around with EPS. i know there are many advantages to it, but i really like where i am with my PU shaping, so i dont want to make any major changes quite yet
Water based flat paint through a spraygun works well for me. I thin with water to match my gun and air pressure. I was taught “whole milk” consistency but my gun and pressure work better with more of a “heavy cream” consistency. It dries faster and doesnt wick under the tape as much. Downside is a bit chunkier, more spattery spray if I’m not careful.
It can work with a sponge brush too, or water based posca paint markers. The hand brushes put the paint on heavier and wetter than a gun, so it wants to run under the tape more.
I’ve used water based flat acrylic art paint, indoor flat behr wall paint from Home Despot, tempera paint, and as long as it’s a water based paint it’s worked.
I usually buy a gallon of white flat interior paint and then mix a cup or two of white with whatever paint I have in the kit to mix my own color. However on my last board I tried out getting a color mixed at HD in the exact color I wanted, and it worked great. Thinned w water and straight into the gun. Saved me the mixing time and the money for the tint colors as they sell the mixed colors the same price as the base paint. Don’t be surprised if I make like 8 maroon boards now though haha!
The wetter the paint the more likely it will sneak under your tape, so I always push towards the thicker, drier side of the range for my gun. I currently am just using one of the cheapo $15 purple harbor freight guns powered by a decent 20 gallon compressor.
Dry time is totally dependent on temperature and humidity. I usually am able to spray both sides the same day but wait til the next day to start glassing.
Quire a good ‘‘how to tutorial.’’ Points given. Keep up the good work.
All very good advice. Pay attention folks.