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Painting Dash Pieces?


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AJRXtreme 
Silver - Posts: 302
Silver spacespace
Joined: June 08, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 28, 2005 at 5:14 PM / IP Logged  
I took out all of my dash pieces including my arm rest pieces on the doors. Every piece is plastic. I started out sanding every piece very smooth, 100 grit, with an electric hand held vibrating sander. Then i fiberglass resined every piece with 3 thick layers. All the pieces dryed and so now i need some advice on which sand paper to use, and how i should go about painting my pieces black. I have high build primer in a can, black auto paint in a can, and clear coat in a can. What grit paper should i start out with? What grit should i work up to? how many coats of each paint should i use? Should i sand after the primer? I have not wet sanded before, is this appropriate for this project? Is there certain types of sandpaper just for wetsanding? I need a step by step process on what i should do after the resining. I want a high gloss fiberglass look to the pieces. If anyone can help please do so, Thankyou.
03 F150 on 24's
HU:Pioneer DVD5700
Frt:MC57
Subs:(12)S12L7
Amps:(3)KX2500.1's, MC-2004
d_arnold 
Copper - Posts: 59
Copper spacespace
Joined: August 16, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 28, 2005 at 6:51 PM / IP Logged  
Well I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but you didn't have to resin anything the was already plastic. Plastic will paint fine if you spray on a adhesion promoter after you sand the plastic smooth to get rid of the factory texture. I use bulldog brand and you can by it at wal-mart. Well since you already resined it all this is what you do.
sand the resin to 360 - 400 grit. make sure you don't have any sanding scratches.
spray 2 - 3 layer of primer
wet sand the primer with 400 - 600 grit.
inspect the piece for sanding scratches, dirt, nicks, and other imperfections.
spray 3 coats of your black auto spray let dry 15 minutes between coats in ideal condition. (low humidity, about 70-85 degrees outside)
spray 3 - 4 med wet coats of your clear. let dry 15 - 20 minutes between coats in ideal condition.
now let it set overnight.
come back and inspect it. It won't be perfectly smooth but it should be shiny. If you like it enough great if not time to buff.
wet sand with 1500
wet sand again with 2000
get a buffer and compound the shine back out with a fine grit rubbing compound.
you can buff out dirt, and runs. that could end up in you clear.
finnal note
I hope you paint are the same brand. if not you might have an issue with products repelling one another. If this happens you'll know it right away. The clear will crack up as soon as it hits.
practice with the spray cans, if you start doing more projects with paint get a gravity feed spray gun, and an air compressor. Buy the paint from and autobody supply shop and spray that. 100 times better with a little practice. But wear a respirator.
44dawgs 
Member - Posts: 31
Member spacespace
Joined: January 26, 2005
Location: Mexico
Posted: April 28, 2005 at 7:03 PM / IP Logged  

i've painted some pieces of my dash and door panels (also plastic), and i haven't used the adhesion promoter, they turned out great! i just sanded them up to about 320, then 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of color and 3 coats of clear (all from a can).

good luck

AJRXtreme 
Silver - Posts: 302
Silver spacespace
Joined: June 08, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 29, 2005 at 8:03 PM / IP Logged  
Alright sweet! Thanks a lot for the help.
03 F150 on 24's
HU:Pioneer DVD5700
Frt:MC57
Subs:(12)S12L7
Amps:(3)KX2500.1's, MC-2004
d_arnold 
Copper - Posts: 59
Copper spacespace
Joined: August 16, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 29, 2005 at 9:32 PM / IP Logged  
you can paint plasitc part without the adhesion promotor yes. but it's still a good idea to use it. pastic expands and shrinks with hot and cold, it also give off a gas with the change in temp. the spray can paints will allow it to breath enough not to bubble. but when you start to use real paint it's a whole different story. believe me I have learned from personnal experience. always you the adhension promoter.   good paint is expensive and you don't want to waste any of it.
AJRXtreme 
Silver - Posts: 302
Silver spacespace
Joined: June 08, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 30, 2005 at 12:12 AM / IP Logged  
alrite I still have a few more questions. I just got done sanding all the resined pieces. I started at 80 grit then went to 100,150,230,340,400. Is this good to work up little by little like i just did? Or does it not matter, for example I go from 80 grit to 400 grit. Also i am going to do 3 coats of high build primer tomorrow morning. How long should i wait to wet sand after the last coat of primer is sprayed on? Should I wet sand starting at 300 or 400? If i want to go to 2000 grit should i work my way up or should i go straight from 400 to 1500 to 2000? My guess on "wet sanding" is that I rub a wet cloth on the piece i want to sand and then start sanding with the special wet sand paper. If this isnt correct someone please inform me. Dave I looked at your website and I have to say your projects are crazy! I dream about doing those. I can surely trust you with any info you give me. Thanks for the help.
                            Andy
03 F150 on 24's
HU:Pioneer DVD5700
Frt:MC57
Subs:(12)S12L7
Amps:(3)KX2500.1's, MC-2004
d_arnold 
Copper - Posts: 59
Copper spacespace
Joined: August 16, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 30, 2005 at 1:54 AM / IP Logged  
It's good to step up with the sand paper like you did. You prolly didn't need to do all of those steps but you have the right idea. 80, 120, 220, 360 is what I do. If you try to go from 80 to 400 without steps in between you won't get all of the sanding scratches. And if you do get them all out it's because it took you a long time. Now on the primer give it about 30 minutes in the sun just to make sure it has dried. Wet sand your primer with 400. There is not trick to wet sanding. For smaller parts I use a cup and dip my paper in the water. Big stuff I spray down with a hose. When your done dry it off, then wipe it down with a tach cloth just before you spray on the base coat. You do not want to sand out the primer to 1500 or 2000. 400 is good. You want it smooth enough that all of the sanding scratches are gone but if it is too smooth the base coat has less to stick to so it could peel. Use a tack cloth before each layer of base coat to remove any dust left on the surface, and don't touch it with you hands to keep oils off of it too. People have different ideas on clear coat. Doing it without running it is the tricky part it has to go on heavy but not so heavy it runs. Personnally I put on 3 medium wet coats wait 15-20 minutes between coats. Let it dry overnight, then wet sand with 1500, 2000. then apply 3 more coats let it dry overnight again. After it dries wet sand with 1500, 2000 and buff it. (this might be hard if you don't have a buffer.) again tack coat between every coat. Well I hope it helps I'm about out of secrets. I'm glad you like my website. Honestly I haven't updated it for awhile. I'm working on a car right now and I'll be posting the pics when it's done. Then I'm be changing my whole site.   Good Luck with your project. With a little practice you will be able to paint any of your projects like a pro. Let us know how it turns out.
And be patient with your paint. It is a lot of steps but rushing it will only make more work for yourself, take you time it's worth it.
AJRXtreme 
Silver - Posts: 302
Silver spacespace
Joined: June 08, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 30, 2005 at 9:12 AM / IP Logged  
Sorry but i got some more questions. When i wet sand should i use my electric vibrating sander? Or should i just use my hand? When you say tack cloth do you mean just take a clean rag and clean off the surface without any water? Is a buffer the same thing as the sander I have? After I am done wet sanding with 400 and have cleaned off the surface, Should I start at 1500 grit with the buffer? Thankyou for all your info, i wouldnt even have been able to do this without the12volt.
03 F150 on 24's
HU:Pioneer DVD5700
Frt:MC57
Subs:(12)S12L7
Amps:(3)KX2500.1's, MC-2004
d_arnold 
Copper - Posts: 59
Copper spacespace
Joined: August 16, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 30, 2005 at 1:58 PM / IP Logged  
When you wet sand you should use your hand for any thing with curves and use a sanding block for anything flat. The primer will sand out really fast. The electric sander could go through it and you don't want that. Also when I say tack cloth I mean tack cloth. You can buy them in the paint section of wal-mart, and prolly anywhere that sells painting supplies. It is a special cloth that will remove all dust and will not leave lint behind. They are cheap like 1.99 for the throw away kind and 3.99 for a washable one. Now when you said.
"After I am done wet sanding with 400 and have cleaned off the surface, Should I start at 1500 grit with the buffer?"
I'm not sure what you meant. After you wet sand the primer with 400 grit and clean it off it's time for base coat. Do not sand the base coat at all only tack cloth before each coat. After your clear coat is completely dry then you can go right to wet sanding with 1500 grit then 2000 then buffing with a rubbing compound do not sand the clear coat with anything more course then 1500 you don't want to go through it, all you are doing is getting out and roughness (also called orange peel) and dirt. Some sanders do have accessories so you can use them as buffers. In my beginning stages I used a palm sander and used pieces of cotton cloth to make it like a buffer. It worked ok. The pros use a dewalt buffer. I just got one and haven't even had a chance to use it yet. It's my new toy.
AJRXtreme 
Silver - Posts: 302
Silver spacespace
Joined: June 08, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: April 30, 2005 at 2:34 PM / IP Logged  
alrite i just did the first coat of black and i went out and bought a tack cloth from lowes. The pieces are looking very sharp. I went to ace hardware, lowes, and walmart and no one has 2000 grit sandpaper. I was able to find 1500 grit though. Should i wet sand the clear coat? Or just regular sanding with my hand with the 1500 and 2000 grit. Thankyou
03 F150 on 24's
HU:Pioneer DVD5700
Frt:MC57
Subs:(12)S12L7
Amps:(3)KX2500.1's, MC-2004
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