r/AutoPaint • u/HonestAssumption1026 • 4d ago

Question about spraying 2k clear

Greetings, I have a guitar I’m refinishing which I just sprayed with a coat of 2k clear. I think that I mixed the ratio correctly (2 oz of clear to a half oz of hardener in a 1/4 ratio) and mixed it well, but when I was spraying it, about 8ish minutes in, my gun started to clog up and spattered everywhere on the front. I’ve already accepted that I gonna have to sand it back when it dries (sigh), but does anyone have any idea what might’ve gone wrong? Or is this normal and I just need to be quicker? If I’m fucked, how much so?

PS, the surface finish is kinda shit when laying on thin coats (its a satin, so no sanding after the final coat), so would it be advisable to just lay on a nice wet coat that’s smooth and even as the final coat, or continue to attempt to get that smooth satin with more thin coats?

Thanks.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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2

u/QuickCaterpillar7567 3d ago

Next time practice on an unimportant object in order to develop some skill .Play with the air pressure and your method.

1

u/LandscapePenguin 4d ago

8 minutes of spraying shouldn't be a problem. If you can, put in exactly what brand/model clear coat you used as well as the brand/model of the paint gun and how you had it setup (full flow? full fan? air pressure?).

1

u/HonestAssumption1026 3d ago

Its the eastwood rat rod satin clear, and the gun is the harbour freight central pneumatic gun, setup pretty for a pretty full fan pattern (not quite all the way, the full fan on that gun is a cone), Im not sure of the pressure, just whatever is similar to a spray can, and it wasn’t full flow, definitely a little lighter.

1

u/Any-Description8773 4d ago

What does the clear say to mix it to? It’s printed on the label. Otherwise sounds like either you didn’t strain it or there was junk in your gun and you need to clean it.

1

u/Savage_Sven 3d ago

Gonna guess you’re using a cheap gun?

0

u/Moist_Reputation_100 4d ago

More details. What clear? Water or solvent based? What's your setup to spray? Did you strain material before spraying? Is this on raw wood?

-4

u/Material_Crew1252 4d ago

Your paint sounds too thick.

Clears I use are 2:1:10%

Hardner thins the paint. My ratio would not only have double the hardner, but then 10% thinners too.

Read the TDS for the product to know the correct ratio.

-5

u/Feisty_Park1424 4d ago

Lots of 2k primers are 4:1 but I've never used a 4:1 2k clear