Catalyzed Base Coat????

Jim C;n82086 said:
bob, i used hok for years, every day. its not a bad paint but its not great either. dont mistake a well marketed product for a high quality one. just like any paint company they have good products and bad. i have no problem using some of their stuff still today but in general i stopped using their stuff on a daily basis about 7 years ago. there are just far better lines out there. you can mix any of their colors right off any mixing rack and have it cover twice as good. for your question though, i have always activated hok. while i dont know how much reactivity there actually is in the bases but catalyst doesnt necessarily need to react with the base to work. catalyst hardens on its own. take the cap off a qt of cat that you have used, gotten some in the threads and sat on a shelf for a few weeks. its turns to rock hard plastic. it will still do that within the paint film over time. with no reactivity it might not give the full benefit but its gonna add something.

Curious what are you using when doing all that airbrush work. What kind of paint and are you catalyzing it every time you add in more color?
 
used to use diamont and hok. now i am using nothing but wanda. i have always used spi clears and primers. actual airbrush work is not catalyzed but everything else is. all basecolors, graphics. pretty much all basecoat i spray is catalyzed unless its mural work and running through an airbrush.
 
anotheridiot;n82072 said:
everyone knows you should be adding a catalyst before you add the reducer.

I didn't know this, how important is it? So far I always went from whatever the highest percentage is to the lowest. Asking about Urethane SS and Clear...
 
jtfx6552;n82137 said:
I didn't know this, how important is it? So far I always went from whatever the highest percentage is to the lowest. Asking about Urethane SS and Clear...

It's not neccesarily true, for example PPG says to add 5% DX57 by volume to RTS(ready to spray) DBC. What I've always done. Honestly until I started reading around on this forum I had no idea you could use something other than what a manufacturer specified for your basecoat activator.
 
Good example chris, dbc will handle 2 oz per mixed quart but dbu 1 oz per mix quart is all it can handle or it can stay gummy for a day but that depends on the color. All reactive reducer is, urethane reducer and a small shot of iso mixed in. When dbu first came out it used dt reducer but it would wrinkle if you looked at it cross eyed, so the invention drr reducer saved the day.
 
it's been awhile since I posted...I remember a few years back I added clear coat hardner to Omni plus and it had a weird reaction, it started coagulating or something like that...ruined the quart. I know Omni plus is crap paint but did I do something wrong ? or is this one of the paints you can't do that to ? the reason I ask is I'm painting a car and the owner is friends with the paint supplier and this is the paint I will be using...probably should not add hardner ??
 
I have no experience with Omni an any way but talk to people who do add activator to it.
Does not make any chemical sense at all, unless you were using a reactivate reducer also, then it could be to much.
I'm told????? The plus is the old DBU?????? That is why I brought up reactive reducer.
 
Dave C 5;n82142 said:
it's been awhile since I posted...I remember a few years back I added clear coat hardner to Omni plus and it had a weird reaction, it started coagulating or something like that...ruined the quart. I know Omni plus is crap paint but did I do something wrong ? or is this one of the paints you can't do that to ? the reason I ask is I'm painting a car and the owner is friends with the paint supplier and this is the paint I will be using...probably should not add hardner ??

That must have been a fluke reaction. I sell SPI in BC and deal with many shops using omni plus. I have personally activated it with all three SPI clear activators without a problem. I have also seen painters activate it and never seen it do anything weird like that.
 
The Omni Plus basecoat tech sheet says it can have some hardener added to it. I used their recommended hardener, don't remember the number, and also painted a car this week with Omni Plus and used the SPI Euro hardener, nothing funny happened.
 
do you add the hardner to the reducer and mix, then add that to the base ? or do you add it to the base first , mix, then add reducer ? or just throw it all in together and mix? if I recall I added it all together and then mixed...it didn't all mix correctly and started to kind of gel or coagulate
 
I first reduce the required amount of basecoat needed, then I add the hardener, and mix thoroughly. I also like to mix again my basecoat between each coat, metallics can settle when waiting 30 minutes and over.
 
Personally I as you say throw it all together, then I mix.
There are some products that you must do certain things in order as they could jell, base its a free for all.
 
This is unactivated Omni Plus right over blocked original checked, peeling, cracked paint that car had when i got it 15yrs ago.
Blocked original down least possible meaning low spots kept clear, some base, some primer, even bare metal on a couple dents i hammered in almost enough from "junk in trunk" lol.
Topped with a few heavy (and heavily blocked) coats of Universal.

Wish I knew to activate base, doing 1991 Caddy now & all I had to chose from was plain non-plus Omni or $$$ so i'll have to base 2 decent coats.
I'll try 1 oz slow activator per mixed qt..after its reduced. Won't be for a week or so.

So does adding hardener to base make it harder? I'm guessing heavy soft base will nick easy.
Ed




red pass side reflect 1.jpg
 
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