Clausen Sandy Polyester Primer

aldefed said:
So I called Clausen to see if you can buy their Sandy polyester primer in less than 4 gallon increments. It turns out that if you call the order in, you only need to be over $100. So I ordered 2 gallons of the Sandy ($107/gallon) to use as my last coats to block sand. In talking with the guy, I described what I was doing by sandblasting and using Epoxy over the bare steel. The guy insisted that epoxy is not waterproof, only water resistant. Now he may have been trying to push the other polyester primers they have as he said those can be applied to bare steel and are waterproof and that no other product needed to be used until final paint. From my understanding, the Sandy is also waterproof, has no recoat windows but cannot be applied to bare steel, unlike their other 2 polyester primers. Since I have epoxy on the bare steel, I went with the Sandy. I want to here feedback on what this guy was saying.
Al
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If only I had read this about two weeks ago. I just paid $195/gallon for Featherfill G2.
 
Evercoat has gone pretty crazy with their prices. Ordered a little 30 oz. jug of Polyflex 411 and it was $80.
 
I am going to use some of this Sandy but it is HOT and been in the 100 degree range now for a few weeks.
Whats your thoughts on this? Will SPI Extra Slow reducer work?
Clausens Sandy TDS says
During the hot summer months, when temperature exceeds
80° a polyurethane reducer should be applied to this product, up to 3% to 5% reduction to slow the drying
process.
DO NOT BAKE AT TEMPERATURES OVER 90 DEGREES, which will cause the product to
skin over and curing will stop. If temperature exceeds 90 degrees a retardant of 3% butyl acetate or a
105-degree polyurethane reducer can be added.
 
I don't think I am brave enough to spray poly in the heat, but if I did, I think I would just go ahead and put 5% retarder in it. With that small of an addition, you want something as slow as possible. Not even sure if if will slow down the gel time at all, but you want a fighting chance to get it on the panel without it being crunchy.
 
I've learned there's a method to managing the heat. It was 105 in my insulated shop Sunday at 5pm. Not sure why God is punishing us this way. When I spray 2k primer or poly in this heat. U want to have everything ready to go and mix 1 quart at a time soon as it's mixed. Dump it and go. Empty the cup. Immediately empty the cup and clean it. Nozzle and tip come off. Assemble and go for 2nd round. Do this before 7am. And you will have a very noticeable difference in the way primer sprays, lays and sanded. Just recently I sprayed upol in 100 degrees and it really sucked sanding it with 400. I sprayed spi at 6am when it was 78..and it laid out silky smooth and 400 cuts it great. Backyard hack disclaimer
 
In general I believe temperature and humidity are critical to all automotive paints. Always have been. In the old days high humidity was the enemy to lacquer, had to thin with slow, add retarder or wait for a drier day.
You have to know what reducer speeds, when and how to use them, retarders and how much. Have to know the limits. The weather always changes and it's often not ideal. It's tougher for many of us who don't have high end spray booths with controlled air input, bake temps, exhaust , etc., particularly in the cold months.
For me it's been an ongoing struggle for about 50 years. Sometimes I ride the elevator and times I take the shaft.
 
So I sprayed 1 coat of the Sandy today. The instructions say to mix 100g of Sandy to 1g of hardener. So I used a precision gram scale to do the mixing and found that I did not have enough hardener (I bought 2 gallons so I used some of the second bottle). So I called Clausen and the guy told me that there is plenty of hardener in the bottle for 1 gallon of Sandy. He said I was being way to critical in the mixing and that everyone just eye balls it. So I said I was just following your instructions and so he is sending me another bottle of hardener. He said this stuff will cure even if you don't put any hardener in it, but it will take a long time to cure (he didn't say how long). I plan on doing a second coat tomorrow with however much I can get done with the amount of hardener I have left. That will be pretty much it for the rest of the year since I am running out of 70 degree days. Just letting everyone know who wants to use this so they don't run out of hardener.
 
Their rust defender activator bottles have 1/4 marks on them. So 1/4 activator to one quart of primer. Does the Sandy activator container not have those marks? Could you post a pic of the activator bottle?

I always mix a quart of the rust defender, never less. Never had a problem with it not hardening, or anything else really…

Don
 
Yes it has the same marks. My gun cup won't hold a quart so I mixed it by weight. I was not sure how long it would take to harden so I was playing it safe mixing 1 cup at a time. I sprayed the whole gallon using the same cup and I didn't clean the gun between either. There have been a few things the guy from Clausen said that didn't make any sense to me, the hardener being one of them.
 
aldefed said:
I looked up the guy I have been talking to and he is listed as the president and CEO of Clausen.
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WOW :eek: Measuring weight instead of volume would cause mixing to run short of hardener, but it would cause a mess without some hardener
 
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aldefed said:
So I sprayed 1 coat of the Sandy today. The instructions say to mix 100g of Sandy to 1g of hardener. So I used a precision gram scale to do the mixing and found that I did not have enough hardener (I bought 2 gallons so I used some of the second bottle). So I called Clausen and the guy told me that there is plenty of hardener in the bottle for 1 gallon of Sandy. He said I was being way to critical in the mixing and that everyone just eye balls it. So I said I was just following your instructions and so he is sending me another bottle of hardener. He said this stuff will cure even if you don't put any hardener in it, but it will take a long time to cure (he didn't say how long). I plan on doing a second coat tomorrow with however much I can get done with the amount of hardener I have left. That will be pretty much it for the rest of the year since I am running out of 70 degree days. Just letting everyone know who wants to use this so they don't run out of hardener.
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Well, pretty timely post of yours. I have two gallons of Clausen Rust defender I purchased a couple weeks ago. I've been looking on-line for a gram scale so I could also mix less than a quart if desired.

Don't see a need for a scale now.
 
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