Delfleet Essential Test Panel - What do you think?

E

erover82

Promoted Users
I'm just a novice painting in a tent outside, trying to imitate you guys who actually know what you're doing. Did a few floor panels as test panels in Delfleet solid single stage. 1/8 aluminum sheet, cleaned, DA 120, cleaned, 2 coat epoxy, wet sand 600, 1 more coat epoxy as a sealer (just to try it), 2 coats SS next day. Astro EuroPro EVO-T 1.4 LVLP gun, painted vertically, air temp 70F, panel temp 80F (concrete held heat overnight). Pics are 6 hours after curing at ~85F. Any thoughts on the result? I wasn't sure how much orange peel to expect. Maybe cut with 1500 and buff?

IMG_0352.JPEG
IMG_0351.JPEG
IMG_0349.JPEG
IMG_0350.JPEG
 
Last edited:
That's quite a bit of texture. Looks like orange peel but without seeing it in person I can't tell if its true orange peel (from spraying too light) or texture from spraying too heavy. More i look at it it looks like texture from spraying it heavy.

I'll say this, up your gun pressure by at least 5-8 psi. Maybe more. What psi are you spraying at? Cut your fluid back a bit. Tighten your passes. Speed up a little with your passes. You want to make your passes with around 75% overlap. Meaning each pass overlaps the previous by 75%. Watch the SS as it is going on, look for it "filling in" as you are spraying. You want it to fill in and no more than that. Adjust your pass speed to achieve that.

If you plan to cut and buff you want at least 3 coats absolute minimum on the panels. Preferably more.
 
Let's say you cut too far into fresh solid SS, what do you do? Sand 400 and spray one more coat?

Did 600 wet because I wanted the epoxy primer orange peel gone so when I tried epoxy sealer and this SS I could see their peel on their own. At least, that was my novice thinking. I also have new sand paper and hard block that I was looking for something to try it on.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
That's quite a bit of texture. Looks like orange peel but without seeing it in person I can't tell if its true orange peel (from spraying too light) or texture from spraying too heavy. More i look at it it looks like texture from spraying it heavy.

I'll say this, up your gun pressure by at least 5-8 psi. Maybe more. What psi are you spraying at? Cut your fluid back a bit. Tighten your passes. Speed up a little with your passes. You want to make your passes with around 75% overlap. Meaning each pass overlaps the previous by 75%. Watch the SS as it is going on, look for it "filling in" as you are spraying. You want it to fill in and no more than that. Adjust your pass speed to achieve that.

If you plan to cut and buff you want at least 3 coats absolute minimum on the panels. Preferably more.
Click to expand...

I think it was heavy because paint appeared to build up at the bottom edge, almost like the whole panel was running down at the same time. No isolated runs though.

Was spraying at ~19PSI, the upper limit of the recommended range in the EVO-T's manual. I think it's classified as a LVLP gun. I usually run my other guns at ~28 PSI. I'll put a second gauge on it to verify the gun's gauge is reading correct. Had fluid adjust to full open, wide fan, with about 50% overlap. Thanks for the tips.

I'm going to keep doing test panels and adjusting things.
 
erover82 said:
I think it was heavy because paint appeared to build up at the bottom edge, almost like the whole panel was running down at the same time. No isolated runs though.

Was spraying at ~19PSI, the upper limit of the recommended range in the EVO-T's manual. I think it's classified as a LVLP gun. I usually run my other guns at ~28 PSI. I'll put a second gauge on it to verify the gun's gauge is reading correct. Had fluid adjust to full open, wide fan, with about 50% overlap. Thanks for the tips.

I'm going to keep doing test panels and adjusting things.
Click to expand...
There is no upper limit. Only an upper limit to keep it EPA compliant. Don't worry about that. Turn up the air pressure. 19 psi explains a lot. Bump that thing up to 30 or so. Do that and follow the rest of what I said above and it will turn out very nice.
 
I’ll do other test panels but how would you “fix” this panel? Let it fully cure, da 400, and spray one more coat with the advice you offered?
 
Fleet paints are typically designed for a once-around application. Coverage comes before appearance. Cranking up the pressure will help, but it's not reasonable to expect the kinds of results we look for in a higher-end single stage. It's just a different animal.
 
Total Solids by Volume
PPG Concept: 32.3 – 39.5%
PPG Delfleet Essential: 44.4% - 53%

Going to see how well I can get it to lay down consistently. If I’m not happy with it I’ll try something else. This is going on a 4x4 that won’t be abused but it will be used properly. So for durability I’m opting for SPI products and fleet paint, for now. A bit different use case than the nice cars I see here.
 
Last edited:
Honestly if this was mine, knowing what it is and it's value I would use a premium line not commercial one coat paint. It's not tougher or withstand more abuse, it's commercial because it's designed to cover Semi's, dump trucks etc in one coat. That's it.

Motocryl is good quality and affordable. Glasurit 22 would be my choice though. They will have full coverage of colors for Land Rovers, it's the best you can get. If you don't have a BASF Jobber though, Automotive Art Motocryl would still be a far better choice than what you are using. Would be cheaper too. And you can get it delivered to your door.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Honestly if this was mine, knowing what it is and it's value I would use a premium line not commercial one coat paint. It's not tougher or withstand more abuse, it's commercial because it's designed to cover Semi's, dump trucks etc in one coat. That's it.

Motocryl is good quality and affordable. Glasurit 22 would be my choice though. They will have full coverage of colors for Land Rovers, it's the best you can get. If you don't have a BASF Jobber though, Automotive Art Motocryl would still be a far better choice than what you are using. Would be cheaper too. And you can get it delivered to your door.
Click to expand...
A big delivery company, big shot, once told me they judge all their paint jobs from 45 feet away.
I've had four rovers, and so sad to destroy the work that looked so good on the frame and kill the value by 60,000.
This really hurts me but none of my business.
 
Makes me wonder if some extra reduction with SPI reducer would iron that peel right out. Might want an additional coat though.
Last time I used fleet paint, I reduced it, more to stretch it out than anything, but it did improve the appearance, imo.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Honestly if this was mine, knowing what it is and it's value I would use a premium line not commercial one coat paint. It's not tougher or withstand more abuse, it's commercial because it's designed to cover Semi's, dump trucks etc in one coat. That's it.

Motocryl is good quality and affordable. Glasurit 22 would be my choice though. They will have full coverage of colors for Land Rovers, it's the best you can get. If you don't have a BASF Jobber though, Automotive Art Motocryl would still be a far better choice than what you are using. Would be cheaper too. And you can get it delivered to your door.
Click to expand...
Barry said:
A big delivery company, big shot, once told me they judge all their paint jobs from 45 feet away.
I've had four rovers, and so sad to destroy the work that looked so good on the frame and kill the value by 60,000.
This really hurts me but none of my business.
Click to expand...


I'm listening and trying to understand. What I see here in the past is "cheap paint is thin, lays down nice, but doesn't last", so I look at the Delfleet and see that it's high solids, Motocryl is 55%, Glasurit 22 says "high solids" and I think "ok Delfleet is in the better category of paints, durability wise". I also see that Delfleet says 2 coats, Motocryl & Concept say 1-2 coats, while Glasurit (TDS is less detailed) only says "A single paint layer is really all you need", and I don't see much difference between them there either. That's probably overly simplistic but I'm trying to interpret the info that's available.

Let's say I refine my application process and get it to lay down nice consistently, what am I missing from a different paint line at that point? I already have 2 gallons of Delfleet mixed to a custom lighter variation of the factory color that I like, so I'm sure you can understand my hesitancy to abandon this without at least trying it or without having a good understand of the reasoning.

Barry I'd like to think I'm about as involved/interested in the LR world as you are in the automotive paint world, so this is great that we're meeting somewhere in the middle. I haven't detailed much of the painstaking detailed work I've put into this rebuild, but it's significant, so I definitely appreciate the concern.
 
Last edited:
crashtech said:
Makes me wonder if some extra reduction with SPI reducer would iron that peel right out. Might want an additional coat though.
Last time I used fleet paint, I reduced it, more to stretch it out than anything, but it did improve the appearance, imo.
Click to expand...

I have a gallon of SPI reducer here. Delfleet TDS says up to 10% may be used. I didn't use any though. What % would you try initially? Getting some panels prepped today for top coating tomorrow morning. Thinking I'll do one unreduced, but fix my spray settings, and maybe another reduced to compare.
 
The reducer has to be right for the conditions, or it might make things worse. You should be using 885, I think.
I'd go straight for the 10% since the difference will be more apparent that way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top