Fish eyes in Primer?

J

jlwdvm

Member
Well, I finally did it. Worked all night on the 69 Firebird body Friday night so I could paint with the temps in the 70's on Saturday. Degreased with solvent-based WGR twice, DA with 80 grit, degreased again with SPI water based WGR, tacked off and started spraying. Low 70's when I started spraying. Sprayed 2 coats of epoxy with gun pressure at 25psi with trigger pulled (dessicant air dryer-filter, 50' copper line). After I got done spraying I noticed several areas the size of a quarter that looked like there was contamination on the metal (epoxy wouldn't cover) and numerous pinpoint circular dots in various areas of coverage. For the contaminated spots I ground down to bare metal the next day with 40 grit, then 120 grit, water based WGR and tacked off. Waited 30 minutes and touched up the repaired spots. Am I right in thinking that the repaired areas were spots that I didn't get cleaned good enough, and are the other spots fish eyes. Do I need to worry? Thanks to Berry for answering his phone Saturday afternoon!
 
Using an Eastwood Concourse gun, Summit mixing cup and filters, plastic lip on can from Menards to prevent spillage, etc. Can't think of any sources of silicone in the DIY booth.
 
You're likely trapping solvents and its causing separation of the epoxy, try shooting with a higher pressure and watch where you overlap your passes. I have this happen to me before and that usually solves the problem.

Also if you give the epoxy some induction time it will help with the spraying without the 'fisheyes'.
 
Is a fish eye a small dot where there is zero paint. Since I only have primer on, should I be able to see clear to the bare metal if it is a true fish eye caused by silicone or some other type of oil contamination? Can fish eyes be painted over?
 
Can also be you didnt wait long enough for the waterbase cleaner to flash off completely. Just a little moisture left on will make to epoxy go nuts.
 
I looked at it a little closer last. About 3/4's of the area I sprayed looks normal (a few runs, orange peal, etc, but I expected that since this was my first time spraying). The other 1/4 looks like the surface of the moon, with little pin-point craters in the epoxy. Only about 25% of the craters have epoxy that looks a little thinner than the surrounding area. Most of them are completely white with only the defect in the surface seen.
 
I have seen before with new painters where they had large areas of "fisheyes" that they could not identify the cause. what I figured caused the problem is the "TACK CLOTHES". When tacking off a surface, make sure that you are only lightly wiping the surface with the rag. You only want to pick-up the dust with the sticky stuff on the rag, not transfer the sticky stuff to the surface.

Aaron
 
I always have other thoughts. Do you have a question in particular?

Aaron
 
Sort of... can they be lightly sanded wiped with cleaner and be epoxy primed over?

jlwdvm;1878 said:
Is a fish eye a small dot where there is zero paint. Since I only have primer on, should I be able to see clear to the bare metal if it is a true fish eye caused by silicone or some other type of oil contamination? Can fish eyes be painted over?
Click to expand...
 
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go ahead, hit me, I can take it!

Bueller... Bueller... Bueller...
 
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I usually sand the primer as it was intended to be sanded in the first place, swipe some poly putty on the holes that remain, sand that, then prime.
 
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