UV and Activator 7 years old

'68 Coronet R/T

'68 Coronet R/T

Oldtimer
I have been saving this Universal Clear for a special project that never came along.
UV and Activtor Dates.JPG


Decided to use it today on some motorcycle fenders.
These fenders are off a '59 Harley Pan Head and have been sandblasted and then sanded with 80 grit on a DA.
Two coats of epoxy primer.
3 coats of SPI 2k Build Primer, guide coat, block sanded, finished sanded and then sealed with reduced Epoxy 1:1:1.

Yesterday afternoon, I sprayed 3 coats of SPI Black Base.
Fenders in Epoxy Sealer.JPG


Temp is close to 90 in the booth today.
When I opened the clear it looked fine in the can and the same with the activator. No seediness or any other signs of an issue.
Mixing the clear with activator I notice that in the cup it has a slight yellowish tint to it. Thought maybe that was due to the age?

Since I was reading an old post about a guy having issues with the UV (which I believe was do to contaminants in his air supply) I decided to break the rules and use a 1.3 tip and see what happened. Same gun I used to spray the base with.

It sounded like the gun was pulsating while spraying and the clear wasn't laying down right. I stopped and grabbed my LPH 400 Silver Cap 1.4 tip and things immediately got better.
Sprayed two medium wet coats and then a third with 10% retarder added. Shut fans off immediately.

The first picture is with the flash and you can see what looks to be specs.
Flash.JPG


The next picture is the same area without the flash:
No Flash.JPG


So what are your thoughts on this? (Besides thinking I am crazy.) I have never shot UV before so not sure about the yellowish tint?
The clear cured fine and I will be able to cut and buff it tomorrow, so I am thinking it is okay and that the 1.3 tip caused the issues.

Also, I have some Euro clear left but no activator. Can I use the UV activator with the Euro Clear?
 
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Barry's lifetime guarantee will cover the cost of any additional labor hours required to scrape the gum off of the parts, won't it? o_O

Seriously, it looks pretty good. This is a great test, but if it were me doing it my luck would be all bad.
 
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Last year I found a quart can of uv clear from 2013 or 2014 that was half full. It had a very very slight yellowish tint to it. Used new activator with it and it looked as good as if it wasn't yellowish. Sounds like age to me. Uv is all I use. If it's new clear it will be clear clear, not yellowish. I use a 1.3 lph400 iwatta and never had any issues.
 
Looks good as far as the specks, I'm thinking it iso clumping in a very minor form as may have collected some inside the can condensation over the years. One trick when opening a kit this old is give both cans a quick shake in case of condensation so it dispersed evenly instead of separated.
 
Barry said:
Looks good as far as the specks, I'm thinking it iso clumping in a very minor form as may have collected some inside the can condensation over the years. One trick when opening a kit this old is give both cans a quick shake in case of condensation so it dispersed evenly instead of separated.
Click to expand...
Yes, I did shake them both but is was by hand and only briefly.
I will post some pics after cut and buff.
 
After stuff has been sitting for several years it is good to know the quality is still there. It sprayed the same as always.
 
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