I decided I was gonna paint my '97 Fat Boy in John Deere Blitz Black this year. Before this, I'd only rattle canned parts.

Bought a $100 HVLP paint sprayer from Harbor Freight. Mixed the paint with the correct amount of hardener and thinner.

What a nightmare...

Primer went on with a lot of orange peel. Wet sanded it out smooth. Then Blitz Black went on with a lot of orange peel too.

Wet sanded it...and then discovered wet sanding ruins the finish with Blitz Black (my bad for not researching first).

Still had half a quart left. Thought I needed to adjust the paint gun, so I got everything sanded and smoothed out again. Painted again. Still nothing but big drops and orange peel, no matter how I set the gun. Added some more thinner. Not much better. (I stopped after one piece this time).

Is my cheap sprayer the problem?

Hate to give up, but I may just buy some rattle cans of Blitz Black and call it a day at this point.

 

That's 80% of your problem right there. What's the nozzle size on that sprayer? Incoming air pressure?

 

Nozzle size is 1.5 (which is what I'd read was recommended), 30psi of pressure.

I had first read some success stories with that sprayer, but since my disaster I've read more from people who've said that sprayer is no good.

I found a John Deere dealer in town that has several rattle cans of Blitz Black in stock, so I think I'm just gonna finish the job with those and chalk up the rest as a lesson learned.

 

So how did it turn out?

 

It looks great. I get compliments on it all the time...not that I really care what everyone else thinks, but that rarely happened when it was stock.

But, I'm not thrilled with how fragile the paint is. Scuffs pretty easy, it's a bit difficult to wash, and I can already tell it's not gonna handle gas spills well.

I'm gonna leave it for the rest of this year, but I think when winter rolls around I may shoot another layer of touch-up and then try doing a matte clear coat on top.

 

I just shot my front fender with the Harbor Freight pro gun and it worked well. The cfm is the key. I measured 30 psi at the gun with the nozzle open. I tried it before with not enough pressure/cfm and orange peel galore.

 

I painted my pick up with blitz black over 2 years ago and it came out great no orange peel at all. I used the JD primer and thinner along with the hardner. I bought the cheapest gun at HF actually 4 of them at like 15.00 each. I just laid down a coat then thru the gun out since they were so cheap. I have more expensive guns but didn't think I needed to use them with this paint job.

 

You should get familiar with the spray gun by spraying and adjusting on non critical parts. Like sheets of metal, cardboard, garage door, etc.


Once you make sure you have correct pressure AND CFM, then you need to dial in the correct amount of paint to air ratio. Then factor in the thinning ratio, speed and distance of application, temperature, humidity, etc. Point being there are many factors that affect how the finish lays down.


Do you have prior experience with using automotive type spray guns? YD

 

Yankee hit it on the head!

Now, you can get a quality job from a HF gun, it's just not quite as forgiving as some of the spendy (ok, spendy is a MN term) guns. They are all I use right now.

One thing to remember with any HF gun is to COMPLETELY TEAR IT DOWN AND CLEAN IT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. When you have it perfect, give it another look!
When manufactured they use a compound that is a little rubbery (a white rubber feeling stuff you'll see) and it's a little tough to get all of it out. There's even an O ring you can upgrade but not completely necessary. If you take the time to get it 100% cleaned out, practice and get it tuned right your paint jobs can be as good as any other you'll see.

Now, keep something in mind...you can buy 5 HF guns and 3 will turn out great, 1 will be so-so and 1 will look good weighting down a garbage can. Once used, it's equally important to keep it clean too. I typically buy two and combine the best of each to have one good one. I use and do the same with the little guns as well.

Good luck and if you stick with it (and Youtube/research HF guns) and are willing to do the above you'll be a Rembrandt in no time.

 

Im a painter at a body shop, your orange peel is coming from dry spray make sure your fluid and air and fan pattern are adjusted. Spray it like you want it to lay not to wet not to dry. Take your time do 2 or 3 coats and over lap each coat by about half your spray pattern. Painting takes time pratice and mistakes to get right. Hang in there