Thread: lacquer enamels why not?

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seems like some of the greatest memories was in lacquer paint. dont wanna sound to cheap but its hard to do when i am as cheap as i am

I want the paint they use on railroad cars and bridges! I hear it is lead based...even in this day?

I mean, new RR cars do shine, and the paint lasts 30 years with NO maintenance, and i see very little rust (in proportion to the overall vehicle size).

Today's paints have to meet such pollution standards it's a wonder it works at all!

I can remember whan latex house paint use to stink the joint up!

Yeah Richard, while i do not condone graffiti in places where it clearly amounts to vandalism, no one can deny that there is some considerable skill involved. If your interested there is a site:

http//www.graffitti.org/

There are many more, but on here there are some amazing murals in amongst just the kids tagging to mark their territory. I had to do an assignment on graffitti as part of my Art & Design course, and it was one of the more interesting subjects ive had to research.

Sled

Well lacquer was an easy product to use , because it was what they call : Thermoplastic - means it can be REmelted or desolved.
Plus the mixing ratio was 50% color, 150% thinner , and this is what makes it have very high VOC content. (VOC stands for : Volatile Organic Compound) means more goes in the air then on the car.
THere has alway been a thinking that the more coats of lacquer the better, WRONG because it has no elasticity, thats why you see it crows feet , (crack), die back, blistering, because the metal expands & contracts and the paint does'nt.
GM was the biggest user of lacquer on its cars of yesteryear but it still peeled to!
One reason why they peel today is because they use an epoxy sealer & it has a window(proper dry time for application of color & clear) when your base coat & clear is applied, once it has gone over that , the sealer has lost its ADHESION, and paint will peel when the sun hits it & breaks down what little ahdesion is there.

Todays paints are the best thing going , but yes it is high dollar .
These new paints are what they call HIgh Solids- more goes on car then in the air when used with proper spray equipment like HVLP guns( High Volum Low Pressure)
I havent sprayed lacquer since 1985 was more work then what it was worth. I will say it was easier to repair then the BC/CC is.
These new clears are rock hard (Thermoset- when a product is chemically activated to harden, and cannot be remelted or reflowed) and have to be sanded for anything to BITE.

Lacquer was going to be droped out several years ago , but the automotive restorers lobbied to keep it, as they said it would lessen the value of auto restoration beings the car didnt have the original paint product on it.
Most jobbers wont sell lacquer to a non-profesional over the counter as, OSHA will only let shops with proper spray equipment use it .

I'll stop there as thats alot to digest for now........LOL

SprayTech

Streets ,
Acrylic Enamel is still a good product ( just the hardner is a killer)
But it makes it a far better product when added.

Sounds like you have a nice area to paint in as that makes all the difference in the world on having a quality paint job turn out.

Have you tried the newer Acrylic Urethane Single Stage Paint ?
Its alot better quality & the cost isnt that much higher then
Acrylic Enamels.

You can mix ( compatiable ), mixed clear with your mixed color to make it go farther & last longer.

I always hated the guys of yesteryear when they shot lacquer & cleared it with an enamel clear. What a mess it was when it came time to repair. Talk about 2 products that arent compatiable ....LOL

What I mean by proper equipment is a : Heat make up, Down draft booth, with all the correct filteration .Around here if you dont have this you dont get lacquer. Plus after you shoot it
the health department comes in & wants a 1 pound cut out of your exhaust filter for evaluation for VOC content.

SprayTech

Your very right !
Prep work is 90% of the paint job, the shiny stuff just makes it all the better

I think if you try PPG's Deltron DBU or DBC BC/CC system you would be impressed.
Its what they call a wet on wet product, flash time between base coats are fast ,5-15 min. Then 15-30 min between base & clear. Then you can shoot 2-3 coats of clear, with 5-15 min flash between coats of clear.

I mix my own color at work as I have a mix bank & what these kids mixing paint dont relise is that a few extra grams of a certian color or lack of ,will make the color way off .
Plus most colors have several variances & that makes it even funner matching paint on a car now days.

You mention TOXIC, you ought to smell the NCP 271 primer I use,
It is the most god awful smelling stuff around. If you take your mask off to fast when there is still a tad of overspray around , it gives you that feeling in your mouth that you just siphoned gas..........LOL

SprayTech

Yea I know what you mean Streets, some of these colors names that are comming out must be being named by a guy thats a little light in the loafers, or god- for- bid a WOMAN



SprayTech

I used to paint 25-30 years ago. I painted murals on Winnebego van conversions. I do an occasional paint job now, but it's not my favorite job. We always used laquer for basecoat, airbrush work & graphics, and clear coated with urethane clear. When I do a paint job now, I still use the laquer color and urethane clear coat method only because it's the way I've always done it. These days, I wait 24 hrs. wet sand w/1500 and buff it out, to get rid of any little dust spots. Looks like wet plastic when it's done, but it is a lot of work. Can you do custom stuff with the new base coat clear coat systems?

yes you can & its alot better system to use .

Most All custom paint work today is done with Base Clear systems.

Lacquer under urethane clear is a NON repairable paint job.
lacquer is way to harsh & attacks the uerathane & lifts everything, when you have to break the clear coat and repair it down the road.
I hated it when guys did that on the older corvettes & it ended up back in my stall to re-do. A BIG mess it what that is.

Spray