Seriously P.O'd. Need painting advice

[dcsgguy]

Well here is the situation.  I stripped all the paint off the cab I bought and sanded it down.  i bought expensvie primer and black latex paint and followed the painting instructions according to Saint's book.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeelll The first two layers of primer go on nice and smooth.  I then put my first layer of black paint on and two sides come out smooth but the third is a bit rough.  Well I sand it down a bit and then put another layer of black paint on.  Now the whole freaking think looks a bit rough and is not smooth like the primer was.

I am so frustrated I'm not sure what to do.  Should I just get 200 grit sandpaper and sand all sides down and apply another coat?  I have no idea what I did wrong.

Sorry, had to vent.

[ChadTower]

You have to sand every coat of everything you apply.  If not, with each successive coat, the imperfections will get bigger and more obvious.

strip-sand-prime-sand-prime-sand-paint-sand-paint-sand-paint

[dcsgguy]

I did sand every coat but the last one.  I'm thinking I'm just going to go get some 600 grit sandpaper and sand the hell out of it.  if I can't get i smoother, I'll throw on 200 and get as much off as I can.  There is NO way I'm stripping that cab of all the paint again.

[Knievel]

What are you using to apply it?

The small white foam rollers are the best of the best..well, next to spraying anyway.
Look the ones that are rounded on both ends, you will get no overlap marks with those.

[dcsgguy]

actually there really was no overlap marks.  The surface just wasn't smooth like it was after the first two coats of primer.  I just hope I can sand most of the little bumps away....

I don't think I used a foam roller though... one second though, that sounds like a good way to paint instead of the wooly type of rollers.  Is it safe just to do a pretty heavy sanding then reprime, sand then repaint?

[Chris G]

Don't think you should need to reprime it.

[Knievel]

I would sand it as smooth as you can then repaint with the foam roller.

The ones I use are white, 4" long and are rounded on both ends. I buy them at a local paint shop. I've seen some similar at Home Depot but they only have one rounded end, and the quality may not be the same.

My paint guy told me they were comparable to a spray finish so I tried them and never looked back.  They are Nour brand 4" Ultra Foam roller, that might be just a Canadian brand name.

[dcsgguy]

Thanks Kneivel.

I just d-checked and it now that the paint job has dried it doesn't look near as bad.  I may go over it one more time.  Do you recommend I take a 300 grit sander to it then finish her off?

[DrumAnBass]

Yah foam rollers are the only way to go (other than spraying) when dealing with smooth surfaces. Hope some sanding and another coat with the foam does the trick!

[dcsgguy]

It didn't.  I took another look at it and I HATE it.  Not only that, I decided to replace the old T-molding as well.

So here I am, trying to strip the paint again only this time it is 10 times as difficult.  The heat gun I had removed the original layer of paint without a problem.  Now it is being way more stubborn.  Looks I need to get a latex paint remover if there is such a thing....sigh.

[leapinlew]

I wouldn't mind seeing some pictures...

It seems to me that you might want to wait till the morning. See if bi-polar kicks in - it may look great tomorrow. 

[dcsgguy]

I tried taking some but the light isn't good.  I'll post some tomorrow.  I've already begun stripping the one side that was real bad.  The other two aren't horrible.  Mayble I'll just repaint the one side

[DrumAnBass]

Smooth mini foam roller:

[ChadTower]

I think the problem here is as much impatience as anything else.  Yesterday at 6pm you're saying it dried... then yesterday at 9pm you're already stripping it.  There's NO WAY it cured in three hours and you're just uncuring it with the heat gun and making a goopy mess.

Painting takes time, sometimes a couple weeks, to really get the optimal finish.  You just have to accept that.

[javeryh]

I think the problem here is as much impatience as anything else.  Yesterday at 6pm you're saying it dried... then yesterday at 9pm you're already stripping it.  There's NO WAY it cured in three hours and you're just uncuring it with the heat gun and making a goopy mess.

Painting takes time, sometimes a couple weeks, to really get the optimal finish.  You just have to accept that.

I'll second this.  I'm about a month in to painting my cabinet and I still have about 2-3 weeks left before I'm totally finished with the paint job (I'm putting on an insane high gloss automotive finish).  Still, to do it right I'd guess about 3 weeks total to fully paint a cab sounds about right assuming you sand between coats and wait 2-3 days for the paint to fully cure.  Other than setting up the computer, it's my least favorite part of building these things.

[dcsgguy]

ChadT

You are right and wrong.  You are definitely right on me being impatient.  If I would have waited a full 24 hours I wouldn't have jumped the gun.  However, the one side did come out pretty bad and was rough so that was the only side I sanded down.  it's weird that the other two looked decent.

[ChadTower]

It's common for 24 hours to not be even close to a full cure time, if that helps.  It's a good recoat time, yes, but curing is longer than that.

[FooMonk]

I'm right there with you all on the cure time. I'm spraying latex paint and added some Floetrol to thin it out. MAN, that stuff takes a long time to cure. I waited a full week before sanding, and it still wasn't ready to sand. I'm sure the additive had something to do with it, but still...

[michelevit]

i had similar problems to what you are describiing.

what i do now is just put the brush and rollers aside
and use a spray gun.

i have a cheapo china made auto paint gun from
harbor freight ($20) and spray thinned down
rustoleum oil based paint.

it is much easier than working with rollers and brushes
and the paint lays down really nicely.  i already had
an air compressor so all i needed to purchase
was the gun.

try spraying the paint on- you'll be much happier with
the results.

 

[dcsgguy]

How can you tell when the paint is ready to be sanded?  I know I took a 300 fine block of sand paper to the good side and it appeared to bubble a bit so I stopped.

[FooMonk]

How can you tell when the paint is ready to be sanded?  I know I took a 300 fine block of sand paper to the good side and it appeared to bubble a bit so I stopped.

I use an orbital sander. What I'm refering to as "not ready" is that the paint just isn't solid. The sander causes the paint to distort in shape, and generally makes it look worse. Silly putty comes to mind, but it's not that soft. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on it.

[dcsgguy]

hmm, that is what happened to me.  It didn't look right after sanding.  I didn't realize that you had to wait so long between coats.  This is crazy.  I guess the only good thing is that I am out of $$ to buy more stuff for the cab so I guess this slow paced stuff is perfect now.

[spacies]

You can get a pretty good finish with a roller BUT it sounds like you are expecting too much.

You will never get it smooth like a car unless you spray. NEVER.

You could sand that thing into a pile of dust before you get rid of the 'stipple' a roller will leave.

And Black is the worst colour for this.

If you want a near perfect result, go buy or hire a compressor and a gun and you could paint it in 1 day from start to finish. And before some of you say BS, Dulon or acrylic car paint dries in minutes and actually requires you to put on the next coat while the last coat is still fresh.

I cut down a full size cabinet for my nephew.
I sanded the old brown sides, filled in some imperfections, sanded the filler, primed, sanded, primed, sanded, painted 3 finish coats left over from spaying my car and buffed it til PERFECT all in 1 morning. To apply 1 full coat on the whole cabinet was about 2 minutes max.



You can see the original laminate woodgrain effect through the paint which gives you an indication of how thin it goes on and how darn good it looks.

Now if you want to stick to the roller, you are going to have to accept that it takes time and you are going to have to live with slight stipple and brush marks in the corners.

Up to you mate.