Paint troubles. Arrrrrgh!

[dmworking247]

I'm so fed up.

Painting "The Taxi Cab" bartop took months because of all the bugs and leaves and crap blowing around outdoors, but I got there in the end and the finish was fantastic.

With my other bartop that I'm trying to finish, I had similar problems and eventually finished painting it with a enamel gloss black (I'm using a spray gun by the way). The finish was very smooth, but being a high gloss the finger prints would show WAY too easy. I wasn't happy.

So I sanded it back and decided to spray a Matt Black Enamel over the top (I didn't want to use water base over a previous enamel and I wanted something harder wearing).

Long story short, despite sanding with 600 grit to a smooth finish between every top coat, and despite the finish LOOKING nice, the final surface is so damned corse that its like velcro. If you so much as blow dust on it, it sticks all over it. I try to wipe the dust off with a cloth and little bits of the *(&@#$ cloth stick to it!

WTF, I know my gun isn't fantastic but it did a perfect job of the yellow gloss enamel on the previous project. Is it possible I have a bad paint? The thinner went wrong? Does matt enamel not come out as smooth as gloss?

Help! what can I do... I just can't handle painting it again... is there some way I can buff the surface it to be smooth without destroying the colour/finish/showing any scratch marks?  Should I try an orbital car polisher? An even higher wet & dry sandpaper?

This is pretty much the final straw for DIY projects for me I think... I don't have the time for this crap.

[javeryh]

Try some 1500 or 2000 grit sandpaper - that will get it smooth for sure.  you could also spray on a clear top coat and sand that back with 1500 or 2000 grit sandpaper.