Quoted from killerrobots:Well after a lot of sanding and polishing I think I am pretty much there. It is very flat and has a good shine. There are some very fine lines from sanding that I am still chasing but they don't show up in pictures. Because I did a lot of spraying and sanding to get it flat I am probably a week out from the first spray so I am hoping my "die-back" is minimal. I will do a final polish after it is fully cured.
I will note that it currently passes both the "finger-nail" and "smell" test. I am still going to wait but those may not be the best method to confirm a full cure.
I am pretty happy with it but still learning a lot. At this point the clear job is probably about as nice as the paint job so chasing it much further doesn't matter too much. I am definitely not very efficient but the finished product is what counts.
I will say that I feel like I am a little limited on the 2k. It kind of sprays how it sprays and I just have to live with it. I am no expert on a full HPLV setup (I have done two but as a true novice) so I am sure there are a lot of learning curves there but I am contemplating going back and trying that again on my next one. I have been watching HEP's videos and am so jealous of his setup and skills. Everything looks mirror perfect but he has 40 years of high-end painting experience so what are you going to do. I was laughing today about what I would have thought two years ago when I got into pinball that 75% of my effort was basically improving my painting and coating skills.
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Looks really good.
You dont need a lot of equipment to spray a 2 foot square piece of plywood.
Wait 10 days. It will absolutely die back. Absolutely.
At 10 days it will show you where its going.
Sand with 800
Fill the die back with a dropper and put on a super heavy coat:
Mist coat wait 7 mins.
Heavy coat, 1/3 a can or slightly less or more.
Wait 10 mins
Heavy coat, other 1/3 of the can.
Put enough paint to cover any drip fills you did. Puncture any bubbles with a straight pin.
Dont run out the can dry, it will splatter and ruin the finish. Throw away the bottom 1/4 can.
Make sure you tape a dam along the upper edge of the can and frequently dump.out the rim.
This is where those big drips ruin a perfect job.
Wait 10 weeks and you are done.
Essentially you can sand with 1000 cascade up to 4000, and buff, to flatten again and fix any rough spots at this time.