Dumb question alert... Binks 95 siphon spraying tooling gel?

General Composites Discussions Equipment Talk
#1

Hi Guys,

I’ve got a binks 95 I use for painting boats. With a siphon feed cup, I couldn’t get it to pick up tooling gel. I put in a 68 air cap, fluid nozzle, and needle. Do I need to crank up the air pressure beyond the 55 I normally spray?

Is it asking to much for it, without thinning it? I ended up grabbing my pos HVLP gun with a 1.5mm tip, and cranking up the air pressure to get it to go through, as I had already catalyzed the gelcoat and didn’t want to brush it.

I have a 2.8 gallon pressure pot rig, 3M PPS paint cups, and a siphon feed cup for the binks 95. I’m not real fond of my pressure pot because of the amount of time it takes cleaning out the lines and assembling/breaking it down.

I was able to get 15 mils of gel on my plug before the HVLP gun gummed up and required a tear down for cleaning. Is there a way around having to clean every 15-20 minutes? (Air temp is 90-95 right now…)

Thanks

Zach

#2

Is this tooling gel formulated for spraying? If not, forget it. Sprayable gelcoat has a different rheology than brushable gelcoat.

#3

It is formulated for spraying.

CCP FV 945-B-201 BLACK TOOLING GEL COAT

I read through the book about it http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/pdf/gelcoat/945ToolingInfo.pdf

I was surprised to see a 66 tip would spray it, as it sure looks thick. It says in the article that I need 13cfm. I was using my 6cfm compressor, rather than my 17 so that may have something to do with it.

So far the mold is a success. I put two layers of 3/4 ounce mat, let it sit overnight, then put three layers of 1.5 ounce yesterday and another three today. Popped the plug out, and its slick, I have some resin leak through the clay dam I put on top of a piece of aluminum

#4

Zach, try Harbor Freight or a cheap tool store for a new HVLP gravity feed gun with a 1.5mm or larger tip size.

Mix gel coat with 10 to 15% acetone content then catylize at 1 or 2 percent with mekp. Do not mix more than one and a half pints at a time in the summer or your gun will gel up inside. I bought our gun for $15 on sale at H.F. It works well. Also clean up your gun with acetone or laquer thinner when done spraying and in-between refilling. If you are spraying something larger than 5 sq ft of area you will definately want a gun with a 2.0 or larger tip.

I wouldn’t mess with the old conventional guns for gel coat. Only thin gel coat with acetone.

#5

If you want to thin gel coat with out degrading the properties use Duratec Clear Hi Gloss Additive 904-001.