# spray paint dry time question



## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

I've hit a problem with some spray painting and was wondering if someone could explain the *why* this happened (the *how* is because I violated the dry time rules :no: ).

The spray paint (stainless steel rustoleum appliance epoxy spray paint) says to recoat within 20 minutes or after 1 week. This didn't make much sense to me, but I followed it when I painted last night and almost everything came out great (fan accents, and I used a gloss polyurethane on top of it).

The problem last night was that I ran out of paint before finishing. So today I got more and figured I'd give it a shot even though it'd been just one day.

When I sprayed, the paint went on textured!!! Same exact product, UPC code, etc...

And when I let it dry a bit and tried to use a paper towel to remove the bumps, it worked great on some spots, and it removed the paint from yesterday in others!!






Can't believe I tried to make that can stretch knowing it would be a close call, now I'm gonna have to bring all these pieces back to gold and start over


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

Not a real technical answer I know, but about the best I could explain it, as I understand it anyway, is that that paint needs to be second coated while still 'wet', so the new coat sinks into the previous one, or you must wait until it's cured, and put a new coat over top of the previous one

Applying coat two during the curing won't allow either to happen


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

that's so weird, I guess that's kind of how I was understanding it, except I couldn't make sense of a 7 day turnaround lol!! I'm just thinking to myself 'how can a thick coat of sw dry in a day or two but a thin coat of spray paint needs a week!?'


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

joeyboy said:


> 'how can a thick coat of sw dry in a day or two but a thin coat of spray paint needs a week!?'


Ah
The SW takes a week (or more) to actually _cure_
It's dry enough to re-coat in a day
It can be re-coated when dry but not cured
The spray paint can't


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

I see!


slick - I started another thread but maybe you could answer this for me.

I have a ton of fan accents (all gold accents from two different ceiling fans), that have suffered the same bumpy stainless paint + clear gloss polyurethane (can post pics of products if need be, they're also posted in my other new thread in paint). 

Is there anyway to just get this stuff off so I can start fresh? I tried mineral spirits and (diluted, fingernail brand lol) acetone, and neither touched it (perhaps it cannot go through the final coating of poly?

I know I could sand away but with all the little details it'd take ages, if there's a solvent I could just dump these in, rub around, and then be back to the original faux-gold, I think I know how to do these properly now!!

(this is so insanely frustrating because the first fan's accents came out perfectly - I just ran out of paint on a small section, tried touching that up the next day, now I've got 2 fans' worth of accents that are all bumpy, and won't remove!!)


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

not seeing it, I'd have to say you need to sand it smooth and redo to get the finish you want


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

slickshift said:


> not seeing it, I'd have to say you need to sand it smooth and redo to get the finish you want


sanding would be insane given all the lil nooks 'n crannies!! 

I actually have brand new satin nickel fans in boxes I got yesterday, I'm still gonna try to make this happen but with the amount of time I'm spending it seems buying them may be more practical lol! I'm gonna give it one more go and if it's no good I'm just swapping them out.

I took some pics. I've begun this method on 2 fans so far, the first came out better than I could've asked, the second is the nightmare (1st on the left, 2nd on the right). These were both done the same way, EXCEPT a detail I forgot and just remembered yesterday. The good one (on the left), I was low on paint so instead of 2 coats of the stainless steel paint, I did 1 base coat with a generic silver/aluminum colored one (that had no 'flecks' in it), and then the final coat with the stainless steel one. The one on the right had no silver basecoat, just 2 coats of the stainless steel paint. Both have had gloss polyurethane on them (didn't get the $9 polycrylic stuff because I dunno how much they'll really yellow indoors, we'll see!).

These were both gold to start, the botched one (right side) I tried getting back to gold to start fresh, I used acetone (admittedly diluted, and it was my fiance's fingernail polish remover lol), and I tried full strenght mineral spirits. Neither even touched the stuff (maybe an 'enamel' is different? I see 'enamels', 'epoxies', etc on stuff that just seems paint!!). The other pic is a product home depot said (I know, I know, I'm desperate here!!) should do it, but if it doesn't that (and the mineral spirits) are going right back lol!!!

I really want the new fans I got up, but just can't justify swapping somethign that I could alter to my liking you know?


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

(I should say again that the final coats on these, the stainless/satin/etc finish I'm looking for, were both done with the exact same product but different batches. Same label, same UPC code, everything, just bought at diff times)

as weird as this sounds, and this is just a shot in the dark, I had a lil theory. If these have little real/faux stainless steel 'bits/chunks' in them, perhaps the one that came out nice, from the old can, is because it was old and maybe when I used it before, I didn't shake enough, so what was left in that can wasn't a true, uniform mixture like a fresh can would be...


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

...and now after seeing it I have to say that sanding it and redoing it is the way to get what you want

Sorry, man...it's just the way I see it

Hey give you are thinking a shot...maybe it'll work
Don't know unless you try right?


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

slickshift said:


> ...and now after seeing it I have to say that sanding it and redoing it is the way to get what you want
> 
> Sorry, man...it's just the way I see it
> 
> ...


haha I know, but the spray stuff (if it works) will just make it a million times easier. Because of all the grooves and stuff, it'd take forever for me to get it back to a proper smoothness, and I don't think I couldn't do it - I just don't think it'd be worth the time when I have a $50 new one (all satin nickel w/ black blades) sitting there. 

It's so frustrating because I thought this'd be a 1 day turnaround, and the time I've spent, the cash I've spent (several $5 cans of silvers, 1 and a half cans of $6 poly, new pull cords, new finials, new parts <some of the internals were busted and I had to rewire the lighting part of it>, etc) has almost gotten to half the price of a new damn unit, and that's just the cash - factor in the time and I'm taking a beating on this!!! Hindsight's 20/20, I would've just bought new ones at this point!!!

Some projects are worthwhile and some are a nightmare, just how it seems to go. On a positive note I completely re-did 2 of my landscape beds today and they came out SICK!!! (am I the only one that, when doing a project that's a nightmare and coming out horrible, puts it on hold to do projects that will come out right, solely for piece of mind? I do that constantly lol!!)


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

joeyboy said:


> ...the spray stuff (if it works) will just make it a million times easier....


I guess I'm not understanding the stuff you mean then
But hey, give it a shot and find out
Don't forget to post up how it goes


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

it's the stuff in the last pic I posted in this thread - and it worked amazing!!!

I didn't do everythign yet, just the air intake grill piece from the pic, but it went through that enamel/poly coating like water through sugar cubes. I sprayed it on (said wait 15 min), but as I was spraying I saw the silver/poly liquifying and could see gold (the original color of the substrate) just from the force of the little hand sprayer! I let it sit 15 min, brought into garage sink and basically used my hands (with gloves!) and a little brush just to be safe and it gave no issues whatsoever. Now just gotta get all those bad coats off again and try starting from scratch, I'll be psyched if I can make these come out good w/o having to install the new boxed stuff I have!!


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## cianuro (Jan 15, 2010)

Yeah, I know it's old, but maybe someone else is doing some research and I thought this might help. 
From my experience, and judging by the pics, that paint came out like that for probably two reasons:
1. The paint was being applied during humidity conditions, or close to nightfall when temps start to go down and the paint behaves differently. 
2. Check the can's nozzle. I've had situations where the nozzle was plugged, damaged, or not in the correct position. These situations can change the spray pattern or not allow the full mixture of paint come out in the correct ratio, even if you shake the can several minutes before you actually start to paint. 
When I spray paint, I normally start on a piece of wood or cardboard by giving a few strokes before I actually start on what it is I'm going to paint. This way I know the nozzle is clean before I start.


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