3.0? For spraying gelcoat.

[Vumad]

Gelcoat spray gun question here.

I currently have an assortment of spray guns. The one I use the most for gelcoat repair is the Aeropro, which I think might now be TCP global, 2.5mm HVLP spray gun which was recommended to me by @Nate_D

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I have a G100 dump gun that works fine to avoid thinning in molds, but does a terrible job for repairs (in my case, parts from one off male molds).

I was looking for maybe a 3.0 or larger gun with similar performance in the $30-60 price range. Something I can get the material out of the gun faster with. Some orange peel is okay. I would be laying down a coat with the 3.0, blocking it out, then doing a finishing coat with the 2.5 or 2.2 I have.

Yes, I should probably use body filler instead of gelcoat, but what I am doing is laying up glass, then while it's green, laying down gelcoat to fill the weave. Once it's cured, I block it out, then spray a finishing coat. It is very effective for some of these projects I am doing.

 

[RiverRides]

Never tried a 3.0 but have sprayed with a 2.5 it into a mold using a cup gun but it couldn't get more than half a liter sprayed before starting to gel in the cup. It did lay a little down a little smoother than my dumpgun and would be a better suited for small repairs than a dump gun.
I also have a cheap gravity fed gun w/ a 2.5 & 3.0 tip I use to spray clear topcoat into molds. It's viscosity is a little lighter than gelcoat and doesn't gel as fast as gelcoat but puts it out it out nicely. Got the gun off ebay or Amazon for about 45.
Didnt really answer your question but all that's all the experience I have spraying gelcoat.

 

[SUPERJET-113]

Ever tried a Preval disposable sprayer? I use them all the time for small gel coat and paint touch ups. They work great for gel coat. I just take off the little filter that is on the bottom of the siphon hose for gel coat. I run some acetone through them after spraying and its ready to use again, or just throw away. I get the sprayer and bottle for $7 or just the power pack part for $4 at Home Depot. They will spray up to 16 oz of fluids. The glass jar they come with holds 8 oz. I'm not sure how big of projects your doing, but for small jobs they work great.

 

[Vumad]

Ever tried a Preval disposable sprayer? I use them all the time for small gel coat and paint touch ups. They work great for gel coat. I just take off the little filter that is on the bottom of the siphon hose for gel coat. I run some acetone through them after spraying and its ready to use again, or just throw away. I get the sprayer and bottle for $7 or just the power pack part for $4 at Home Depot. They will spray up to 16 oz of fluids. The glass jar they come with holds 8 oz. I'm not sure how big of projects your doing, but for small jobs they work great.
View attachment 411115

I have not. I have looked at them though and they do have potential.

That's the opposite of the way I want to go thoguh. I spayed 32 ounces of Gelcoat the other day on the rear cap I built for my camper which is about 16 sqft. The front cap I built was about 90 sqft, which is a gallon.

These weren't touch up jobs. They were one off parts lifted from male molds.

 

[Wetbuffalo]

Ever tried a Preval disposable sprayer? I use them all the time for small gel coat and paint touch ups. They work great for gel coat. I just take off the little filter that is on the bottom of the siphon hose for gel coat. I run some acetone through them after spraying and its ready to use again, or just throw away. I get the sprayer and bottle for $7 or just the power pack part for $4 at Home Depot. They will spray up to 16 oz of fluids. The glass jar they come with holds 8 oz. I'm not sure how big of projects your doing, but for small jobs they work great.
View attachment 411115

Are you thinning the gel coat for spraying? I would think straight gel coat would be too thick.

 

[SUPERJET-113]

Are you thinning the gel coat for spraying? I would think straight gel coat would be too thick.

Yes, adding a bit of acetone to thin down to spray.

 

[Crankin]

Yes, adding a bit of acetone to thin down to spray.

Yes, adding a bit of acetone to thin down to spray.

Superjet-113 can u pm about gaskets

 

[Vumad]

Yes, adding a bit of acetone to thin down to spray.

FGCI told me not to use acetone, and to be careful with styrene for thinning gelcoat. It discolors the gelcoat.

Duratech is very expensive. I have been using a product called patch booster which is working great.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I have used acetone, styrene and even lacquer thinner for thinning gelcoat all with decent results, patchaid also works pretty well, but thinning gelcoat by 20% works pretty well also, yo might also want o try out a product called smoothie for gelcoat, it allows the gelcoat to smooth out more and will definatly decrease your sanding and blocking time by at least half. https://multitechproducts.com/smoothie-for-gelcoat/

 

[SUPERJET-113]

FGCI told me not to use acetone, and to be careful with styrene for thinning gelcoat. It discolors the gelcoat.

Duratech is very expensive. I have been using a product called patch booster which is working great.

Whatever you like. I get perfect color matches every time and just thin down enough with acetone to shoot through whatever gun or thing I use at the time, then PVA(thats for a repair on something). Thats old school and nothing wrong with it. I have been matching colors since 1995. I used to do a lot of gel coat repairs back in the day on boats/jetski, also a ton of vinyl repairs and matching vinyl dye colors. I like dura-tech, also have used " smoothie", and "hot shot" and "cold shot" too for thinnning gel coat. Its not like there is only one way to do it man.

White, black, red, and yellow gel coat, will get you a perfect match to 90% of ALL colors. Only unless there is some blue in there, will you need blue gel coat for a color match.

Good luck to all methods...lol

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Same here I used to do FRP and gelcoat repairs on Ski Nautiques and Mastercraft ski boats, nasty stuff like boats a boat that a tree fAll on and pushed the cap into the hull about 6 inches inches and a Ski Brendella that tore the back of the hull out because they were hanging the boat in the boat house when it wasn't made to do that, acetone, patch-aid , wax additives , PVA and smoothie all have their place and have all been used at one time or another for sure

 

[Vumad]

Whatever you like. I get perfect color matches every time and just thin down enough with acetone to shoot through whatever gun or thing I use at the time, then PVA(thats for a repair on something). Thats old school and nothing wrong with it. I have been matching colors since 1995. I used to do a lot of gel coat repairs back in the day on boats/jetski, also a ton of vinyl repairs and matching vinyl dye colors. I like dura-tech, also have used " smoothie", and "hot shot" and "cold shot" too for thinnning gel coat. Its not like there is only one way to do it man.

White, black, red, and yellow gel coat, will get you a perfect match to 90% of ALL colors. Only unless there is some blue in there, will you need blue gel coat for a color match.

Good luck to all methods...lol

Telling you what I was told by my local retailer was not an attack on your abilities or knowledge.

 

[SUPERJET-113]

Telling you what I was told by my local retailer was not an attack on your abilities or knowledge.

No worries Vumad. Sorry, I didnt mean to come off as a ass. I just wanted to say that it can be done different ways and telling my past experiences of working with gel coat/paints for 25 years. I usually stay away from composite threads because of this, but sometimes I cant help myself..lol Its all about what works for you. I also had a few brewskis prior to typing that!

 

[motobehrens]

I have not. I have looked at them though and they do have potential.

That's the opposite of the way I want to go thoguh. I spayed 32 ounces of Gelcoat the other day on the rear cap I built for my camper which is about 16 sqft. The front cap I built was about 90 sqft, which is a gallon.

These weren't touch up jobs. They were one off parts lifted from male molds.

Post some pics of your project. Sounds interesting.

 

[Vumad]

Post some pics of your project. Sounds interesting.

Post 964

Other - What did you fab up today? A thread for the home fabricators!

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-2-Pack-0-75-in-Rubber-Grommet/3013204 https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-12-Pack-Plastic-Full-Clamp/3013247 You would have a much better argument if you were at least building items that were not readily available for cheap using materials suitable for the...

x-h2o.com

Presently I am building the rear cap, which is much smaller and moving much faster. I've learned a lot since I started the front.

Prior to this, my largest project was the Baby Jet, which is one of my accomplishments I am most proud of.

Baby Jet

We are about to embark on an amazing adventure to waste an absurd amount of time and money to introduce a little lady into a sport she can't even yet comprehend... Initial measurements and sketches were taken from her walker onto PEG board. The wheels for this were salvaged from a jogging stroller.

www.x-h2o.com

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Just a thought but have you looked at brushable gelcoat, it might save you a lot of time and aggravation if you are just using it to fill weave anyway. https://www.fgci.com/item/134054/Gelcoat-White-Brushable-81-112350-Quart/

 

[tom21]

Stupid question time hold onto your seats everybody....could you just use your resin and a roller? Gelcoat is just resin with color and some UV inhibitors right? Well leave off the expensive additives and just run with the resin. Gonna sand the same and if you are gonna spray gelcoat over it to finish it there won't be bonding issues. If you want to start turning it white you can add the dye to the resin it just wont have the UV stuff but will still build the surface and prob better since the gelcoat is usually thinned resin anyway.

 

[Vumad]

Stupid question time hold onto your seats everybody....could you just use your resin and a roller? Gelcoat is just resin with color and some UV inhibitors right? Well leave off the expensive additives and just run with the resin. Gonna sand the same and if you are gonna spray gelcoat over it to finish it there won't be bonding issues. If you want to start turning it white you can add the dye to the resin it just wont have the UV stuff but will still build the surface and prob better since the gelcoat is usually thinned resin anyway.

Yes. Typically I just use talc and resin to make a putty. I sometimes just thicken the gelcoat to fill small imperfections or use the gelcoat to dye the poly resin. However, for the project I was working on at the time of the post, it was very easy to just spray it with gelcoat at the time of layup instead of rolling or brushing. I got a very uniform finish, but lacked the buildup I would have liked. I could have gotten more build up easily, but it can be a bit of a hassle because of the pot life. The issue is not the actual spraying, but how long it takes to get the material out of the gun. Due to the working times, to get 16oz out of the gun, I have to immediately clean the gun. If I could get the material out of the gun faster, then I could spray a second 16oz without the need to clean the gun. At 85-92* ambient, even with icing the gelcoat and cooling the compressed air, I still end up with the gelcoat starting to setup in the gun before the second pot is done.

Since this part is so flat, a roller for gloss surfaces probably would have worked really well.

 

[Vumad]

This is the part. It seems to be coming out well.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Prevail sprayers are your friend , if it kicks just throw it away and grab another one