imron paint ornge peel

[mortimer]

Ok, this might be a bit strange but I am totally new to this and did not know where else to go. I have a guitar body that was painted with imron. Had it painted with some parts from our machine shop which made it pretty cheap. Anyway, upon getting it back it has lightly orange peeled almost all over. Kind of bumpy and wavy. I was messaged from the guy who picked it up and he had talked to the painter. He said that he wasn't too sure how thick the paint was and to try 3000 grit or a hand polish after about a week and it would be like glass. I was recommended Meguiars by our boss but not a specific product. I would rather try and use polish rather than sand just because it seems I could be a bit more careful that I don't go through to the primer. Any suggestions on something equivilant to 3000? I don't really want to spend an arm and a leg for such a small project and figured on a good polish and possibly a wax afterwards. But like I said, I am totally new to this and have never done a car or anything that needed that glass finish. I thank you in advance and any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[the other pc]

Re: imron paint ornge peel

Hi mortimer, to MOL.

Hate to tell you this, but other than to go with Meguiar’s the advice you were given sounds off base to me.

A cutting polish will shine up orange peel but won’t remove it. You really need to block sand to flatten out Orange Peel. If you don’t know how much film you have it may not be worth the risk of sanding through.

Also, Imron is very tough paint. Waiting for full cure just makes working on it harder. Most paints should be sanded, cut and buffed just a few hours after application for maximum workability. Paint manufacturers typically describe the work times in their instruction sheets. I took a quick read of a few Imron sheets off Dupont’s website but didn’t see anything about buffing. (I’m guessing that’s because Imron is intended to be an industrial finish, not an automotive finish and most of the intended end users don’t polish it out?) You may have to dig deeper, maybe talk to a Dupont rep for advice.

I doubt you’ll get very far with #3000 paper, which is really made for removing finer defects than orange peel. Typically you’d use something in the #1200 to #2000 range to remove orange peel then use a finer paper to remove the sanding scratch or go straight to a heavy compound with a rotary buffer. Then you follow up with finer polishes as needed for high gloss.

By coincidence, last Tuesday on John Ratzenberger’s Made in America they showed the episode where he toured the Martin factory. In the polishing area they were using pneumatic rotary buffers, much like you’d see on an automotive assembly line.


PC.


.

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: imron paint ornge peel

Listen to PC on this...orange peel needs to be sanded, and Imron is really hard.

[mortimer]

Re: imron paint ornge peel

Great! Thats sarcastic. Thanks! Well, it was very cheap to have done anyway. And it already looks 10 times better than it did previously. I will try and email Dupont if I can. Thanks again.

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: imron paint ornge peel

PC, Imron is actually an aircraft paint.

[the other pc]

Re: imron paint ornge peel

True enough for Imron AF series coatings, AF700, AF3500 and AF400.

Dupont’s costings website lists Imron HG, SG, ST, FT and PR series finishes as industrial coatings. I was guessing that the guitar was painted with one of these as it was sent in with a batch of machine shop parts.

The industrial series coatings are recommended for multiple substrates, including concrete. Although, after watching last week’s Mythbusters that might also qualify as an aircraft application.

Which brings up a good point. mortimer, if you contact Dupont there’s a good chance they’ll ask which flavor of Imron the shooter used. You should be prepared to ask him for the exact name of the version he used.


PC.

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: imron paint ornge peel

Sorry, I was using the 1970's information in my brain, not what is on the DuPont website.