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Orange peel - How to get rid of it??


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Hi

I have been painting with my airbrush (badger 350), but I am having some troubles with the gloss paint.

Some minutes after painting, it appears.

What am I doing grong?

Orange peel can be caused by a few different things. To remove it you need to micro mesh it down (wet sanding it may help even more). The cause is that your paint is drying too fast. Either it is being sprayed from too far away and drying in the air as it arrives to the surface, or it could be being sprayed on too thick and the carrier is evaporating before the paint has a chance to level out. Other factors that can cause orange peel can be spraying at too low an air pressure, room temperature, type of paint and more. If you can provide more details, such as what type of paint you're using, your mix ratios, distance to your target, room temperature, etc. we can narrow down a solution.

Edited by urloony
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I am using humbrol gloss paints. The mix ratio is 1:1. The distante is about 10cm. And as for the room temperature it is between 26 to 30 Celsius.

You made me break out my metric converters, but it sounds like you are doing things right. Your room might be a little warm and a possible cause, especially if you also have humidity. If your room is warm and the paint is drying faster, it could cause your orange peel effect. The only other thought I have is whether your paint is fresh, but I've painted with old paint and not had the problem. I paint in my basement which stays at a pretty consistent temperature year round. In the summer I run a dehumidifier. You may want to just spray flat paint and then use a gloss. Sorry I can't be of more help.

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I've been airbrushing for...well, never mind, it's a long time...and I still have the occasional orange peel. It's most often caused because I don't thin the paint enough and/or use too much air pressure. And those are inevitably caused by me getting in too much of a rush. :deadhorse1:

The best single piece of airbrush advice I have ever received is practice, practice, practice. It's so dry in our house during the long winter, I try to spray an extra part or old model first until I get things right.

Keep trying and you will get it right.

Rick in Maine

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urloony has pretty much covered the causes, though humidity is a bigger factor than most appreciate. With enamels, both warm, dry conditions and cool, wet conditions promote orange peel. If you can't control temperature and humidity within the optimal range, then you have to learn to vary reduction (thinning), pressure, and distance to compensate. As Rick says, this only comes with practice and experience. Eventually, you learn to make adjustments "on the fly," mostly with pressure, volume, and distance.

Spraying under cold conditions, on a cold substrate or with cold propellant (such as from propellant cans) will cause an effect that looks like orange peel, but is actually caused by cold propellant and solvent forming bubbles in the coating on the surface.

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