Airbrush Halos

[Joe T]

Not sure it’s the right place but have a somewhat airbrush question. I do cabinet finishing at work and use mostly all big guns. However we sometimes find ourselves going to a clients house to do a spot repair. And when I say spot I mean smaller than a dime size chip. In most cases it’s impractical or impossible to bring the part back to the shop and re-do it. We break out th shop airbrush, repair the spot and spray it with the airbrush. Here in lies the problem, we are finding it almost impossible to do the small repair and not end up with a paint halo around the area we repaired. Most of the time these colors are a flat or almost flat finish so no buffing can be done.

Figured I’d ask here to see if anyone has any tricks to try to eliminate this issue. Sometimes these repairs happen days after finish and we find it a little easier but most times it’s a year later and the customer flung a screwdriver in a large side panel.

Look forward to all suggestions etc. sad, it’s Sunday and I’m thinking about work.

Joe

 

[huskystafford]

Now you are not only cabinet finisher , you are also guy who do airbrushing. Airbrush them something and charge them big time!

 

[Joe T]

Now you are not only cabinet finisher , you are also guy who do airbrushing. Airbrush them something and charge them big time!

Oh trust me...thought has crossed my mind..torn metal effect maybe. Lol

 

[HellBird]

Not sure it’s the right place but have a somewhat airbrush question. I do cabinet finishing at work and use mostly all big guns. However we sometimes find ourselves going to a clients house to do a spot repair. And when I say spot I mean smaller than a dime size chip. In most cases it’s impractical or impossible to bring the part back to the shop and re-do it. We break out th shop airbrush, repair the spot and spray it with the airbrush. Here in lies the problem, we are finding it almost impossible to do the small repair and not end up with a paint halo around the area we repaired. Most of the time these colors are a flat or almost flat finish so no buffing can be done.

Figured I’d ask here to see if anyone has any tricks to try to eliminate this issue. Sometimes these repairs happen days after finish and we find it a little easier but most times it’s a year later and the customer flung a screwdriver in a large side panel.

Look forward to all suggestions etc. sad, it’s Sunday and I’m thinking about work.

Joe

Joe, What's REALLY sad is it's Sunday, supposed to be on vacation this next week, and I'M thinking about work.
Could it be overspray? Perhaps you need to drop the air pressure a bit? Or spray a flat clear coat?

 

[HellBird]

One more thing... Perhaps masking off the area around the repair or an impromptu quick and dirty stencil made from a (solvent proof?) plastic sheet would also help.

 

[NEMOPa]

Possibly a little masking, inside edges turned up. I'm no pro, but I've touched up some of my own furniture, often resorting to fine brushes and even fine line markers. I think that slowly building layers with highly reduced colors works best for me. Also small disks of 800 grit sandpaper glued to a pencil erasure. It helps that most of our furniture has a distressed / natural finish. While none of this may solve your situation and there are many who are better equipped to help than I am, maybe this will encourage a whole bunch of useful brain-storming...

 

[Joe T]

Possibly a little masking, inside edges turned up. I'm no pro, but I've touched up some of my own furniture, often resorting to fine brushes and even fine line markers. I think that slowly building layers with highly reduced colors works best for me. Also small disks of 800 grit sandpaper glued to a pencil erasure. It helps that most of our furniture has a distressed / natural finish. While none of this may solve your situation and there are many who are better equipped to help than I am, maybe this will encourage a whole bunch of useful brain-storming...

I like this. I may go out in th Home shop and give it a try! Thank you

 

[Jonathon]

If your talking about a bright halo sheen around your touch up or repair then there was a product I used to use called blended flo flat. Don't recall the brand that made it off hand, been alot of years, but a spray of this and that shiny halo disappear right away.

 

[huskystafford]

If your talking about a bright halo sheen around your touch up or repair then there was a product I used to use called blended flo flat. Don't recall the brand that made it off hand, been alot of years, but a spray of this and that shiny halo disappear right away.

this?
http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=444

 

[Jonathon]

Could be the same company. They did have some Mohawk products. And some German stuff that was eventually illegal to use because of high VOC contents. I worked there for 4 years, 3 of which was doing touch ups and repairs both on and offsite. But that was in 2001 to 2005. I'm sure alot had changed in those years. That could very well be the same stuff, but being satin it might still have a little gloss in it where as the blended (or blender) flo flat was all matte. It took all sheen away if you sprayed enough. Great stuff. I'm sure the satin would probably work the same way

 

[Jonathon]

It was fun using prismacolor colored pencils, markers, powdered paints and hairy brushes to conceal blemeshes, and then the company charge thousands for that desk or chair

 

[Joe T]

It was fun using prismacolor colored pencils, markers, powdered paints and hairy brushes to conceal blemeshes, and then the company charge thousands for that desk or chair

Sounds familiar..... We actually use lots of the Mohawk products..fillers, epoxy fillers, pencils etc.

 

[Jonathon]

There was a blender stick they got the last year I worked there that smelled exactly like a glazed donut...I always craved donuts every time I used those to fill small cracks before lacquer. I doubt they would have tasted like donuts though. We used colored sticks of resin? Something plasticy that we would melt down with hot metAL and fill cracks and dents..and then try to hide that we did that ..looked like large jolly ranchers

 

[Joe T]

This is what awaits me in the morning...sand, prime, fill, sand, prime again, sand, paint, paint....I love my job........really!

And yes, we have that donut smelling thing too...

 

[Tocean]

Are you spraying lacquer? Try putting laq thinner(or whatever you clean your paint with) on a rag and dab around the spot while it's wet to take off the overspray.

 

[Joe T]

Are you spraying lacquer? Try putting laq thinner(or whatever you clean your paint with) on a rag and dab around the spot while it's wet to take off the overspray.

No it’s a high gloss paint

 

[AndreZA]

In you original post you say the paint is flat and now you say it high gloss. If it is gloss you can polish it.

 

[Joe T]

In you original post you say the paint is flat and now you say it high gloss. If it is gloss you can polish it.

My bad. I was spraying high gloss all day yesterday and it stuck in my mind. No it’s flat or mor like a satin.

 

[wickedartstudio]

What kind of paint? Is it reduced with anything? If it's reduced you can add more reducer and burn the edge in to the existing finish.