JetFlex WR Tips?

I've recently made my first attempt at spraying the stuff, and while the first results are good, I feel they could be better. When spraying it appeared as if were going down really bumpy almost textured, so I wetted the parts a bit more to smooth it out but ended up with a small run. A painter I am not!

I've set my gun up per the instructions with 29psi at the inlet and reduced the JetFlex per the specs. The fluid control is completely open, and I've been experimenting with the fan control.

All this being said, does anyone have any tips or suggestions for spraying JetFlex WR?

Here's a pic of my Taupe interior paint.

I found that you did need to thin some, but not too much as it was easy to get runs with too much water. You'll have to experiment a bit with that paint, but it will provide a durable finish for sure.

Thanks Jim. Ironically, I was reading your site for tips earlier today.

I stripped my first attempt off with some acetone and I was shocked at just how much rubbing I had to do before the JetFlex would even begin to break down. It is tougher than I though.

I forgot to say earlier, but I had reduced it with distilled water, but I suspect that I had too much water on the first attempt (the one that ran).

Question, if you got any sort of texture did you find that it would smooth out as it dried?

Brad,

I have no idea how this stuff works but when I use the Steward (AFS) Waterborne Primer, it goes on kinda lumpy but is smooth as a baby's butt after it dries.

Yes, it did seem to smooth out as it flowed. The real trick was the distilled water and I seem to remember it was about 10%, but not much more.

Can't speak to the products you're using, but I suggest doing your trial work on a $5 roll of aluminum flashing. Much less frustrating than having to sand or strip a bunch of product off of a "real" airplane part.

Beyond that, only mix small amounts of paint until you've got it figured out. No sense wasting a $50 (or $100) cup of paint every time you experiment.

It only cost me about 20 hours of labor and $250 in paint to learn these lessons.

Textured finish

Hi Brad,

I used the JFWR about 4 years ago on my cockpit and have been very happy with it. I ended up using a technique where I would lay down a smooth cover coat, and before it completely dried, I came back over it with a low pressure, wide open gun that shot a splatter coat.

This gave a really nice textured surface. The method came at the advice of the SW store rep who sells a very similar, if not identical, Polane WR product to local guy that makes and sells large speakers - they use the splatter trick all the time.

Thinning 10% is about right - the stuff is sort of jelly-like. Tough - no fumes, water cleanup. Good stuff.

Thanks!

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I think I just need to play around with it a bit more.

From the little bit I sprayed I am really impressed with this stuff. Like Pete said, the lack of fumes and the clean-up just can't be beat!

Here's a follow up question for you JetFlex'ers... I've been using my 3M PPS system to mix/hold the paint. One of the benefits to the PPS is that you can just cap off the liner and save the paint for later... with that in mind has anyone had any issues with pot life on reduced JetFlex?

RV7Factory said:

Here's a follow up question for you JetFlex'ers...
... with that in mind has anyone had any issues with pot life on reduced JetFlex?

Click to expand...

When I got my Jetflex from the local Co. I got an extra quart can. I mix my thinned in the can, and work from that. Any left in the gun goes back into the 'thinned can'. I have had times when I have gone more then 2 months between spray jobs and have had no problems. I was told this was OK and it has proven to be true. When I need more, I just add and dilute, blow-n-go.

Orchidman, thanks, that is great info and just proves how sweet this WR stuff is. From a reducing standpoint mixing larger batches is easier (more accurate) so it's good to know I won't necessarily be wasting paint if I mix a little too much for a day's job.