AZKO Primer Powdery Finish

Hi all,

I was priming the wing walk doublers over the weekend. My technique is to conversion coat followed by a couple of really light coats of AZKO Nobel two part epoxy primer. I live in Northern CA and it was hot (mid 90's) and dry. I found that the finish on the primer ended up sort of powdery. It doesn't come off, but it is not smooth like usual. The primer is about 18 mos old, so it doesn't expire until November.

Is this a side effect of really high temp/ low humidity? It almost seems like perhaps the primer was slightly dry by the time it hit the metal. Is this correct? Is there a way to compensate other than waiting for the weather to turn? The primer seems to be very well attached, definitely not coming off. I suppose it really doesn't matter, but it is different and worried me.

Thoughts?

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Wings
San Ramon, CA

Yep. What that tells you is that some of the primer is drying in the air before it hits the part.

PJ
RV-10 #40032

primer

My two cents....try spraying with the gun a little closer to your work.
It seems that the spray pattern while atomized, is partially drying before making
contact with the surface.

Yup, agree with all of the above.

Also, wait for a cooler day or switch to a slower converter.

CJ

Michael,
As already mentioned, you can move the gun closer to the work. Another method would be to reduce the fan pattern on the gun. This concentrates the paint onto a smaller area. You can also adjust the gun to increase the volume of paint sprayed.
Charlie Kuss

mlwynn said:

............ by a couple of really light coats of AZKO Nobel two part epoxy primer.............. I found that the finish on the primer ended up sort of powdery. It doesn't come off, but it is not smooth like usual........ It almost seems like perhaps the primer was slightly dry by the time it hit the metal. Is this correct? Is there a way to compensate other than waiting for the weather to turn? The primer seems to be very well attached, definitely not coming off. I suppose it really doesn't matter, but it is different and worried me.

Click to expand...

I would continue to mix the AKZO 50%-50% per instructions. On occasion, I experienced the same phenomena and like others have suggested, the atomization is dry or nearly dry before contacting the surface. Make adjustments in your technique. By your post, I'm guessing you are attempting to apply an almost translucent see-through coating as done with some other primers. If true, I would revisit that issue. Also, I wouldn't concern myself too much about temperature/humidity issues using this primer as long as you work within the parameters of the suggested instructions. You do notice the primer still seems to possess tenacious holding powers and it does but after cure I would sometimes go over the affected surface lightly with a Beartex or Scotchbrite pad to break off the dried particles and smoothen the finish a bit, but that really was not necessary unless of course you are planning to apply a color coat over it. The nice thing about using AKZO is that you can wipe its cured surface down with MEK over and over and over and the most you will do is lighten it up a bit.