why doesn't enamel clear coat work on my box??

[mikechang]

i know this looks really ugly....
my process of painting was....
1. wash with cleaner and sand with 400 girt sandpaper, and dry it
2. heat with hairdrier and coat 2 light coat of primer, and waited for a several hours
3. coated with this orange gloss finish fast drying paint and left it overnight
4. after played around with it for 2 days, i bought the Crystal Clear Enamel coat for a clear coat, they told me this should do it...
and this is what happened...
was it because i left the box at the windy balcony??
or was it just too cold??
or maybe this clear coat just doesn't do a good job with my orange fast drying paint??

im gonna go back to home depot tomorrow and see if i can return this (i doubt i can though...)
what's a good option for a finish-off clear coat??

also... what exactly is the difference between lacquer and enamel??
if i buy the lacquer ones, would it make a difference??


darn... i've been asking tons of questions lately...
but thanks for all the answers 

[pyrop]

With out having the box in my hand to look at, it looks like the orange coating has fried/wrinkled due to a reaction to the clearcoat.
I would say the solvents in the clear are to strong for the orange paint. Are you sure the clear is an enamel?
Looks like the reaction you get when you put acrylic lacquer over enamel BTW as the solvents in lacquer will soften the resins in enamel that has cured.
Also you can get enamel wrinkling over enamel if the surface is too cold or recoating after 24-36 hours & before 7 days.
Generally there is no benefit to putting a clear over enamel as enamel is reasonably glossy & hard.
Lacquer is generally softer & not as glossy as enamel but is usually a lot more forgiving going over itself.
Clearcoating lacquer with a clear lacquer usually give a better gloss than just straight colored lacquer.

Something to try. Test by painting something with the orange paint then after a couple of hours give it a coat of the clear.
If that doesn't work then thay are not compatable.

Hope that wasn't to confusing.

paulw

[mikechang]

on the bottle, it said Crystal Clear Enamel.... did i miss understood something
http://www.rustoleum.com/product.asp?frm_product_id=18&SBL=1
7701 clear is what i bought for clear coat
http://www.rustoleum.com/Product.asp?frm_product_id=32&SBL=1
the 1953 Real Orange....

so.... is my orange pain "enamel" ?? or is it just something else.....

i try to put on another coat of pain cuz the orange layer get scratchs easily....
so i thought putting a clear protective coat would help...
it doesn't really matter if im getting a glossy or dull finish....
im really just trying things out

[pyrop]

OK found the msds's on that site, the orange is a modified alkyd in other words a synthetic enamel as most are these days. 1953 orange pdf
Now! the 7701 clear is not an enamel it is acrylic resin based (i.e. lacquer) going by the data sheet. 7701 pdf
This will explain what has happened...

paulw

[darron]

as explained above, it looks like a bit of a clash between enamel and acrylic. something new: if you want to do a clear coat then i'd very strongly recommend a polyurethane/urethane. read the spraying instructions on the can. usually you apply more coats after 5 mins and build up something nice and thick that will dry rock hard! careful if you try to bake it, it will discolour and the surface will go weird if you do it too hot. also, careful not to get runs on the sides as they will discolour yellow. spray the flat top surfaces pretty heavy though, that's always a good tip.  the heavier you can spray without having runs or creating an inappropriate drying time, the smoother your finish is going to be. i think...

you could wait for that stuffed up one to dry, clear over it and make a grunge pedal? hehe

[R.G.]

As the guys noted, you got a reaction between your base color coat and the clear topcoat. You should always use the same-chemistry base coats and clear coat if you want to get smooth results.

Notice I said "if".

See http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/craklpnt.htm for some of what's possible if you deliberately want a non-smooth coating.