problem with painting boxes...

[arielfx]

i'll tell you what am i doing to paint a box and it looks OK but not smoothenough and there are cracks in the paint.

first i take the box and sand it down with a 1000grit paper.
i wash the box with soap and running water until i get all the "dust" off, than i take aceton and clean the surface untill there is no more dust coming off.
i take a brush and put on a thin layer of metal primer and let it dry for 24h after that i put a second coat on (from experience, this gives a smoother surface) and i let it dry another 24h.
after that is done i take my can of spray and put a thin layer on, after a few minutes a put another layer and after a few hours another one and let it set untill next day.
i found the boxes dry in the morning but the paint was not smooth anymore, it had small cracks over it, not that i could see the primer, but it was less far less than perfect.
i though to spay a thin layer of color again so it will cover it up a little but that did nothing to change that and i am not going to spary a thick layer of paint because that would be stupid.
i took my spray on laqure (spelling?) and sprayed a thin layer and after an hour another one (the can said i should wait one hour) and between the two layers i sparyed one thin color layer that helped to cover the cranks a little but not 100%.
now i will let it dry and see how bad is it.

i think that the paint i am using makes the primer liquid again so the two surfaces have different tention on them and that is why the surface is cracking but what can i do to solve it.
it looks like by perfecting this method i could get better finish than on most effects... or i hope so.

[Nasse]

:? Just a guess but might be that your primer and top coat in a spray can are not made for each other. Look if it says "xylene" in primer can, and is your paint not suitable for it?

I had this problem when I painted some ladders on my house.

[arielfx]

i had a feeling this is the case...  :evil:
guess who is going to the DIY center today looking for the salesman who gave me both of them to use?
I'll kill him!

[smoguzbenjamin]

Maybe you can go to a local auto-dealer and ask them if they'll paint your boxes for you for some money.

Not really DIY but it saves a lot of trouble

[ErikMiller]

I find it best to use primer and finish from the same company. Most companies, if they sell paint, also sell primer.

Same goes with wood finishes; it's best to use stain and topcoat from the same company, if possible.

If it's not possible to get them from the same manufacturer, then it becomes an even better idea to try them together on a piece of scrap befor putting them on your finished piece.

BTW, if your topcoat is spray, why not spray primer?

[Ansil]

Maybe you can go to a local auto-dealer and ask them if they'll paint your boxes for you for some money.

Not really DIY but it saves a lot of trouble

most the time you can get left over paint from these guys for next to nothing.  i used to use some heavy duty printers ink.. (no suprise here since i used to be in screen printing.)  anywya i would take my projects that i wanted to paint. and have the already primered and ready to go.  and put them on a little hook made out of coathanger wire.  and dip the whole thing into the ink bucket.   i had some of the silverist silver and the goldest gold with real flakes in each.  also the neon colors turned out the best  the regular colors didnt' adhere as well.

but the nice ones did.


edit    also on a note i forgot to add you can do similar with paint to what i did with the ink..  only i would leave it submerged for some time and simply recap the lid on it.  would get it out the next day.  nice and rich.   we had those insane wattage pot growing lamps for lights so it dried nicely.  plus if you were not too busy you could put it into the gass dryer