Question about painting: Is it possible to clean after applying color?

[D.C.]

I've been working on painting a pedal and am currently getting ready to clear-coat it. I sprayed Dupli-Color self-etching primer, some cheap (yet effective) generic red spraypaint from Walmart, and finished it off with some hand-painting with a brush (red glitter paint, plus white lettering).

I'm pretty happy with how it looks overall, but it's gotten a bit dirty in the process. While I was hand-painting, I made a couple mistakes, so I used water and paper towels to wipe off and reapply the paint. I think some fibers from the paper towel might have stuck to the paint. Would a tack cloth be able to remove any debris? Or maybe even just a soft washcloth? (Maybe microfiber?) I'd hate to have to sand, re-primer, re-paint, and re-hand-paint this whole thing, all because of a bit of lint.

Also, I couldn't avoid touching the box a bit with my hands while hand-painting. Will any oils from my hands cause problems when I apply my clear coat? If I were prepping before my first coat of primer, I would use some solvent to remove oils, but I don't think that would turn out well on a painted surface.

The sad thing is, this isn't the first pedal I've hand-painted and then clear-coated, but I simply don't remember what I did for my previous builds.

Any tips would be appreciated.

[Jdansti]

You'll want it to be free of oils and lint before clear coating. First, make sure the paint has cured before cleaning. Try a dry toothbrush while blowing on it to remove lint. For oils, try some rubbing alcohol in an inconspicuous place. If it doesn't dissolve the paint, go ahead and clean the rest with alcohol.

[davent]

I'd try water with a grease cutting dish soap for removing oils from the paint surface, rinse well.  Might be able to get the lint with a clothes adhesive lint roller (might want to lower the tack a bit) or pick the bits out with a dental pick. I gave up the battle and embraced the blemishes, splatter paint everywhere hides/camoflauges what's not suppose to be there.

For painting mount the enclosure to a block of wood so you can hold it and stay clear of touching the enclosure. Two pieces of wood glued in a 't', block of wood, screws and double sided tape, ots of options.

[Jdansti]

>I'd try water with a grease cutting dish soap for removing oils from the paint surface, rinse well.

Yes! Safer for the paint than alky haul!

[R.G.]

I'm pretty happy with how it looks overall, but it's gotten a bit dirty in the process. While I was hand-painting, I made a couple mistakes, so I used water and paper towels to wipe off and reapply the paint. I think some fibers from the paper towel might have stuck to the paint. Would a tack cloth be able to remove any debris? Or maybe even just a soft washcloth? (Maybe microfiber?) I'd hate to have to sand, re-primer, re-paint, and re-hand-paint this whole thing, all because of a bit of lint.

Welcome to why painting **well** is hard. The only good thing to do is to sand off the objectionable dust and lint. MAYBE you can use a very fine sandpaper and not go all the way to the base material and not have to prime again. What's already there will serve as the primer.

Good painting require dust/dirt/lint/monkey free environments. Even doing the very best you can, with dust-suppressed rooms or boxes, vacuum exhaust and a feed of filtered air, it's hard to do well.

The guitar is said to be the easiest of all instruments to play poorly, and one of the hardest to play expertly. Painting is a close second.   

[Cozybuilder]

For painting, 1590LB fits great on a gatorade or orange juice container with the big lid. You can fill the container about half with water, provides a very stable holder. You could screw a 2x3 onto the lid for holding larger boxes.