Clearcoat

[Ketsueki]

i really dont know any thing about clear coats, however i was thinking of a way to protect some awesom artwork a friend of mine airbrushed on my subwoofer box (im a kid i like flames and stuff on subwoofer boxes ) and the only thing came to mind was a clearcoat of some kind, could any one give me any advice or a 101 on clear coat use, how to apply it and if i need to use several coats or not. thanks big time guys

 

[sploo]

Here in the UK, you can get spray cans of cellulose based gloss lacquer from auto stores. It's not generally the toughest finish, but with several thin coats it looks pretty good.

Probably the best thing would be to take the box (minus driver and amp of course) to a garage/spray shop and ask one of their guys to 'accidentally' spill some 2-pack gloss lacquer over the box the next time he's doing a car job. My local place will usually do stuff like this for the internationally recognised currency - beer .

One warning - it might be worth getting an example of your friend's paintwork, in order to test compatibility with his paint and your chosen clearcoat. Having said that, as long as the paint coat has had plenty of time to cure, I've never had a problem.

 

[stratman]

Lacquer might be too "corrosive" for art work, try an art supply store, look for Grumbacher clear coat, it comes in high or low gloss, I use it on both my oil and acrylic based artwork, this should work fine.

PS, Sorry I forgot, ask your friend what kind of paint he used.

 

[Ketsueki]

some waterbase airbrush paint from the local artstore, i was hoping to get a satan clearcoat, i dont want the box shiney, especially considering all the paint we used was satan, but thats a good idea to check the auto shop, amazingly my work basically shares the same building with an body shop, thats a good point though, i would hate to put a clear coat on the box and have the artwork destroyed, thanks for the info guys, also could i use an airbrush to apply the clearcoat?

 

[sploo]

also could i use an airbrush to apply the clearcoat?

Most paints have minimum pressure/airflow requirements for conventional and HVLP setups, but it might work.

If you did get a solvent based clear coat, check that there's nothing in your airbrush that would be 'eaten' (the seals etc. may only be rated for water based).

I'm sure most paint shops will give you a small amount of product to test in your setup, again for beer money.

BTW I'm interested in the idea of producing fancy finishes for speaker boxes (working on producing fancy boxes at the moment). Feel welcome to post some pics of the unit

 

[stratman]

some waterbase airbrush paint from the local artstore, i was hoping to get a satan clearcoat, i dont want the box shiney, especially considering all the paint we used was satan, but thats a good idea to check the auto shop, amazingly my work basically shares the same building with an body shop, thats a good point though, i would hate to put a clear coat on the box and have the artwork destroyed, thanks for the info guys, also could i use an airbrush to apply the clearcoat?

Grumbacher comes in satin, you can ge it in aerosol or in jar to use with airbrush, it's perfectly safe for waterbase colors (acrylic or latex), I shoot it using a bager 150 with compressor set at 20 psi, never a problem.

 

[Ketsueki]

yeah, im pretty sure the clearcoat im using is waterbased, i would have to double check to be sure, but the guy that sold it to me told me it was, any way thanks for the advice guys

 

[stratman]

Model builders use FUTURE floor polish, to spray over models as a protective barrier after decals are applied then they apply finish coat.

 

[WorldLeader]

some waterbase airbrush paint from the local artstore, i was hoping to get a satan clearcoat, i dont want the box shiney, especially considering all the paint we used was satan, but thats a good idea to check the auto shop, amazingly my work basically shares the same building with an body shop, thats a good point though, i would hate to put a clear coat on the box and have the artwork destroyed, thanks for the info guys, also could i use an airbrush to apply the clearcoat?

That's some evil paint there...

 

[stratman]

Yeah that was bit humorous.