So I finally got around to painting my screen with the rs-maxxmud LL tonight on top of a UPW high gloss undercoat. I purchased a fairly inexpensive HPLV gun to do the work with, and although it turned out fairly well, the paint kinda spit as I was applying it causing a sort of striping effect on the final product. I sprayed 3 coats, and it's pretty smooth, but in the corners where I probably didn't get as even a coat, there is a sort of strobing effect when solid colors move onscreen due to the slightly uneven undercoat.

My question is this, does anyone know what causes the 'spitting' of the hplv gun, and what I can do to minimize it? There are two knobs on the back of the gun, one seems to control the width of the spray, and the other I didn't really notice anything it was doing. I tried spraying between 40-65psi and got the spitting with all pressures and settings.

Here's a pic of the corner, you can really see the pattern on the tape.



Aside from the somewhat uneven spray, I'm really liking the screen. I know I should probably wait until tomorrow to get a better idea of how it looks (I was watching a movie about 2 hours after the final coat) but it still is worlds better than the flat white I was projecting on. There is a small amount of hotspotting, but I'm hoping sanding it down in a few weeks will help. If I can figure out how to get the spitting down, I'll probably try to sand it fairly heavily and put another whole coat on top.

Thanks to everyone that put in some serious R&D to get a great mix :-)

It sounds like you didn't add enough water.Okay before you get upset at me,the maxxxmudd mix calls for a certain amount of water.If you are spraying the mixture on,you need extra water(almost twice as much).I had the same problem.My sprayer was sputtering and I took the tank off and added more water,took the tank off again and added more water,then a "final" third time when I was convinced that I had thinned the maxxxmudd too much-it was about right.After 5 (very wet) coates,I had finally gotten the entire screen covered very evenly.I think it's the Minwax polycrylic that lets you see the sprayer marks so well but the polycrylic is the "magic" behind this mix(don't leave it out).Spraying is a very delicate art and requires much practice to be an expert.Maxxxmudd is a very thin mixture but not thin enough for spraying.Don't hesitate to add water (if spraying on) ,it will evaporate as it dries and leave you with a beautiful screen.



P.S.When you think that you have stirred up the MaxxxMudd long enough,stir it for an additional 5 minutes.That metallic paint is heavy and wants to sink to the bottom(especially in such a thin mixture).You can never stir too much.

EDIT:2-3 coates should solve your hot-spot problem,but wait till it dries first(just to be sure).

Awesome, thanks for the tip. I'll probably sand it good and add a couple more thin coats and see how it looks. I bought a mixer for my drill to mix it up, but i'll make sure to give it a little extra time mixing as well to get as good of a coat as possible.

hehe

On AVS Forum i forget if it was PJ or CMRA... but he made a good point

"out of all the things why do people skimp on water, it's the only part of the mix thats free"

hehe apparently most peoples problems come from not enough water in the mixture and not doing thin enough coats, but i read the line and laughed because its true, id be afraid to add to much water, but then again it is the only part that is free LOL

Which spray gun did you buy and from where?

I purchased my gun from Harbor Freight (great place to get decent tools for cheap). It was like $30.

As for the water, I was mostly worried about screwing with the mix. Lots of research went in to perfecting it, so I wanted to make sure that it wasn't user error before I went to messing with the paint mix.