virtus clearcoat

[deetz58]

Has anyone else used Virtus Clearcoat made by allchem?? I ordered a 5liter from Coast and tried it. I was surprised by the amount of build and flowout. If anyone else has used it what did you think of it?

[714lagwagon]

I use the Virtus clearcoat hs and love it although it took some time to get used to. It goes on very thick. Two coats is as thick as some 6 coat clears. At first I was getting quite a bit of orange peal but I reduced it another 5% and changed my spray pattern, pressure and distance a bit and have no problem now. In fact, I love it.

[ferro]

Has anyone else used Virtus Clearcoat made by allchem?? I ordered a 5liter from Coast and tried it. I was surprised by the amount of build and flowout. If anyone else has used it what did you think of it?


Dear Deetz, I am from Allchem Company. Thank You for using our products. The clear we are manufacturing have a really good content of solid and if You are familiar with this product, You can save a lot of money.

We are selling also the new 472 HOLOGRAM FREE POLISH who can permit to You to polish black paint, degrease that and see under the sunlight without any swirls, haze or hologram.

[ferro]

I use the Virtus clearcoat hs and love it although it took some time to get used to. It goes on very thick. Two coats is as thick as some 6 coat clears. At first I was getting quite a bit of orange peal but I reduced it another 5% and changed my spray pattern, pressure and distance a bit and have no problem now. In fact, I love it.

Dear Lagwagon, I am from Allchem Company. Thank You for using our products. The clear we are manufacturing have a really good content of solid and if You are familiar with this product, You can save a lot of money.

We are selling also the new 472 HOLOGRAM FREE POLISH who can permit to You to polish black paint, degrease that and see under the sunlight without any swirls, haze or hologram.

Please see our presentation. Digit Allchem on Youtube.

Best regards

[jnaclavijo]

I have just bought some the of virtus clear, but seem to be having a problem with my timing. The first coat is a light one, then right after that a wet one, that looks great! wiating approx 7-10mins doing the touch test, as soon as I see the clear get strands from when I touch and pull back I spray my 2nd coat - thats when the probelm starts! looks like the shine is gone - I can see lots of what looks like solvent pop bubbles. I am mixin 2 to 1 clear hardener. in south florida, mostly in garage, letting cure in sunlight......spraying over Createx Auto Air.

Can anyone tell me any info spray times etc....as I tired to find out from virtus but not much tech info is availble....

Also I am new to spraying clear, had a shop do it for me for awhile but wanna learn and do more also improve on quality of finish...Are there dvds books on how spray, polish clear ?

thanks
J

[ABD]

I have just bought some the of virtus clear, but seem to be having a problem with my timing. The first coat is a light one, then right after that a wet one, that looks great! wiating approx 7-10mins doing the touch test, as soon as I see the clear get strands from when I touch and pull back I spray my 2nd coat - thats when the probelm starts! looks like the shine is gone - I can see lots of what looks like solvent pop bubbles. I am mixin 2 to 1 clear hardener. in south florida, mostly in garage, letting cure in sunlight......spraying over Createx Auto Air.

Can anyone tell me any info spray times etc....as I tired to find out from virtus but not much tech info is availble....

Also I am new to spraying clear, had a shop do it for me for awhile but wanna learn and do more also improve on quality of finish...Are there dvds books on how spray, polish clear ?



No clue on that brand clear...But with any brand I use, if it's stringy, it's not ready yet..I wait just till it stops stringing...I never go by time limits, because the weather will effect it from day to day...Hell I've had to wait 45mins between coats before..

The solvent pop is your clue that you're hurrying it..means the gasses havn't escaped yet..Could also be causing your clouding.

Just how I deal with other clears..Can't say it applies to this one.

[714lagwagon]

I agree, wait. Give it time, don't rush. You live in a high humidity area also so it takes more time to tack up. It definately should be drier than stringy, it should be tacky.

Make sure you use the right choice hardener for your weather temp too. I use slow hardener here in Cali, it's 75 deg. mid day right now. It takes about 20 min. to tack up and I get great flow out. I could easily use medium but I take my time and wait.

You didn't indicate using reducer. I use about 15% slow reducer, even though 10% is recomended on the can. I found with 10% I was getting a little orange peal (also using med. hardener at that time). I get great results now and I love that I can still sand out dust and make it flatter, if needed, since the High Solids is so thick.

[SickPuppyCustoms]

I'm new to using Virtus clear also. I like what I've seen, for the most part, but am having issues with timing (I think... maybe other things, too?). At first, I ran into the solvent pop problem... so, now I wait and try not to lay it on too thick. My Iwata sprays nicely and is well maintained (no issues using it with any products, so far), so I'm pretty sure it's not the gun. Couldn't find much guidance on air pressure or timing between 1st and 2nd coats (or if 3rd coats are even recommended). Operating here in (NON-climate controlled) booth in the Phoenix area... using slow hardener, but am wondering if the temps are still the cause of my problems (had solvent pop when I added 5% slow reducer, so have stopped adding reducer... now I get more orange peel). Temps here have been between 105 & 118 most of the time I'm spraying... fairly low humidity (measuring between25-35%, once I've wetted down the floor of the booth). Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can SAFELY (no bubbles) lay down some glassy clear with this stuff (I love the high solids, it's polished out nicely after I sand it smooth and spend many hours working it -and it comes highly recommended by Coast Airbrush). I welcome all advice (tack coat or not, medium coats or wet, ballpark expected flash times for this climate/speed, fan size, atomization (fine mist or thicker near-splatter), etc. etc. Thanks, everyone.

[714lagwagon]

It soulds like you are not waiting long enough for the coats to tack up before applying the next coat. I tried to apply a tack coat when I first started using Virtus but it turned just to add more orange peel. So first apply a medium wet coat and try waiting longer so that the first coat is barely tacky at all, this should help with pop. If it's really tacky or stringy in the slightest, just wait and be patient. If you are currently waiting 10-20 min. give it 30 or more. Just an FYI, there is a guy at my shop that used another type of clear, been a painter for more than 20 years and he waits until it's barely tacky for his jobs, whatever the clear they are using. Depending on the reducer you used that gave you solvent pop, try changing reducer and match your hardner speed. I used HOK with it and had great success at not more than 15%. At the less than 10% recomended I just couldn't get it to lay down flat so you'll have to play with it a bit. Air pressure would be dependant on your Iwata gun model. Go to Iwata's web site and look up your gun model, they have a chart that says the recommended pressure. I tend to set my Iwata a little higher than recommended to help maintain a finer spray. Hope this helps.

[SickPuppyCustoms]

It soulds like you are not waiting long enough for the coats to tack up before applying the next coat. I tried to apply a tack coat when I first started using Virtus but it turned just to add more orange peel. So first apply a medium wet coat and try waiting longer so that the first coat is barely tacky at all, this should help with pop. If it's really tacky or stringy in the slightest, just wait and be patient. If you are currently waiting 10-20 min. give it 30 or more. Just an FYI, there is a guy at my shop that used another type of clear, been a painter for more than 20 years and he waits until it's barely tacky for his jobs, whatever the clear they are using. Depending on the reducer you used that gave you solvent pop, try changing reducer and match your hardner speed. I used HOK with it and had great success at not more than 15%. At the less than 10% recomended I just couldn't get it to lay down flat so you'll have to play with it a bit. Air pressure would be dependant on your Iwata gun model. Go to Iwata's web site and look up your gun model, they have a chart that says the recommended pressure. I tend to set my Iwata a little higher than recommended to help maintain a finer spray. Hope this helps.




Thank you for your feedback... that's kind of what I was starting to think. I'll do what you suggest (on a practice piece, once I get some more Virtus... in the mean time, I will have to finish up the current client project using the HOK UC35 I still have, just to get it out the door). Thanks, again!