Vent: My paint gun clogged mid-job on a brand new Ford F-150

Honestly, I was about 2 hours into painting a 2024 Ford F-150 in Springfield last Tuesday when my Iwata LPH400 just stopped spraying. Turned out a chunk of dried clear coat flaked off my mixing cup and jammed the nozzle. I had to strip the whole gun and soak it in lacquer thinner for 20 minutes while the customer stared at me from the waiting room. Has anyone else had a random defect ruin a perfect paint day?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_susan9d ago

Shocked me reading that. Dried clear coat flaking off a mixing cup is one of those things that just shouldn't happen in a perfect setup like that. I've had my share of bad days with paint, but that's a new one on me. Makes you wonder if the cup had a rough edge or a scratch that grabbed onto the clear coat. Hope the customer was understanding once you got back to spraying.

miabennett8d ago

Pick up a cheap scribe or an old dental pick and run it around the inside lip of every new mixing cup before you use it. That'll catch any little burrs or rough spots that grab onto the clear as it dries. I started doing that after a similar mess on a pearl job and it saved me a ton of headaches. Also make sure you're not letting the cup sit too long before you pour, the drying edge can still flake off even if the cup looks clean. Just a habit thing but it works.