Alright, this is what happened. I lettered a sign using one shot black, it's drying petty much flat with spotty areas of gloss. The temperature here was 20 degrees last night, high of 32 degrees today. I lettered this on white ACM material. I lettered it in an out building with no constant heat. I used a torpedo kerosene heater to warm up the building to about 50 degrees. Lettered the sign, looked great, nice gloss to the black. I turned off the torpedo heater and went inside and made a couple of runs. I got back and the out building was as cold inside as outside. The black still in the drying process was drying flat. I used turps to thin to a comfortable working consistency. Paint wasn't too thin but had good body to it. What happened in those couple of hours to the gloss????
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One shot black drying flat and spotty.
- Thread starter tebond
- Start date
SignosaurusRex
Active Member
My guess is that it was too cold and that combined with the rapid cooling once you turned of the heat. How old was the Paint? Was it the new Low VOC 1-Shot?
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Ideal for oil based paints is not much below 40º to 35º with 50% humidity. Much colder than this and the paint cannot cure, pass solvents or dry in the manner it was intended. You can see lotsa odd things happen.... like the flat spots, possible puddling or even a sight orange peel, but the one thing you can't see is, the paint will never knit correctly. Therefore, you will have failure..... soon. Too much turps can also cause a slight flattening to paint. Add to that the cold and perhaps you have your problem solved.
Now what ??
To play it safe, sand it all smooth, recoat the background..... or start with a new piece. That paint is ruined and you really can't get it to come back and act normal. Use it as a lesson learned, but don't pass mistakes on/over to a customer and then act horrified when they come back and complain.
The surface of the aluminum was probably far too cold to accept paint, let alone thinned down paint and then constant low temperatures for useless drying conditions.
edit : No, there is no quick fix for this, other than stay up all night and paint this thing in your living room.
Now what ??
To play it safe, sand it all smooth, recoat the background..... or start with a new piece. That paint is ruined and you really can't get it to come back and act normal. Use it as a lesson learned, but don't pass mistakes on/over to a customer and then act horrified when they come back and complain.
The surface of the aluminum was probably far too cold to accept paint, let alone thinned down paint and then constant low temperatures for useless drying conditions.
edit : No, there is no quick fix for this, other than stay up all night and paint this thing in your living room.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Sure, you can do that, but that doesn't fix the problem. You're just putting a band-aide on a broken leg.
Here's where you either step up and create a reputation for doing good work..... or shoddy work.
Here's where you either step up and create a reputation for doing good work..... or shoddy work.
Gonna do the right thing or just let the customer stuck with a piece of crap ?? 
Gino, I would rather put out quality work, understanding what happened. I was just hoping there would be a way to correct without starting from scratch. I'll either be up late tonight lettering this a second time on fresh material, 2' x 8' piece. Or call my customer and explain what happened and see if I could buy a couple more days. Problem is Thursday morning I start a two day lettering job so time will be tight.
Thanks for your expertise and insight concerning this. Very much appreciated.
Thanks for your expertise and insight concerning this. Very much appreciated.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
At this point nothing will do the trick. If the OP could let this dry and lay out in the sun in hot temperatures for a few weeks, it might possibly cure the paint, but if you put anything overtop and trap those nasties in there at this point..... you're only asking for trouble.
Ever see a bad sunburn ?? Ever see it blister ?? What do you think will happen to this paint, if you seal in the paint that's gone bad and not dried correctly ?? It will eventually peel.
That paint has lost most of it's drying agents to the cold and poor drying conditions. Adding things to it, will not bring it back. To do it correctly, you need to remove it and start over or just give the customer a really lousy job. Like he or you mentioned, you can cover it up with some clear coat, but it will go bad real quick. If not, then you're v e r y lucky, but I doubt it. The paints today don't have much in them.
Here's the other side of the coin...... although the OP said he didn't add much turps, he had to in order to get 1Shot to flow at all in 20º temperatures. Unless he heated the paint and the paint surface up to about 40º, it won't work. He did say the air was around 50º, but the surface temps were much much colder, especially on aluminum.
I say the sign is toast and instead of trying to find a quick fix, if this sign is needed for tomorrow, either stay up all night painting in a secured warm area or just tell the customer it ain't gonna happen for Wednesday.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
If you wanna meet tomorrow's deadline, clear the thing like suggested, but tell your customer, you will be giving him another one to replace this one as the paint was bad and didn't dry properly. Say you're sorry for the inconvenience, but you want him happy for the right reasons, not just because you met a deadline. 
