UV Smooth Prime

OK the rumors about UVSP have me paranoid now. I know some folks have had
nightmarish problems with this product but I am hopeing that there are some
success stories out there as well as it is still on the market. I have been
using UVSP on my project during the build and now extensively during
painting. I use it as the exclusive primer and have been spraying Imron
5000 over the top, no sealer or additional primer. I have been doing it
this way as this is how, when I started using the product 4-5 years ago,
polyfiber said it could be used. Reading Polyfibers website, they NOW
reccommend a epoxy primer over the UVSP, and they reccommend a 3 week dry
time, using a dehumidifier! The underside was painted four years or more
ago and so far I have had no problems with blistering, flaking, or fadeing
but I have not had the plane out in the sun for any extended periods. It is
also an amphibian so I have some parts sitting in water, so far no problems.

Soooo, my question is what are others experiences with UVSP, How did you use
it? How long have you had the paint in service? If you had problems, how
long did it take them to manifest themselves? Do you have any theories why
you had a problem?

If you have used it successfully Please fill us in, some positive stories
are welcome too!

Thanks

"Doug Palmer" wrote in message
nk.net...
OK the rumors about UVSP have me paranoid now. I know some folks have had
nightmarish problems with this product but I am hopeing that there are
some success stories out there as well as it is still on the market. I
have been using UVSP on my project during the build and now extensively
during painting. I use it as the exclusive primer and have been spraying
Imron 5000 over the top, no sealer or additional primer. I have been
doing it this way as this is how, when I started using the product 4-5
years ago, polyfiber said it could be used. Reading Polyfibers website,
they NOW reccommend a epoxy primer over the UVSP, and they reccommend a 3
week dry time, using a dehumidifier! The underside was painted four years
or more ago and so far I have had no problems with blistering, flaking, or
fadeing but I have not had the plane out in the sun for any extended
periods. It is also an amphibian so I have some parts sitting in water,
so far no problems.

Soooo, my question is what are others experiences with UVSP, How did you
use it? How long have you had the paint in service? If you had problems,
how long did it take them to manifest themselves? Do you have any
theories why you had a problem?

If you have used it successfully Please fill us in, some positive stories
are welcome too!

Thanks

I used it on the cowl and a few other fiberglass parts on my RV-6. I assure
you there wasn't a 3 week cure time or a dehumidifier involved in the drying
process.

So far so good, and my airplane has been flying for 5.5 years. The cowling
was painted 6 years ago or more.

In the RV world, lots of people have had success with the product and a few
have had miserable experiences with no obvious explanation.

KB

We've got smooth prime on our Velocity but its not to first flight, and
is hangared.. so we have no "wear" experience personally to relate.

The story I've heard (which has the weight of hearsay, since I dont have
any references to back it up) is that the "system" (primer and topcoat)
was what people had problems with, and that the system was discontinued,
with only the Smooth prime remaining on the market as a filling primer
(water soluble).

Unless you are on the coast, the dehumidifier is likely overkill, but
being able to let it dry fully in a protected environment is a must.

If you are problem free at this point, you are likely out of the woods.

Doug Palmer wrote:
OK the rumors about UVSP have me paranoid now. I know some folks have had
nightmarish problems with this product but I am hopeing that there are some
success stories out there as well as it is still on the market. I have been
using UVSP on my project during the build and now extensively during
painting. I use it as the exclusive primer and have been spraying Imron
5000 over the top, no sealer or additional primer. I have been doing it
this way as this is how, when I started using the product 4-5 years ago,
polyfiber said it could be used. Reading Polyfibers website, they NOW
reccommend a epoxy primer over the UVSP, and they reccommend a 3 week dry
time, using a dehumidifier! The underside was painted four years or more
ago and so far I have had no problems with blistering, flaking, or fadeing
but I have not had the plane out in the sun for any extended periods. It is
also an amphibian so I have some parts sitting in water, so far no problems.

Soooo, my question is what are others experiences with UVSP, How did you use
it? How long have you had the paint in service? If you had problems, how
long did it take them to manifest themselves? Do you have any theories why
you had a problem?

If you have used it successfully Please fill us in, some positive stories
are welcome too!

Thanks

I helped my friend paint his airplane. We primed with UV Smooth Prime,
applying enough coats to adequately fill minor imperfections after sanding.
The primer cured for months in a mostly dry climate while he worked on other
parts of the airplane. For the final paint, we first sprayed an Imron
sealer coat, followed by Imron (2000?), a single stage top coat.

He's been flying for a few years and the paint has held up fine. He won an
award at Oshkosh.

Good luck,
Dennis Johnson

I applied UVSP on my composite in 2003 and toped it with PPG Acrylic
Urethane. No problem so far. My guess is that the combo of UVSP with
the same company Top Gloss had problems.
--------------------------------------------------------------
SQ200 canard http://www.abri.com/sq2000

Rich,

Do you have data for anyone else using Acrylic Enamel top coats and
failing. There is got to be some chemistry here. Humidity? Lets see...
"the famous" failure case I know was in the humid east coast place. Is
the humidity a factor? In SD here humidity is low - especially in a
heated winter garage.

Richard Riley wrote:
On 13 Nov 2006 20:47:35 -0800, "abripl" wrote:

I applied UVSP on my composite in 2003 and toped it with PPG Acrylic
Urethane. No problem so far. My guess is that the combo of UVSP with
the same company Top Gloss had problems.

There are many reports of UVSP having problems under other top coats
as well. I personally know of failures (bubbles filled with ooze)
under Sterling LP, Imron and Chromasystems topcoats. It looks to be
about a 15-25% failure rate.

abripl wrote:

... Humidity? Lets see... "the famous" failure case I know was in
the humid east coast place. Is the humidity a factor? In SD here
humidity is low - especially in a heated winter garage.

At least one failure of SP under non-TG topcoat was a COZY owner in
Phoenix. Humidity probably was not a factor.

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2006

In article ,
Richard Riley wrote:

On 13 Nov 2006 20:47:35 -0800, "abripl" wrote:

I applied UVSP on my composite in 2003 and toped it with PPG Acrylic
Urethane. No problem so far. My guess is that the combo of UVSP with
the same company Top Gloss had problems.

There are many reports of UVSP having problems under other top coats
as well. I personally know of failures (bubbles filled with ooze)
under Sterling LP, Imron and Chromasystems topcoats. It looks to be
about a 15-25% failure rate.

I saw a "bubbles filled with ooze" failure of Amerflint (like Imron I
think) over whatever was sold to us as the correct primer at the auto
paint store. This was on both the glass nose, cloth, and metal parts of
a 2-33. I think humidity was definitely a factor since we were painting
the bird in a mostly open garage on a rainy day.

"Richard Riley" wrote

My Long
EZ had acrylic enamel over an unknown dark grey primer (circa 1989, it
wasn't lacquer based but I'm not sure what it was) - when I went to
strip the paint the topcoat peeled off in large sheets, it hadn't
bonded to the primer at all. I don't know what the failure was, it
might have been either the primer or the topcoat. So I'm strictly a
Linear Polyurethane guy now, from primer through clearcoat.

I suspect the problem was that of the primer, not of the topcoats.

Ever notice(d) what the 1987 and 88 (and perhaps 89) automobiles with light blue
and gray paint did? Most, if not all had the paint peeling off in sheets or
fading all of the way off, without starting to strip them. You may have not
noticed that, but I did. I had one of the automobiles that had said light blue
paint. I would stand there (usually at the gas pump while I was doing nothing
else) and peel off silver dollar sized sheets of topcoat with my fingernail.
There was a recall that I did not take advantage of, (because I was a
contractor, with 7 people depending on my van being there with the tools
everyday) until it was too late, and had expired. Expired? Ridiculous. That
sort of thing should never expire. I still have not forgiven GM for that one.

I was told that the problem started while the paint companies were trying to
meet new regulations for the amount of volatiles in the paint, and the new
formulas did not have adequate UV resistance, which would cause the bond between
topcoat and primer to break down. The light gray and blue topcoats were the
worst at letting UV through, I guess. I don't know for sure if that was the real
answer, but there was a real problem. Perhaps that was a common link with your
problem.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message ...
:
:
: I suspect the problem was that of the primer, not of the topcoats.
:
: Ever notice(d) what the 1987 and 88 (and perhaps 89) automobiles with light blue
: and gray paint did? Most, if not all had the paint peeling off in sheets or
: fading all of the way off, without starting to strip them. You may have not
: noticed that, but I did. I had one of the automobiles that had said light blue
: paint. I would stand there (usually at the gas pump while I was doing nothing
: else) and peel off silver dollar sized sheets of topcoat with my fingernail.
: There was a recall that I did not take advantage of, (because I was a
: contractor, with 7 people depending on my van being there with the tools
: everyday) until it was too late, and had expired. Expired? Ridiculous. That
: sort of thing should never expire. I still have not forgiven GM for that one.
:
: I was told that the problem started while the paint companies were trying to
: meet new regulations for the amount of volatiles in the paint, and the new
: formulas did not have adequate UV resistance, which would cause the bond between
: topcoat and primer to break down. The light gray and blue topcoats were the
: worst at letting UV through, I guess. I don't know for sure if that was the real
: answer, but there was a real problem. Perhaps that was a common link with your
: problem.
: --
: Jim in NC


My '85 Bronco II was charcoal colored, and the paint came off. It was really bad on the Fords...