We all know that gun adjustments mid application may be necessary to get a powder to apply correctly. Humidity levels, static charge, part prep process, application tools, set-up and technique can make application of powders vary from powder to powder and batch to batch.

Sometimes simple adjustments to gun settings are all that are needed to achieve the desired results. Other times, air pressures, the socks you wear, the car you drove to work or whether or not you ate a burrito or pancakes for breakfast seem to make a big difference.

Here are examples of how a simple KV adjustment can affect the outcome when applying Disco Nights PPB-7055 or Disco Tangerine PPB-7046 over Ink Black PSS-0106.

25 KV for the bottom panels and 50 KV for the top panels.

Disco Nights PPB-7055 and Disco Tangerine are Clear Top-Coats with heavy metallic flake and usually applied as a second coating (over Ink Black PSS-0106 in this case). Normally, the rule of thumb is to lower the KV level for your second coating. In this case an adjustment had to be made in order to charge enough metallic flake to achieve the desired result. Here are a few KV setting rules of thumb to keep in mind:

Low KV setting

Under-charged powder may not cling to the substrate
Metallic flake application not as expected
Coating challenges in Faraday areas

High KV setting

Over charge of substrate = fast to Starburst and powder rejection
Metallic Flake over-charge causing rough finish feel
Faraday area coverage and un-expected application thickness