LEARNING ON PRACTICE TILES
While you may be eager to jump right in to your first Spectra Chrome project, perfecting your technique on tiles first will lend a tremendous benefit to every project you undertake – now and into the future. Your Spectra Chrome LI System includes several 3″ x 6″ ceramic bathroom wall tiles. These tiles are intended to be your practice substrate as you familiarize yourself with using your LI System. They require very little chemistry to spray, and getting them to look good will require mastery of the five important parameters described earlier.
Moving forward, every section of Training Online will use these same tiles to demonstrate each step of the Spectra Chrome process; making it easy to follow along using the exact same tiles and procedures. Each section of Training Online builds on the information from the previous section.
If you require more tiles, you can purchase a 100-count case of these exact Daltile Restore™ 3″ x 6″ tiles at Home Depot or Lowes for around ~$0.15 each.
It makes good sense to master the process on tiles before going on to larger, more complex parts. Remember, if your tiles do not come out perfect, most likely larger parts will not either. The provided tiles are the ideal practice work piece for several reasons:
- Ceramic tiles are small, and therefore use very little chemistry to spray
- The tiles are flat and smooth, and require no surface preparation other than degreasing before spraying Spectra Chrome basecoat.
As part of Training Online, we have developed a comprehensive troubleshooting guide based on coating these same practice tiles. You will find it extremely useful in learning this process.
Even after you get the tiles perfect and move on to production pieces, tiles will still be a part of your normal spray operation – by serving as a systems check. Here at Spectra Chrome, we always basecoat some tiles each time a production piece is basecoated. The next day, when the basecoat is dry, we silver a tile first to make sure that the five important parameters are in check. If your test tile does not look right, you will have an opportunity to adjust your five important parameters before you attempt your production piece.
When the silver looks good on the test tile, you are ready to proceed with your production parts.