Last Chance for EM6000 - help please

[Matt Meiser]

Another though--you aren't shaking the finish to mix are you?

[Frederick Rowe]

Mike - I'm late joining in here, but I've used EM6000 quite a bit and had the same problems you experienced and worked through them. I don't think it is as much a matter of tweaking your guns so much as adjusting the EM6000 mix and application. Here are my suggestions:

1. Thoroughly mix EM6000. Not so vigorously as to create bubbles, but quite thoroughly.

2. Thin 5% by volume with water or SA5 to retard drying - mix thoroughly.

3. Spray a slightly thinner coat. What I thought was a good 3 mil coat was actually thicker and the skin dried before bottom material completed out gassing which resulted in trapped micro bubbles.

I repeatably spray EM6000 w/out bubbles and it only requires a very light finish sanding/buffing after a full cure period to achieve an excellent result. Don't give up, many others have worked through this issue and the results and ease of cleaning/absence of VOCs are worth it.

Red Oak may require the most amount of experimenting. WB finishes have a higher surface tension than solvent finishes. As a result, getting it to flow out to cover the open pores of oak may require a slight thicker coat. The thicker coat may trap micro bubbles. A retarding agent - be it water or Target's SA5 will likely be needed.

[Mike Goetzke]

Mike - I'm late joining in here, but I've used EM6000 quite a bit and had the same problems you experienced and worked through them. I don't think it is as much a matter of tweaking your guns so much as adjusting the EM6000 mix and application. Here are my suggestions:

1. Thoroughly mix EM6000 I learned this a while back - especially if you are using something other than gloss. Not so vigorously as to create bubbles, but quite thoroughly.

2. Thin 5% by volume with water or SA5 to retard drying - mix thoroughly. This is what Jeff at Target recommended too.

3. Spray a slightly thinner coat.How many mils is thinner? What I thought was a good 3 mil coat was actually thicker and the skin dried before bottom material completed out gassing which resulted in trapped micro bubbles.I don't think my random bubbles are from gassing. They are larger - almost like they are popping out of the finish as you spray. It is real evident if you hold the gun in one spot and let it sit there.

I repeatably spray EM6000 w/out bubbles and it only requires a very light finish sanding/buffingI'm using satin - how would you sand/buff this? after a full cure period to achieve an excellent result. Don't give up, many others have worked through this issue and the results and ease of cleaning/absence of VOCs are worth it.

Red Oak may require the most amount of experimenting. WB finishes have a higher surface tension than solvent finishes. As a result, getting it to flow out to cover the open pores of oak may require a slight thicker coat. The thicker coat may trap micro bubbles. This is also what is strange. My red oak box material seems to take the finish w/o bubbles anywhere. My slight problem is with my tight grained hardwood. A retarding agent - be it water or Target's SA5 will likely be needed.

Thaks again for the additional help. I may try the larger air cap diluted 5% in a warmer environment.

Mike

[Frederick Rowe]

3. Spray a slightly thinner coat.How many mils is thinner?

TC recommends 2-3 mils thick. Since you can't use a mil gauge on your finished work, spray different thicknesses on a test board, use mil gauge and learn to see what 2-3 mils looks like. How much is thinner? I practiced moving the gun just a bit faster until I could repeatably lay down a coat of EM6000 w/o bubbles. If the first coat was a bit rough, I'd level it out with grey nylon pad, then proceed with follow up coats. Let the EM6000 dry enough so that when you use the abrasive pad you get white powder - like shellac.

What I thought was a good 3 mil coat was actually thicker and the skin dried before bottom material completed out gassing which resulted in trapped micro bubbles.I don't think my random bubbles are from gassing. They are larger - almost like they are popping out of the finish as you spray. It is real evident if you hold the gun in one spot and let it sit there.

OK. If your bubbles are that big then you might be inducing them with the gun - like foaming milk in an espresso. That is easy to self correct and it sounds like you've made that adjustment. Back off a bit from your work piece, lower air volume/pressure. This may be a long shot, but if the bubbles you describe appear immediately, might there be some contamination? If you use a tack cloth, don't use it. If unsure if something got on it, wipe down with 50/50 mixture of water and DNA.

I repeatably spray EM6000 w/out bubbles and it only requires a very light finish sanding/buffingI'm using satin - how would you sand/buff this? after a full cure period to achieve an excellent result. Don't give up, many others have worked through this issue and the results and ease of cleaning/absence of VOCs are worth it.

Use grey or white non woven abrasive pad lightly. If you go finer you'll move into a semi-gloss sheen. A light touch will result in eliminating any rough spots, light orange peel, or residual cratering rings. Nice thing about EM6000 is that as long as all coats were applied within 12 hours of previous coat, it will "burn in" similar to NC Lacquer and you won't have witness lines to worry about.

This is also what is strange. My red oak box material seems to take the finish w/o bubbles anywhere. My slight problem is with my tight grained hardwood.

Curious. Were you spraying both at the same time? Same gun settings, EM6000 mixture, temp, position of moon? Change one thing at a time on several test boards of different species.

Good luck, post results.