Hey guys, I'm about at my whits end trying to spray this stuff. I don't know what else to try. I've talked to general finishes and fuji as well as many hours of reading everything I could find on the net and threads on SMC. So many conflicting causes and solutions, yet I'm unable to get a smooth finish. There's no way this can possibly be so hard.
I'm spraying with a new Fuji Q3 turbine setup with the T75G gun and the 3M PPS cups. Using the 1.3mm nozzle. GF and Fuji both confirmed that is the proper nozzle, though I do have the 1.0mm set I haven't tried.
This all started when I was doing my first spraying with general finishes high performance poly. I was always getting orange peel, and sometimes I would get air bubbles if the finish was laid on too thick.
I decided to get a can of the enduro clear poly and try that instead. Now I'm getting orange peel and bubbles no matter what the thickness is. I'm using plywood and the board I was spraying the gf high performance on after sanding perfectly smooth. I've wiped it clean with a dry cotton cloth and I've also tried wiping it with a 50/50 mix of DNA and water.
I've tried spraying very thin coats, medium coats, thick coats. Checked with a wet film gauge and I've read 1 thru 5 mil in my different tests, GF advises 3-5mil. I've adjusted the air up and down(hose is straight as possible). I've adjusted the fluid more and less. I'm sure I'm getting a very fine atomization. I've gotten close to the work, further away from the work, smaller fan width, larger fan width. Goes on as a finely atomized mist. Tried it where it slowly starts to flow out all the way to where it quickly flows into glass. After several hours and even days later the orange peel is still present.
I also just tried spraying glass with the GF Enduro Clear Poly and I get orange peel and bubbles.
The GF HP viscosity measures 20 seconds through the fuji cup(said to be a ford #4) which is strange because they advertise 35-45 seconds. The can has a date of 8/28/14.
The GF Enduro Clear Poly measures 23 seconds, which is also weird because they advertise 40-50 seconds. The can has a date of 3/2/15.
Both cans are unthinned. I find it strange to think they could both be bad cans being so recent and from 2 different unaffiliated local stores. I did try thinning the GF HP by about 10% with the extender which didn't help.
Not using stearated sandpaper, everything cleaned with denatured alcohol or RODI water. Tried on glass, plywood, poplar, walnut, with and without zinnser sealcoat. The guy at Fuji says with my setup and water based finish, the only possible cause is too thick of a coat, yet I have tried coats so thin the mil gauge doesn't register all the way up to about 6 mil.
I'm am absolutely lost and extremely frustrated with this. Never in my entire life with all the things I have done, have I EVER had even a fraction of the difficulty I'm having with this. If anyone can share some insight, things to try, solutions, I would be eternally grateful.
EDIT: Forgot to add, doing this in my climate controlled shop, 75 degrees and 46% humidity.