First time spraying

[Richard Ferment]

I am new to spraying,like never done it before. I have a HVLP 3stage turbine I bought in March, I need alot of help. I am ready to finnish a bookcase 72 X 32 X 13 dyed brown maple. What type of top coat should I use. I have no spray booth so this will be done out side. I know several light coats are better than a heavy coat. How long between coats and do I have to empty and clean the gun after each coat. What brand of finnish should I buy and where do I get it. As you can probaly tell i'm realy in the dark here . Any help will be a blessing. Thanks in advance.

[tod evans]

richard, most of your questions depend on you picking a finish...i use laquer, some folks use waterbased "laquer" yet others use oils or poly.
each finish has its pluses and minuses and only you can decide which will be right for you? i would suggest practicing to the tune of 1/2-1 gallon on something you`re not really fond of before you spray something you`ve invested lotsa time in.....02 tod

[Greg Caputo]

Richard:

I've just had some experience going through the same process as you are now. I used a water-borne finish (USL from Target Coatings, available on the internet) since I don't have a dedicated spray booth. It is described as having similar characteristics as lacquer and I found it easy and safe to use. By all means, make sure you have a respirator. The water borne material I used dried in just a few minutes, but I think they advised waiting somewhat longer between coats. Their website has good information which I found very helpful. I didn't clean the gun after each coat, only at the end of the day and had no problem. And as tod says, practice (a lot!) before you use it on the your piece. I found that my first few tries were much too heavy. Eventually I discovered how to adjust the gun for a really light coat. I was surprised at how light a coat I needed to apply to prevent runs, drips, and sags. Once the right settings were dialed it, spraying was a dream.

Greg

[Scott Parks]

If you are spraying outside, laquer is the best bang for the buck... ~$20/gallon (RUDD pre-cat laquer). It dries fast enough in light coats that you can start your second coat probably as soon as you finish spraying your first coat. This way you don't have to clean the gun between coats. Laquer is easy to clean up with thinner. For spraying you can really reduce laquer, so a little bit goes a long way. Respirator is a must for ANYTHING sprayed.

For me, the hardest part of the learning curve was to figure out how to tinker with all the settings on the gun... And, a tip for casework, I prefinish everything now... much, much faster... (I'm not saying this is right or wrong, just easier/faster for me...)

[Larry Fox]

Richard, I agree with the suggestions in the posts above.

I am in roughly the same boat as you in terms of conditions under which I have to spray and I can tell you what has worked for me as well as give you a few possibilities for finish.

That is a fairly big piece that you are finishing as your first piece so my suggestion would be to practice quite a bit on samples before going at your piece with a spray gun. This will allow you to work out your technique as well as experiment with different types of finish. For me, I am a big fan of both alcohol shellac and water-based finishes (specifically the ones from Target Coatings). Shellac is a very good finish in it's own right but it does have some downsides and I use it more as a seal-coat on things which will see a lot of wear and put a more durable topcoat on it. A good WB topcoat to start with would be the USL product from Target. It lays down like a dream and has very good burn-in between coats.

As far as spray conditions, I built a set of easily broken down "walls" that I use to create a makeshift three-sided finish booth that I can use outside. Don't spray in direct sunlight, instead choose a shady spot. Try to put some type of cover on it to limit stuff falling into your finish from trees and such. That said, I only spray outside when using a finish with a flamable component (ie: the alcohol in shellac). For the WB stuff, I spray inside. Airborne dust and other "floaties" are still a concern but less so with the WB finishes as they dry so quickly. I try and give the shop a good cleaning the night before I am going to spray and let the dust settle overnight before spraying. I would not advise trying to spray in your shop at night unless you have really good control over the ingress and egress of flying insects. They have a bizzare tendancy to land in the one spot you don't want them to - right in the misddle of your piece (DAMHIKT).

Don't know what type of gun you have but do yourself a favor and get a wet-film thickness guage. This will allow you to tweek your gun setting and take a lot of guesswork out of the coat you are laying down. Pay attention to the manufacturer's recomendation in terms of application, drying time and thinning. For the Target products, I typically give each coat about 2-hours to dry.

Another good idea is to check the user forums on both Target and Homestead.

Anyway, hope it helps. I am by no-means a professional finisher but I have been happy with my results so far. PM me with any questions that you think I can help answer.

ALWYAS wear a high quality resperator - even with the WB stuff. The risk is just not worth it. Also, always wear gloves - the Nitrile (sp?) ones work great. Keep silicone away from your gun. Before spraying, make sure the check valve in your gun is working correctly (if you have one). Don't use finish straight from the can, make sure you run it through a strainer first. A medium mesh from the BORG will do just fine.

L

[Rob Diz]

I'm in the same boat as Richard, except I have yet to build the kitchen cabinets I will be finishing. Not to hijack the thread, but I have few follow-up questions:

What is a wet-film thickness gauge and where can I get one?

If I am spraying WB poly and paint, is an open garage the best environment short of a spray booth?

Is air temp a big issue? The reality of my situation is that I probably won't be spraying the paint until sometime in October, when the temps really start to drop in my area. Will I have issues, assuming that I keep the wood from becoming cold?

[John Kain]

I usually go with USL (target coatings) in my gun. I've used diluted deft a couple times in the the past with adequate but not great results.

USL is definately my finish of choice for many reasons. First it's really darn easy. Spray it in light coats, come back and spray again with instant burn in to the previous coat. It's really hard to mess up. I'd suggest (like mentioned before) taking your gun and spraying some water on a board, just to see what the action is like.

I've never had any humidity white-blush using USL. I have experienced this with oil based lacquer.

I spray "just" outside my garage with USL and have no problems. We have no wind where I live, so that helps. I always use a respirator.

Spraying is easy. Don't overlap too much and bank on the side of lighter coats. You will use up alot of finish for the first couple products, then you will get more efficient as time goes by.

Really though, spraying lacquer isn't too hard. Just be safe.

[Larry Fox]

... except I have yet to build the kitchen cabinets I will be finishing.

Certainly not trying to discourage you from this project but it is extremely time consuming. I am working on a set right now and Novermber 1 will be a year. :-|

What is a wet-film thickness gauge and where can I get one?

This is the one that I have. I am sure there are cheaper ones out there but this one was recommended a few times on Target's site.

http://www.gardco.com/pages/film_thi...m/nordson.html

If I am spraying WB poly and paint, is an open garage the best environment short of a spray booth?

IMHO, the best environment is the one where you have good light (not direct sunlight), low dust and good air circulation. This is of course you are working with WB stuff. For solvent-based stuff you need some way to make sure there is no ignition source.

Is air temp a big issue?

WB finishes are a lot more persnickety than solvent-based when it comes to air temperature and relative humidity. Definitely check with the manufacturer but I try to spray in an environment which is between 70 and 85-degrees and less than 65% relative humidity. I have sprayed it inside in the dead of winter but have heated the shop up in the morning and turned off the heater to spray and moved inside to dry. Another thing I try to to be aware of with WB is ordering / shipping in the winter. There is the potential for it to sit in an unheated UPS truck for a few days while in transit so it could freeze. I recall reading it is toast if it freezes. Again, check with the manufacturer.

[Howard Acheson]

>> I am ready to finnish a bookcase 72 X 32 X 13 dyed brown maple.

Let me strongly suggest you not make your project a learning experience. In the shop I was involved with, apprentice finishers spent a couple of weeks learning and practising before they did anything real. They started out learning the finishes, how to thin them and then how to "read the spray" to know what adjustments to make. They sprayed cardboard boxes to learn proper spraying technique. Spraying is not something you pick up and do. It takes some knowledge and practice to develop the skill.

Get yourself Andy Charron's Spray Finishing. You can get it at Amazon. It will get you over the hump quickly so you can be effective with you equipment.

As has been said, keep safety in mind. A good, well fitted respirator NIOSH approved, is a must no matter what finish you spray.

[John Kain]

>> I am ready to finnish a bookcase 72 X 32 X 13 dyed brown maple.

Let me strongly suggest you not make your project a learning experience. In the shop I was involved with, apprentice finishers spent a couple of weeks learning and practising before they did anything real. They started out learning the finishes, how to thin them and then how to "read the spray" to know what adjustments to make. They sprayed cardboard boxes to learn proper spraying technique. Spraying is not something you pick up and do. It takes some knowledge and practice to develop the skill.

Get yourself Andy Charron's Spray Finishing. You can get it at Amazon. It will get you over the hump quickly so you can be effective with you equipment.

As has been said, keep safety in mind. A good, well fitted respirator NIOSH approved, is a must no matter what finish you spray.

I guess I would differ on the difficulty of spraying. I remember Tod Evans reminding me that spraying wasn't rocket science, so don't make it so (or something like that). Spraying efficiently is hard, spraying for a good result isn't the most difficult thing on the planet. Practicing on cardboard should be all he needs to do a decent job. Certainly, many would argue that a decent job spraying is the equivalent to a darn good job wiping on finish.....

[Jim Becker]

Please note that with a turbine system, you may need to use a retarder with water borne due to the heat generated by the turbine, itself. I noticed that while on the Target Coatings site last night buying some products I need for upcoming projects. (I use a conversion gun, so I don't have experience with the turbine. Contact the manufacturer of the finish you choose to be sure you understand proper usage with your system)