Sprayed my first Target USL and have some questions

[Charles Green]

First of all this is my first attempt at spraying anything. I practiced for a while with water and then moved on to the USL on to plywood. It looked good enough so I moved on to my project a dartboard cabinet.

I'm spraying with a Devilbiss finishline gun with 1.5mm tip.

Anyway, the spray looks very uneven as I apply it. It had a lot of texture. Luckily for me the USL leveled itself out which impressed the heck out of me. I'm assuming my technique or settings are bad.

What should I look for to get a coat more even? I can't count on the USL to bail me out everytime. I'm also very impressed with the USL. It dried to the exact sheen I wanted (satin) and looks more even than my old wipe on poly method I've always used before.

Thanks for any tips you may have for me.

[jeremy levine]

Target coatings has a website and forum, they can given the final answer. Ofcourse many people here can help also

[Greg Cole]

Not sure what type of gun you are using, compressor CFM's, tip size etc... I have a BORG Ingersol Rand gravity feed style and use a HUGE compressor at work, so air flow-volume is never an issue (clean up before spraying is a PITA though, as we weld, grind & machine alot of steel tidbits in the work shop area).
But, my first lessons awhile ago now were from spraying alot of lacquer taught me to maintain the same distance from the tip to the workpiece at all times & to keep the gun in a perpendicular plane with the object being sprayed at all times to avoid loading up edges or starving them. Also helps to keep the sprayed liquid about the same particle size, allowing for more uniform coverage and avoiding orange peel, runs etc. Fine tune the pattern, flow rate and pressures for a smooth finish, which means a little more practice time. I can easily adjust all 3 on my HVLP set up on the fly if needed. And a 1.0mm to 1.2mm tip works well for me for clear finishes in general, 1.5mm for paints (and usually cut latex thinner to help it flow better).
Do your eyes and project's finish the favor and get as much BRIGHT light as you can. Halogen portable lamps are great for positioning where needed & proving bright light (and plenty of heat too!)
I have yet to use a TARGET product, but everything I read/hear about it is prompting me to give it a go.
Kinda long... but hope there is something useful in there for ya.

[Anthony Anderson]

Charles, Right off hand, I would say that the fluid tip is too small. I would go to a 1.8 fluid tip, and in addition, if you feel it is needed after changing the fluid tip, I would reduce the waterborne material, in small increments, up to the manufacturer allowable amount. My guess, is this will do it. Is your FinishLine a HVLP? Hope this helps. Bill

[Joe Chritz]

You are using the same set up I have.

Make sure you keep the same distance from the workpiece as much as possible. Don't overlap areas except for a small section of spray cone. Keep the same speed of movement all the way across the piece, starting before and ending after.

I found the gun settings to mean less then my technique. A more experienced (read that more qualified) person would notice more difference than I do.

I also notice that the USL often has a little "texture" right after it is sprayed on. Nothing seems to change that for me and it has always leveled out.

I have only sprayed around 10-12 gallons of Target so I am not an expert at all.

Joe

[Charles Green]

Thanks for all of the replies so far.

In answer to the questions.

My gun is a HVLP. I'm using a 5 hp 26 gallon Campell Hausfeld. Not sure of the CFM but I've heard of others using the small pancakes so I'm sure it should be enough. It didn't kick on the whole time I sprayed each coat.

Joe, only 10 gallons? That is a lot of finish to me.


Final conclusion on everything is that I love the finish. Shot 4 coats today and was able to sand it perfect and get it assembled.

Here is a pic of the completed project.

[Allen Bookout]

That finish is beatiful Charles! Looks like that you do not need any help to me. What finish is that? Lacquer maybe?

[Anthony Anderson]

Beautiful work Charles! I wanted to metion, that you do not want to try to spray the finish so it looks smooth, especially in this weather, b/c you will have runs everywhere. In the summer months, when it is warmer, you can put on heavier layers w/o worrying about running the finish. If you feel that enough finish is not coming out of the gun, you will either need to reduce the material, or get a larger fluid tip, or both. Your compressor is plenty big enough to operate the HVLP FinishLine. I have the same gun, probably an older version though, and it sprays great. I believe that I have a 2.0 (it may be a 1.8, can't remember) fluid tip when I spray thicker waterborne finishes. Thanks for sharing the pics. Looks great. Bill

[Allen Bookout]

To my above post I will add that until a few weeks ago I had only sprayed automotive finishes with conventinal guns. Using Target with a HVLP set up I did not get an uneven spray but it was not as smooth as the automotive stuff, however just like you said, it smoothed out as it dried.

[Joe Chritz]

Auto finishes lay very flat from a good gun. Don't expect the same with a wood finish like USL. The good thing is that it is a piece of cake compared to auto finishes to get a nice finish.

I rarely ever us more than 2 coats of the USL on a sealcoat of dewaxed shellac.

The finish looks very good so I would say if it isn't broke..

Joe

[Neil Bosdet]

I've been using a lot of USL lately and I have found that my best results are spraying right out of the can (no thinning) with a 1 mm tip. I have a Fuji Q3 system and first tried the 1.4 mm tip but it layed down better with the smaller tip.

[Bob Malone]

Charles I have just purchased an HVLP gun too and have the same compressor setup as you. I would be interested to know how you setup your shop to spray? Did you use a plastic enclosed area, fan and furnace filter combination? How was the overspray? Likewise, I am moving away from wipe on poly for small jobs, but several large upcoming projects will need to be sprayed.

By the way your dart cabinet turned out great.

[Charles Green]

Charles I have just purchased an HVLP gun too and have the same compressor setup as you. I would be interested to know how you setup your shop to spray? Did you use a plastic enclosed area, fan and furnace filter combination? How was the overspray? Likewise, I am moving away from wipe on poly for small jobs, but several large upcoming projects will need to be sprayed.

By the way your dart cabinet turned out great.

My preparation is not very extensive. I work out of one side of a two car garage. My wife believes parking inside is important.

Anyway, I vacuumed and swept everything I could. I used a blower with the garage doors open and blew it out several times. After that, I just covered my table saw that was really close to my spray area.

Overspray is almost non existant. What did overspray didn't show up on anything. I think it either dried and fell on the floor or just doesn't show much. That is one reason I picked the USL was the fact that the overspray is pretty harmless.

If you read the guide on target coatings website the guy that wrote it shows pictures of his spray area and it looks clean and he sprays a lot.

I'm not an expert but with my limited preparations it worked pretty well.

[Joe Chritz]

I just spray where the stuff is until my spray room is finished.

Vacuum up the dust and try to keep the spray from stiring up any and it is fine. The USL dries pretty fast.

The overspray will be dry and settles like dust on everything. It's annoying but non-harmful.

Don't try the trick with something like poly.

Joe

ETA: There are some websites and posts with knock down spray rooms that look pretty easy to do. If you will be doing a lot of finish it would be something to look at.