spraying bm waterborne impervo

[joe milana]

I just purchased a gallon of bm waterborne impervo to HVLP spray some woodwork with and am finding that if I thin 10% it has a slightly tacky feel to it even three days after spraying. If I spray it un-thinned, I get an "acceptable" finish, but it goes on a little "splatery", but dries just fine. What the heck...

[Scott Holmes]

Thinning water-borne finishes is very risky. They are not water-based e.g. made from water (beer is water-based) they are water thinned and the manufactures usually tell you not to thin them.

Adjust your spray settings to see if you can spray it as is from the can. If not then buy are water-borne made for spraying like Target EM6000.

[joe milana]

I'd have to check the can, but I swear it says something about thinning "slightly" for spraying. The BM dealer also said thinning 10-15% would be ok and that 20% thinning would affect the sheen. This is a pretty reputable dealer and they cater more towards professionals than DIY'ers. I'm surprised they would give me advise without warning if it there could be an issue. I will call them and see what they say.

[Conrad Fiore]

Joe,
The TDS for that product states that indeed water is the thinning agent to be used if necessary. I would try to stick to a max. of 5% when thinning and try to adjust your spraying to get the best possible finish.

[Jack Clark]

Joe,

Ask your Benjamin Moore dealer about a product called Benjamin Moore Extender (#518 00).

I've successfully used this extender ("thinner") with several different waterbased paint products for HVLP spraying (Breakthrough, Pratt & Lambert Acolade, and Insl-X Stix primer). 5 to 10 percent seems to work quite well. It gets the paint into that very sprayable "30 seconds in a Ford cup" viscosity range without a lot of fuss.

[Rob Cunningham]

I've had luck spraying BM WB Impervo following the advice of Jeff Jewitt.
In a 1 qt mixing cup, mix 3 ozs of water and 3 ozs Flotrol. Add Impervo to the 32oz line and stir well.
This mix has worked for me using a gravity feed gun with a 2.5mm needle/nozzle set.

[Mike Ruggeri]

I do almost as Rob does - 3oz water + 3 oz flotrol + a quart of Impervo. I have recently sprayed about 2 gallons on woodwork using this method. I am spraying with a Fuji 4 stage HVLP with the standard tip and if I have almost full airflow and adjust the paint flow, it sprays pretty good. Dries pretty quick to touch (2 hours maybe), but I usually wait 8 hours to recoat (that's the time it says to recoat on the can and I generally follow that). I don't get any tackiness - just dries as it's supposed to. I really like working with the Impervo as I am not the best finisher and I get very nice results and clean up is really easy.

Mike

[Howard Acheson]

You run a big risk if you thin waterborne finishes without instructions from the manufacturer. The water in waterborne finishes is not a "thinner". It's a carrier of the finish chemicals whose purpose is to keep the chemicals apart until the water evaporates. Adding water can cause these chemicals to become too far apart and they may never properly complete the coalescing process.

Contact the supplier and ask about thinning.

[Frederick Rowe]

Joe - Which Impervo product are you spraying?

According to BM TDS; Impervo 314 is thinned with water, C133 and C235 should not be thinned.

[Lonnie Cook]

Guess I lucked out ...

I thinned Porter "Super Premium Silken Touch" latex to near water consistency to paint some plastic light and recepticle plates. Thinned with FloeTrol and water. Sprayed two thin coats with an AIR BRUSH! Dried hard. Top coated with rattle can WB poly. Touched everyday. Still look perfect.

I assume it worked because I applied a very thin layer of paint.

FYI - scuffed the plastic; primed with Valspar Plastic Primer, then air burshed oil base Zinsser Cover Stain primer, sanded smooth before color coat.

- Lonnie

[scott vroom]

I have a can of BM Satin Impervo 314 base sitting in front of me. The label says it's OK to thin with a small amount of water. I spoke with a Benjamin Moore rep last week and he told me it was OK to thin Impervo 314 base with about 10% water OR with XIM extender. This morning I dilulted the Impervo 314 base with 10% XIM and got wonderful results HVLP spraying onto a sample piece of maple cabinet grade plywood. It dried so fast that I was able to sand and recoat twice by the end of the day. The final product looks outstanding. I plan to spray some built in cabinets with the water bourne Impervo.