Spraying white lacquer?

[Joe Shinall]

I do a lot of builtins and bookshelves for friends and family and have been painting all these with brush and rollers and frankly I'm tired of it. I want to start trying to spray with white lacquer. I have a 7hp Ingersol Rand compressor and a Kobalt HVLP sprayer.

Can anyone recommend 2 things for me:

1. A good white lacquer to use (brand and where to buy)
2. A good thinning product/ratio to thin it out to flow through the gun


I have not sprayed lacquer before, only paint, so it's a learning curve and I will have to play with it on test pieces but any help would be great towards these recommendations. Thanks.

[Scott Holmes]

Nitrocelulos lacquer can be explosive... not to mention the smell and other safety issues.

Are you talking about one of the "water borne" lacquers? I'd take a look at the Target EM6000 line for a "Water-borne" finish.

[John TenEyck]

As Scott said, unless you are set up for nitro lacquers it's not something you should consider. The good news is there are several WB alternatives now. Look at Target Coatings and General Finishes; they both offer white WB coatings that will work fine for those applications. I have no clue on your gun, but your compressor should be more than adequate. Be aware that WB products can/do tend to raise the grain, but you can avoid this by spraying on a coat of Sealcoat shellac first. This may not be necessary for close grained woods like maple, but for open grained woods like oak it avoids a lot of sanding (read, PITA), and also reduces the amount of finish required.

John

[Joe Shinall]

Thanks guys, yes I was looking at Target Coatings, definitely a waterborne. I do not want to blow up.

John, I will be spraying MDF and bitch plywood. Does Target Coatings have a special type of thinner they recommend? I'm sure it would say so on the can but I haven't purchased it yet. Anyone have a good thinning combination/ratio for that brand?

[Conrad Fiore]

3. EMTECH™ Lacquer can be sprayed without reducing with water or Target SA5 Spray Retarder. However,additions of SA5 Retarder may be required to slow-down the system if the lacquer is drying too quickly during hightemperature applications.4. Reduce EMTECH™ Lacquer upwards of 50% with water if lacquer is to be used as a pre-stain sealer or tie-coatbetween stain or dye coats to prevent color bleed.

[Joe Shinall]

Awesome, thank you Conrad!