First time finishing job for bookcase (pianted)

[Shelby Merrick]

Hello everyone, first posting here. Recently set out on my first project which will find its way into the house, a short and wide bookcase for the kids playroom. Carcass is built from 3/4" Birch ply (Purebond from Home Depot). Looked fairly void free (much better than what Lowes had to offer). Took my chances to save some money going with this product and figured I'd be ok since it'll be painted. Thickness variation bit me though on my dados and some of the shelves required lots of sanding to fit. Face frame will be poplar. Now, on to the paint stuff!

Our finish choice for this is a semi-gloss or satin white and I'm wanting to spray a waterborne non-blocking / hard curing product. For equipment, I have gravity fed HVLP compressor guns with 1.0, 1.4, and 1.8mm tips. It's an ATD-6900 kit I picked up a few years ago to shoot some single stage auto paint. The majority of what I've read and researched tells me that Target Coatings EM6500 should be my first choice, but I'm having a hard time swallowing the shipping costs (half the cost of the paint). My second choice is Sherwin Williams Pro-Classic Acrylic Latex, which I can get locally. I've read mixed reviews on how the Pro-Classic shoots, but most of the bad ones seem to come from people who don't really know what they're doing (possibly like me!). I have a #4 viscosity cup on the way to assist me with properly thinning the paint. Now, the questions :)

Should I go the Pro-Classic route? If so, would the 1.4 or 1.8mm tip be large enough? I'm located in Charleston, SC where its 90 degrees and high humidity if that helps. What about primer under the PC? The SW guy recommended I use their Premium Wall & Wood Primer. I've seen other posts where people just heavily thin their paint to use as a sealer or just shoot water to raise the grain, then knock it down with 320.

Any other waterborne and spray friendly paints I should consider that are similar in costs to the Pro-Classic (~$46 gallon)?

Attached is the carcass without face frames or back and some SketchUp views, appreciate any feedback!
-shelby


Edit: Have a Graco TrueCoat handheld airless as well. Would be willing to by a fine finish tip for it if recommended, but everything I've read has steered me towards using my HVLP guns. Plus I feel more comfortable with my HVLP guns and the airless wastes lots of paint. Also realized my major spelling fail in the topic line... Could an admin fix that? Thanks!

[Rick Potter]

Hi Shelby,

I have used both Glidden and Dunn Edwards water based paints for trim. They both make a non blocking line that supposedly replaces the old real enamel. The Dunn Edwards is especially nice, I painted about 50 fancy door casings with it. I sprayed them outside with a small pump type airless gun and small needle. Came out just fine.

I have never tried latex in my HVLP, so cannot comment on that.

Good luck,
Rick Potter

PS: Dunn Edwards Evershield is what I used.

[Matt Meiser]

I've used Pro-Classic on a bookshelf and was pleased with the results but I brushed it. It does hold up well on a bookshelf.

[Andrew Fleck]

When I paint a project like that I use General Finishes Enduro undercoat to prime and then follow up with Enduro white poly. It can be tinted to get the color you want. It is a little pricey, but the results are well worth it to me. They also dry very fast which will help in your humid area and I shoot them out of an hvlp gun. I would definitely stick with the hvlp over the airless.

[Shelby Merrick]

Appreciate all the feedback everyone! I don't know of any General Finishes retailers locally, but have been talking to some of the local Sherwin Williams guys. I found a store which has the Kem Aqua Plus White (http://oem.sherwin-williams.com/us/eng/oem/products/sherwood_kem_aqua_plus_white/) in gallon pails which is meant to be sprayed and sounds comparable to the EM6500. However, they don't have the primer / surfacer. Plan on picking up a gallon to test with this weekend. Any recommendations for a primer underneath it? Will be going on birch and poplar.

[John TenEyck]

BIN (the white pigmented, shellac based one) makes a great primer and can be sprayed with your HVLP gun. I have sprayed the SW Pro-Classic with my 1.8 mm HVLP gun. I had to thin it 18% with water to get the viscosity down low enough to spray properly, as measured through a #4 Ford cup. Same thing for the SW primer you mentioned. I didn't know about the Enduro White Poly or the Target Coatings product at that time. Now that I do, they would be my first choice. The Pro-Classic looks great and is very hard and durable, but the other products would be easier to use with less effort so that's the route I'd take. I would only spray the Pro-Classic again if I had an airless sprayer.
John

[David Huston]

I just sprayed some EM6500 on a built in and I loved it. It was thing second thing that i have sprayed, ever! The first was a crib that I sprayed with General Finishes White Poly. I definitely like the EM6500 better, it just shows a little grain through instead of the plastic look that the GF had. As far as spraying, I have a Earlex 5500 and it sprayed both out of the can with no thinning. The EM6500 hasn't blocked at hardly at all. I put three coats on shelves and put stuff them probably two days after that. I did have some junk stick to the shelves when i flipped them to spray them bottoms. But that was only drying for a hour and it came right off with no visible marks left behind. I haven't sprayed the Proclassic but I have brushed it on some frames that I made. It seemed very thick to me I would be afraid of having to thin it so much it would sag or run. I used the Target Coating Sanding Sealer under the EM6500 as the primer. Two coats of sanding sealer and three coats of EM6500 and I thought it looked great. Dries super fast also! Hope my experience helps. I know the shipping sucks but it really is a great product. Also, if you can disassemble the bookcase and spray everything laying flat, at least the insides, I think that would go along way to a great finish!

[James Washer]

I shoot SW ProClassic Waterborne in my HVLP with a 1.5 mm NN and it dries as smooth glass. Less than 10% water as a thinner. Two thin coats. It's dry to touch in no time, but give it 5-8 days or so before you start loading the books. It takes a while to fully cure. When I first started with ProClassic I used Floetrol. Forgot to use it once, and found I didn't have any problems.

As another poster said above, I shoot Zinnser BIN as a primer to prevent grain raising. Same 1.5mm NN. Where an organic vapor cartridge respirator when shooting the BIN.

I am looking forward to trying some of the GF Enduro one of these days.

[Shelby Merrick]

Thanks for the help everyone. I picked up the Kem Aqua Plus White on Friday from Sherwin Williams and shot it yesterday. Shot it through my 1.4mm hvlp (compressor driven) gravity gun. Didn't thin it, but had to crank the pressure up to a bout 45lbs in order to get the paint to atomize properly. Ended up doing 3 coats, no primer and scuffing in between with 220 to knock down grain and overspray. By that time the heat was getting to me and decided to call it quits for the day. Pretty sure I'll be using a primer the next time I use this product, but would like to stay with waterborne ones if possible. Will probably order the one SW recommends next time. I see some spots that could use some fixing, but the wife thinks I'm over-obsessing and likes it as is. Got some tiger stripes on the back I'm not too happy with, but you can't see them when its mounted. My biggest issue was getting proper coverage with such a large gun inside the shelves. Goes from dusting to a run way too quick.. Will definitely try to adjust my workflow to spray pre-assembly on the next one.
267448267449267446