How much to thin Em6000?

[Joe Shinall]

I have a Harbor Freight gravity fed HVLP gun and I have sprayed some paint and stain with it before but I just bought a gallon of EM6000 satin. I am spraying some Maple cabinets I made and wanted to know if anyone had a good ratio figured out to thin EM6000 with? I heard one time 50/50 with water but wasn't sure. I know I will have a learning curve and I want to buy a better gun later on. Just looking for a few suggestions at the moment, and yes I will test spray before hand on scrap.


Thanks in advance.

[Mike Henderson]

I spray it without thinning it at all.

Mike

[Jamie Buxton]

Some gun/turbine systems have the oomph to shoot EM6000 without thinning. Others need thinning. You'll have to experiment with your equipment to what works for you.

If the finish kinda splatters on to the work, and you see a bunch of orange peel, you likely need to thin. On the other hand, if you thin so much that the finish runs, you might should back off.

I'd be surprised if you need to thin it as much as 50:50, but then I don't know your gun.

[Andrew Fleck]

Does your sprayer manual have the times for different types of finishes using a ford cup? I have a Fuji and the manual tells me how fast the different types of finishes should be flowing through the viscosity cup for my gun.

[Jim Tobias]

Joe,
I think it is hard to give exact info that would be helpful unless someone has your exact set up.
I have sprayed a lot of Target products(including EM6000) and have never thinned more than 5-10%.
I have sprayed some of it with NO thinning with different tips.
I would test spray with no thinning and then, if needed, thin 5-10% and then try again until you get it to lay down to your satisfaction.

Jim

[Joe Shinall]

Thanks for the tips, no pun intended.... I have sprayed latex paint through this thing with only thinning about 5 to 10% so I am thinking I can probably spray without thinning. I'll give it a shot and see. Thanks again.

[Howard Acheson]

The best answer you will get is to contact the finish manufacturer's tech support.

Many waterbornes should not be thinned. And others allow about 5%. It certainly is NOT 50%.

[Mike OMelia]

Do not thin EM 6000. Spray seven coats, scuff sand, repeat 2 more times. Yeah, lots of coats, but it's really thin stuff. U can also reactivate surface between seven coat schedule with DNA. Use mineral spirits to wet sand at higher grits.

[Jim Becker]

EM6000 is spray ready with the correct projector set in the gun. It's not a good ideal to thin water borne products and certainly no more than 10%. Water is just the carrier; if you add water to the finish, you're effectively spreading out the finish molecules on the surface of the workpiece. Thinning beyond a certain point, you don't get the film you expected.