Minx Polycrylic question

[Greg Parrish]

Don't judge my product too harshly but I've built a new dining room table using poplar for the frame and salvaged pecky cypress that was pulled from a local area river and sawn by a local mill. The table is fashioned in a farmhouse table design and we wanted the top darker than the normal natural cypress red/yellow. I used Minwax oil based Espresso stain for color and have top coated it with Minwax water based Polycrylic for 2 coats now. Sanded between them with 220 grit. My big issue is tiny bubbles that I can't seem to beat and a real serious disposition for brush marks if I get away from following the grain. I'm using the special Minwax Polycrylic brush for application.

My big question is can Minwax Polycrylic be sprayed? If so, is there an affordable sprayer type that would be good to use? (I don't currently have one) If not, is there another brand of water based polycrylic that can that I could apply on top of the minwax product? I thought about epoxy but everything I read says it won't stick to Minwax oil based stain.

Thanks.

http://txbonds.zenfolio.com/img/s5/v133/p1948445185-4.jpg

http://txbonds.zenfolio.com/img/s6/v134/p1898603233-4.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Polycrylic sprays very well with the HF $10 (on sale) purple 1.4 mm orifice HVLP gun. If you have an air compressor that can output around 6 cfm at 40 psi it will lay down a very nice finish. You may have to add a few percent water to it, but I don't remember having to. Your other option is to use rattle cans. I don't recall if Polycrylic is offered in spray cans, but I'd check if that sounds better than buying a spray gun and learning how to use it.

John

[Jim Becker]

Polycrylic sprays just fine with my default gun setup...the same one I use to spray other water borne and shellac. That said, putting the water borne "poly" over the oil based stain requires you either wait for the stain to fully cure or using a barrier coat of de-waxed shellac. Not doing so can also create things like "bubbles" and other issues with the water borne finish.

[Greg Parrish]

Thanks guys. I do have an air compressor in the garage that can handle a sprayer.

The first coat of polycrylic didn't have any bubbles. It went on very nicely. It was the second coat after sanding that gave me the little bubbles all over so probably my brush technique or something. It may be worth investing in a sprayer so when I sand it after this 2nd coat I can get a cleaner 3rd coat.

[Greg Parrish]

Polycrylic sprays very well with the HF $10 (on sale) purple 1.4 mm orifice HVLP gun. If you have an air compressor that can output around 6 cfm at 40 psi it will lay down a very nice finish. You may have to add a few percent water to it, but I don't remember having to. Your other option is to use rattle cans. I don't recall if Polycrylic is offered in spray cans, but I'd check if that sounds better than buying a spray gun and learning how to use it.

John

Is this the one you are talking about? It's the only purple one that also mentions a 1.4mm tip.
http://www.harborfreight.com/professional-automotive-hvlp-spray-gun-kit-94572.html

or this one?
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/paint/20-oz-8-cfm-gravity-feed-spray-gun-67181.html




EDIT: I assumed it was the second one that is cheaper so I ran over and picked one up. Was $12.99 with coupon but will be $8.99 this weekend at their parking lot sale. Will give it a try and practice a little before attempting the final coat on the table. Thanks again.

[John TenEyck]

The second link is to the gun I was referring.

John

[Greg Parrish]

After doing a lot more reading yesterday I decided to return the purple harbor freight gun. It seemed to get decent reviews everywhere for an entry level gun but most everywhere complained about the fact that it was sealed with a caulk type substance that had to be completely cleaned out to get the best results from the gun. I honestly didn't feel like messing with that or taking a risk with the gun so after some reading I found another HVLP gun with lower CFM requirements that I could get locally which is the Husky 762051. It's a little more expensive at $49 but comes with both a 1.4 and 1.8 tip assembly and also appears to get good reviews. It only says it requires a 4cfm compressor and my twin cylinder 30gal Husky does 6.8 at 40psi and 5.2 at 90psi. If I had a larger cfm compressor I would liked to have gotten the $69 Harbor Freight Pro sprayer as it gets awesome reviews everywhere but requires 15cfm according to the box.

Hopefully the Husky does the trick for my though and without the extra step of cleaning out the caulk sealer and replacing with tape or o-rings. :)

[John TenEyck]

I hope the Husky gun works well for you. Having two sets of N/N is a very good feature.

FWIW, it took me about 2 minutes to clean out the white caulk in the HF gun. It's no big deal - in case someone else might be interested in that gun. It really does spray very well despite costing only $10. I used it to spray shellac as well as WB topcoats on occasion. Eventually, I gave it to a friend. The pressure/CFM requirements printed on the box are wrong. It will spray very well at 30 psi inlet pressure, or less, and 6 CFM or less.

John

[Greg Parrish]

I hope the Husky gun works well for you. Having two sets of N/N is a very good feature.

FWIW, it took me about 2 minutes to clean out the white caulk in the HF gun. It's no big deal - in case someone else might be interested in that gun. It really does spray very well despite costing only $10. I used it to spray shellac as well as WB topcoats on occasion. Eventually, I gave it to a friend. The pressure/CFM requirements printed on the box are wrong. It will spray very well at 30 psi inlet pressure, or less, and 6 CFM or less.

John

Good to know about cleaning it. Who knows, I might end up with another one when they are $8.99 this weekend. Wish I had the compressor umph to use the harbor freight pro model. ;)

[Allan Speers]

Thanks guys. I do have an air compressor in the garage that can handle a sprayer.

The first coat of polycrylic didn't have any bubbles. It went on very nicely. It was the second coat after sanding that gave me the little bubbles all over so probably my brush technique or something. It may be worth investing in a sprayer so when I sand it after this 2nd coat I can get a cleaner 3rd coat.

Greg,

FWIW it sounds to me like your brushing technique is lacking. A good brush is important, but you still have to exercise care. Typically, you get bubbles if you wipe the brush on the inside-edge of the can after dipping. That's a HUGE no-no, with any finish.

Another minor help is to pre-dip the brush in cleaner. (in this case that would be water.) This is done mostly to make clean-up easier when your done, (by filling-in the ferule) but it also eliminates any air that in-between the bristles.

Also, of course, never shake the cane, but you likely already know that.

[Greg Parrish]

Greg,

FWIW it sounds to me like your brushing technique is lacking. A good brush is important, but you still have to exercise care. Typically, you get bubbles if you wipe the brush on the inside-edge of the can after dipping. That's a HUGE no-no, with any finish.

Another minor help is to pre-dip the brush in cleaner. (in this case that would be water.) This is done mostly to make clean-up easier when your done, (by filling-in the ferule) but it also eliminates any air that in-between the bristles.

Also, of course, never shake the cane, but you likely already know that.

thanks Allan. Honestly my skills and technique are lacking in the entire hobby but I'm learning and keeping at it. Hopefully with years of work I can turn out beautiful art like all the creations I see here.

Im certainly guilty of wiping the brush so that is one habit I'll try to break. Regarding pre dipping the brush in water, is this done just before the first application? I'm assuming it is. Is the water shaken from the brush or left in? Also, instead of wiping what do you do when too much paint gets on the brush?

thanks again.