White furniture: EM6500 or GF Enduro or ????

[Rob Price]

I'm finishing up some beds- the wife wants white- and trying to decide on a finish. I have a compressor running a gravity fed HVLP gun as well as a gravity fed spray gun. 1.4 and 1.8mm tips. I've sprayed lots of clear lacquer/poly and done a little oil based paint through it as well. Not much experience with spraying water finishes.

I do have a spray booth but it's more suited to small projects- so I will probably spray either outside or in a taped off garage. I'm not opposed to oil finishes but they are getting harder to find and more expensive.

The Target 6500 looks attractive, looks like I can get a catalyst/hardener as well. The only downside is I live in a rural area- whatever I choose I'll have to ship in- hard to order a small amount to test.

The GF Enduro tinted poly looks attractive as well. I've used their water poly on some turnings but not sprayed on.

I do have a Benjamin Moore nearby but it looks like I'll need a pressure fed cup to spray their Advance paint.

I guess my fallback would be Sherwin Williams oil paint which has worked for me in the past.

Thoughts?

[Jim Becker]

Either the Target or GF products are good choices...it's a matter of physically acquiring it. I'm a big fan of Target, but as a low volume user, the shipping is discouraging...and driving to pick up from their NJ location isn't any more economical. I haven't tried the GF product...that's also a shipping decision for me. I have been using the Advance product, but as you indicate, it requires a proper spray setup. I'm using that for black on my hutch/buffet project. I'm honestly considering getting a dedicated gun to spray this stuff because I can buy the BM product locally with a small discount and the cost of the gun will get balanced over a reasonable period of time by elimination of shipping on the finish.

For white, I tend to use the SW ProClassic and just brush it out. It levels beautifully, although not as keenly as a sprayed finish.

[Rob Price]

No other experience with these?

[Jamie Buxton]

I've used the GF White Poly. It sprays well with my HVLP rig. My gun does bleed some pressure into the paint canister, so it may handle higher-viscosity paint better than yours.

Out of the can, the GF White Poly is white. If that's the color you want, you're set. If you want some off-white, the paint is tintable with universal colorants, but you may need to investigate exactly how you're going to get it done.

[John TenEyck]

I've sprayed GF White Poly. It has a viscosity of about 100 sec. through a Ford #4 cup, and you would need a pretty large orifice to spray it unless you have a pressure assisted cup, pot, etc. BM Advance has a viscosity of about 500 sec. so it requires pressure assist for sure, unless you thin it a lot which I don't recommend.

Both products spray great with a pressure assisted gun, and I like them a lot. For white, the GF product is my preference because it dries and cures MUCH quicker. For custom colors I use Advance because it's available in BM'S complete color range - and it's a lot less $ than the GF product.

John

[Len Rosenberg]

I've been using M.L. Campbell Agualente water borne pigmented lacquer with excellent results. Primer and paint both give a beautiful white finish. Have used satin, but also available in matte/dull, or semi gloss. Been spraying with a Fuji Q5 HVLP turbine, a Fuji spray gun, and a 1.3 tip. Your 1.4 would be fine. The Q5 has adjustable power and I don't use it on full for this product, have it set around 3/4 power. In my limited experience (I'm pretty new at this spray stuff) the quality of the finish is sensitive to the humidity level in the air. I recommend spraying only if the humidity is 45% or less. ML Campbell was acquired by Sherwin Williams but for corporate reasons you cannot buy ML Campbell products at a Sherwin Williams store. Like the other products mentioned above, Agualente is tintable to any color you want.

[John TenEyck]

ML Campbell products look like a great choice. Unfortunately, they are hard to source for the non pro, at least in my area.

John

[Rob Price]

I went to the one custom paint store we had in town and talked with those guys. I could get pre-cat lacquer and all the needed solvents/retardants/primer etc there. No shipping. I have experience spraying traditional lacquer, I've got a sealed off ventilated/filtered spray booth, and I'm just going to stick with what I know. I reached out to Target Coatings and they basically said I would need a different gun and/or a pressure pot- and buying a new tool would not be the end of the world ;-) but with the added cost of the materials + shipping + new gun/equipment I just went with lacquer.

Thanks for the feedback though.