Spraying finishes

[John Wesley Williams]

I'm currently finishing two large cabinets with Minwax Polycrylic and a brush. It sucks. What are my option for spraying? I have a PC 150psi 2.6 scfm compressor.

John

[David DeCristoforo]

For starters, a 2.6 CFM is not going to be sufficent for spray finishing. In addition to a larger compressor, you need a decent spray system. You need to decide if you want a conventional system or an HVLP system and if you want to shoot water based or solvent based finishes. And you need some way to deal with overspray removal.

[Bert Johansen]

An alternative to spraying is a wipe-on finish. I am familiar with Minwax Wipe-on Poly finishes, and find them easy to apply, quick to dry and very forgiving. As in spraying, you will need more coats than if you used a brush. Another benefit--no clean-up. Just throw the rag away. (Always spread it out to dry first.)

[Greg Crawford]

John, thinning the poly may make your life easier. It will run more, so you have to be careful, but the brush strokes tend to flow out better.

[Paul Dwight]

I'm left with some questions about your compressor. Will it put out 2.6 CFM at 150 PSI? If so, then it will put out much more than 2.6 CFM at a lower pressure. There are several decent guns available that will run on 6 CFM at 40 PSI. Try this page: http://www.spraygunworld.com/Information2/LOWAIRGUNSWood.htm

If your compressor can only put out 2.6 CFM at 40 PSI, then I agree with David -- it won't run a spray gun.

[John Wesley Williams]

sorry - 2.6 scfm at 90 psi and 3.7 scfm at 40 psi- 150 psi is just the tank pressure rating.

[Loren Hedahl]

I have found the Varathane water based poly finishes easier to brush. Best brush is a fine bristle nylon or poly brush with tapered tips.

For spraying, Parks products works well and is some less expensive. But you get a lot of bubbles when brushing.

Just my experience.

[John Wesley Williams]

What about this unit - if I'm reading it right I wouldn't need my compressor at all?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=10469&TabSelect=Details

[James Phillips]

What about this unit - if I'm reading it right I wouldn't need my compressor at all?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=10469&TabSelect=Details

From everything I have heard this is junk. I have not used it so take it with a grain of salt

[Ray Dockrey]

What about this unit - if I'm reading it right I wouldn't need my compressor at all?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=10469&TabSelect=DetailsActually, that one gets pretty good reviews. That one, the one from Woodcraft, and the Harbor Freight one are all the same. Do a search for Harbor Freight HVLP and you will find more discussion about it. Harbor Freight has a coupon right now to get that same unit for $60 if you have a Harbor Freight store near you.

[David DeCristoforo]

Basically an "el-cheapo" airless. If you can get good results with one of these, I would be very suprised. Maybe OK for small paint jobs...

[Tim Sproul]

That's not an airless sprayer. It is a single-stage (perhaps a 2-stage but I'm pretty sure it is a single stage) turbine driven HVLP.

[Bob Aquino]

Basically an "el-cheapo" airless. If you can get good results with one of these, I would be very suprised. Maybe OK for small paint jobs...

Its not an airless rig, it is cheap to buy. The gun is plastic. My brother has one and he likes it. Wont work well on thicker paints, but if you are spraying finishes like laquer or varnish it should work well. For the price, its hard to go wrong, even better for 60 from HF.

[Jason Roehl]

Try using a painter's pad instead of a brush. They work really well for casework when spraying is inappropriate/unavailable. I'm talking about the pads that are a piece of foam with a mohair layer over the foam. There are several sizes available at any borg, so the bigger the case, the bigger the bad you should use. A few passes per surface per coat. Very fast.

Oh, and Bob's right...that's definitely not an airless, and it would probably only work with very thin materials, like stains. Paint would be a big mistake to use in that.

[Larry Fox]

I agree with other posters about the HF gun - it will likely do just fine for very thin finishes but if you get into any of the heavier bodied finishes (like WB stuff) then a single, or even two-stage, will struggle to push it.

Another option is to look on Flea-bay for a used 3-stage unit from Fuji or Capspray with a decent non-bleader gun for a reasonable price. You then can use it for your purposes and resell it. Price is *almost* irrelevant as the depreciation of a new unit has already been paid by the seller and you can likely resell it for very close if not right at what you paid for it. I did exactly that with my old Fuji 3-stage setup. I bought it used, used it for 2+ years and sold it for $40.00 less than I paid for it. I think this will be better than a compromise solution that might yield a less-than-satisfcatory finish on a piece you worked hard to built.

Just my thoughts.

Edit: I just looked on Flea-Bay, check out 270144277519. This is a really nice unit and the Gun that comes with it is a Maxim II which is a very nice gun. I had one of these and they are workhorses and won't let you down. I believe the 9100 turbine is actually a 4-stage which will more than cover you. I am completely unaffiliated with the seller btw - just did a quick search. There is also 130134329206 which is a nice Fuji 3-stage with what looks to be a nice gun. Good thing about the Fuji is that the turbine is about the size of a toaster and is very portable (noisy though - sound like a house vac).

[John Wesley Williams]

Actually, that one gets pretty good reviews. That one, the one from Woodcraft, and the Harbor Freight one are all the same. Do a search for Harbor Freight HVLP and you will find more discussion about it. Harbor Freight has a coupon right now to get that same unit for $60 if you have a Harbor Freight store near you.

Did a search for Harbor Freight coupon and couldn't find it. It's listed on Harbor freight wen site for 89.99. Can you give a link to the coupon?

THanks - John

[John Wesley Williams]

Found the coupon plus one for 15% off any single item. Just ran over to harbor freight and got it for $50.99. For that price I'll try it and if it's not good I'll throw it away!!

Thanks - John