HVLP: What Tips to Use for Shellac? Karl, Leon?

[nailshooter41]

Very true. Temperature, humidity, and thickness of application may have as much to do with your finish as anything, but fine tuning your tip for actual use is just as important. You can spray with the wrong tip (say the 2mm for lacquer) and get away with it. Likewise, you can shoot a low color saturated latex with a 1.2 tip and get away with it if you thin enough.

If it were me, and sometimes it is, I would hit that 2# shellac one more time and cut it about 20 - 25% depending on the weather. The hotter, the less I would thin. I prefer a smaller tip and use a 1.2 mm on my gun, but doubtful you would find any difference. I like to shoot it thin, just thick enough to hang onto a vertical surface. The finer tip will put out a finer finish.

As for BIN, I shoot that unthinned out of my gun with a 1.5 tip, and have shot it with my 1.2 tip as well. A call to Zinsser revealed that they put in some kind of agents that make it more viscous in the application than homemade shellac, and they told me that it was formulated with the knowledge and intent that it would be gun applied. It is one of the few materials I just pour in the gun and shoot.

It's easy. The preferred application thickness for almost all top coat clear (including shellac) materials sprayed is 3 mil. Odd, but it holds true for just about anything I have ever seen. You can apply more if you want, but 3 mil is the standard. So what does 3 mil look like? Pull out a dollar bill and check out its thickness.... right at three mil.

So spray some finish on a test board, take a razor blade and cleanly scrape away a side so you can see a profile and compare it to your dollar. Personally, I have never even used a gauge.

You can shoot most latex finishes thicker, and certainly 5 mil is within that range. For that, I use my 2 mil tip, and during our hot summers I shoot that unthinned. For more moderate weather, say the

70s, I thin latex about 20%, then shoot it with my 1.8 mil tip. Even though you don't have to thin latex with a 4 stage turbine or a CAS gun, it works better for getting a finer finish.

Robert

[-MIKE-]

Tanks a rot.

[girlsonpaint]

[krw]

]Speaking of HVLP, my gun has a quick-disconnect with a 1/2" ID (~.54") and a .7" OD. I can't find these anywhere. I'd like to use a cheap gone but they seem to be standard 1/4". What do most HVLP systems use? Any idea where I can find the above connector and more importantly, some way to convert between them?

[whit3rd]

Obviously, you could unscrew the fitting from the gun and put another in its place. Possibly you'd prefer an oil trap/air dryer with the matching output, fit with hoses that never are used on raw compressed air, for the "better finish experience".

This outfit has a selection

[krw]

That's the point. I want to unscrew the fitting from other guns and fit one like this (this is the one on the system).

I'll look more closely but I didn't see anything when I looked a while back. Who knew that there were so many incompatible connectors?

[Brewster]

Take a walk down the local big-box plumbing aisle some day 8^)

For these instances I usually use some rubber tubing and hose clamps.....

The trick is to first identify the trade name for the fitting, then do a search. In my experience any non-proprietary type fittings are still available, somewhere.

-BR

[John McCoy]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

LOL. I used to work with a couple of guys who absolutely hated the idea of incompatible air tool connectors. Every so often one of them would spend half a day putting new connectors on things, with a lot of fussing and cussing, so they'd all be the same. Of course, he'd miss a few, so a while later the other guy would spend half a day putting the other style on everything, with even more cussing and fussing.

Fun guys to work with, tho.

John

[krw]

^^^^^^^^^^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^'

BTW, it's an HVLP system, not LVHP. The hose is 3/4".

[whit3rd]

Only a few of them fit 3/4" hose: perhaps?

[krw]

Just to finish up the story. I found the quick connect connectors. Who wudda thunk they'd be garden hose connectors. Now all I need is to do is play in HD for a while to come up with a reasonable adapter from a hose thread to 1/4" NPT.

[Puckdropper]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If you get stuck, I've pieced together such an adapter. I'd be willing to disect it and give you an idea of what to look for. (Although, if I recall it was a single trip to the store deal so it wasn't that hard.)

I was using mine to clear the water in the garden hose so I could leave it outside when the weather was below freezing, but found I was better off with a rapid reel hose reel that let me bring the hose inside the garage.

Puckdropper

[Brewster]

I have a can full of those things....

They seem to come with the spray attachment sets nowadays (the sets that all seem to last only a year).

I use my compressor to flush the irrigation system yearly and use these connects to attach to the hose bib. I found cheap brass garden hose repair fittings at the local WallyWorld, this get you to a 5/8" hose barb. From there I soldered on a 1/4" brass nipple to get to a 1/4" MPT, much cheaper than finding an adapter, but you can easily get a hose thread to 3/4" pipe adapter (brass) and downsize from there (at a cost).

-BR

[krw]

Thanks. I went to the Borg today and figured out a couple of ways of doing it. It depends on how awkward the thing is, which way I go.

I just let mine drain as I "roll" it up for the last time each season. I'm sure there is still water in it but it doesn't stay out anyway (one hibernates in the garage, the other in the basement).