spraying shellac with an hvlp -- bad results

This is the first time I've tried to spray shellac. It was bullseye, out of the can, and I cut it with denatured alcohol. I sprayed it, and it looked ok at first, but as it dried, it seemed to pucker in spots and give me orange peel. It's acting like I put it on too thick, but when i tried to lay it on thinner, it didn't seem to be atomizing correctly, and it went on a bit spotty. I put it on heavier to make it flow, but then it didn't seem to dry right. What did I do wrong? Not thin enough?

Reply to
mark
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Mark,

I sprayed the same shelac a few weeks ago. I used my latex tip and did not thin it and only got a real fine orange peel - overall a nice finish. I am going to thin it a little next time.

P.S. You can buy extra tip kits on ebay for much less than the other sources.

Good luck,

AZCRAIG

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Reply to
cm

What make HVLP are you using? This sounds like gun/turbine problems.

Reply to
Rumpty

porter cable conversion gun. Seems to work fine on lacquer, but that's all I've ever sprayed with it.

Reply to
mark

Reply to
JGS

Two possible causes: shellac needs more thinning for your gun/tip/pressure combo. You are spraying from too far away, allowing the shellac to dry before it hits the surface. Practice makes perfect. Try altering your technique. What size tip are you using?

David

mark wrote:

Reply to
David

Thanks for that mike. I printed it out, and will get to the bottom of it by trying some of the tests you recommended. It seems like you are right -- it went on too dry at first, and then didn't flow out correctly. It's a panel door that I'm spraying, so it has a lot of nooks and crannies that are hard to get evenly.

Reply to
mark

It's like anything else - practice makes perfect. Well... perfect practice makes perfect. I should have mentioned in the my post - and in fact David did mention - watch your distance. Try to stay within 6" of your workpiece. Spray from too far away and the atomized spray goes on dry. Experiment with the direction you point your gun. When you're going down the length of the door you can spray in-to-out a bit so that you get a good coverage on the edge treatment of the panels and the styles and rails. You'll get it - just keep working at it.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

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