I want to have a go at spray painting some small MDF necklace stands in a gloss black colour.
I have a compressor and a spray gun that came as part of the air nailer package and as I have never used it I want to give it a try.
What kind out paint do I need to buy? Can I use ordinary household black gloss thinned down with something or do I need something of a more specialist nature.
Thanks for any pointers
Sean
I would denititely start with a decent acrylic wood primer - water based.
But for top coat I wuld take it to a car body shop.
Or get some car spray paints. You need to test to ensure teh primer and other coats don't react tho.
The very best result ever I have seen were on twop pack car paints - even if they dribble, they set to rock hardness and you can rub down and polish out teh odd drip.
They are VERY nasty to spray without mask and booth tho.
I used solvent based car paint from my local car parts dealer.. easy to work with and produced great results after a few practice runs that is... it also has the added benefit that it rubs down well and polishes up well. I used standard car primer and standard car paint.. you won't get two pack paint without a licence as it can kill. Steve
Anything you like, so long as it's not water based. Water-based directly onto the surface of MDF will raise fibres. Seal it with a real MDF primer first, or even shellac.
Would my local Halfords be a good place to start or somewhere more specialist?
I wonder if I could spray MDF sealer rather than paint it on. The Rustins stuff I use is really thin already.
Easier for home use is cellulose - it also can be polished after spraying. It's getting difficult to obtain, though - you'd need a specialist car paint supplier.
Yup - and you've got to be careful it doesn't set in the gun, and any mixed and not used has to be discarded. Cellulose may be kept - even after thinning - in an airtight tin.
Try JAPLAC - I don't know if you can spray it but for a tugh, durable high gloss finish it's great.
Check it out at:
Getting the hang of it will be the first hurdle. Getting the settings correct will be the next and finally spraying into corners and crevices.
Go past the object with the gun don't go over the same place twice until it has dried and cover it as quickly and evenly as you can. It won't be so bad with a grey or whatever undercoat as you can brush any runs out.
Getting the amount of aperture in the nozzle just right is a matter of trial and error and a lot depends on the viscosity. But you can spray anything from water to fibreglass -even concrete. As you would expect though, there are varieties of spray guns and there are varieties of solvents.
Whilst you might use the same solvent for acrylic that you would for concrete, several varieties of car paint will turn into a useless mess if you use solvent for one with the other.
I would get the Woolies tin of paint and some turps while you are on the steep side of the learning curve. Have some fun with your new toy.
Was I the only one who wondered how you'd get the MDF in the spraygun?
Nah, just make sure you stir it thoroughly and it should pour in easily enough...
-- Richard Sampson
email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk
Just let it get a bit damp first.
For clarity: I was refering to spraying the resin and chopped glass onto molds and the cement that they use for making those conrete rings beloved of civil engineers everywhere, are sprayed onto their molds too. So tell me; how is the saw-dust that is turned into MDF, applied to the presses?
Dunno that it is sprayed. Next time I talk with a particular friend I'll ask - he's been to a plant that makes MDF (he sells industrial controls, I suspect that they were one of his customers). Apparently it's quite a thing to see this stuff being made - starts off 30cm + thick before going through the presses.
-- Richard Sampson
email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk
-- Richard Sampson
I don't know whether this is typical, but it is a description of end-to-end process for MDF production.
Read the last Fine Woodworking.
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