sprayying lacquer with Earlex

[DennisofDouglas]

GoodDay, Although I am a "seasoned " woodworker, I, like some others, am not what I call a good finisher (I have never sprayed). I purchased an Earlex 5000 with the 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0mm tips. My job is to refinish all of our "tired" MDF cabinets that I built 17 yrs ago, but had professionaly finished in white lacquer. My wife is tired of the white. I've done any required repairs and I am now ready to sand the numerous pieces. Here is where I could use your help. I am at a complete loss as to how to handle this using a tinted lacquer, (a light mint beige, and I am intimidated to even start! Some questions are:

1. I assume that I will need to re-prime everything, (I routed some grooves into the door panels thus exposing fresh MDF). How do I mix the lacquer primer, what I bought is lacquer, thinner and "catalyst(?)"

2. Do I need a booth to spray the doors and Carcases?

3. Should I lay the doors flat or lean them upright to spray?

4. Do I have to remove the upper cabinets from the walls to repaint, or could I mask off around them? The bottoms are being removed for new florring in the kitchen.

I'll stop here for now, as you can see I really need some advise here to which I would be most grateful.

Regards, Dennis Pugh

Douglas, NB canada

cmv2005@rogers.com

[Danny Hellyar]

Hi,

I'm not a painter by profession, but am a cabinet maker that does my own finishing. I've sprayed a few kitchens with pre- catalyzed lacquer. The colored lacquer doesn't spray any different than the clear. The most common mistake I made when I first started spraying lacquer was not thinning it. I would get the orange peel effect. Now I thin it at about 25% with lacquer thinner and it sprays really nicely. Just be sure to keep the gun moving so you don't get drips, although this stuff dries so quickly it's hard to get runs. It really does take some practice, especially if your going to spray them in place, already installed. The professional painter that I sometimes hire to do my painting actually likes putting this on with an airless spray unit. He likes to use that so he can get on a nice thick coat quickly, but I don't know if that is really any advantage as you still need to thin it so it won't orange peel, although you do get far less over spray with an airless, which does save on paint cost. Here in my area the cost of a gallon of pre-cat lacquer is 38 US dollars, so it's not cheap. I've found that I don't like using siphon type spray guns as they tend to be more difficult to keep clean and spraying consistently. I use a gravity feed HVLP gun and never have any problems. In fact , I use the cheapest gun I could find and it sprays well. The lacquer levels out so well that it makes up for any slight difference you may get in the spray pattern of a less expensive gun. I think it's better to spray outside if you have the right weather conditions, that being that the temperature and humidity are not to high or low. And it's almost better to have a slight breeze, as this will blow the over spray so it doesn't land on your already sprayed surfaces, as long as that wind isn't blowing dust. You just have to be aware of what direction the wind is blowing in so that when you spray your next piece your other already sprayed pieces aren't down wind. If you do set up a spray booth then you have to have some sort of exhaust so that the over spray doesn't settle back on your work. I found I had better results just painting in the open with a slight breeze. It's less expense and work. And if your spraying with a Satin finish clear you don't even have to worry about over spray . You just go back over it with some 0000 steel wool and all that comes off. Not sure how this would work with a colored lacquer, although I'm about to spray some black satin here this week. You really don't want to paint your doors leaning against a wall, since you won't be able to spray the back and front at the same time and the blow of the spray gun will pick up any dust that's there on the ground and there always is some no matter how thorough you think you are. I usually attach an old or inexpensive hinge to the door and attach a piece of wire to that which is then attached to a wire, rope or pipe, that's stretched between two posts, ladders or walls. This way I can rotate the piece as I'm spraying. The only way your going to learn how to get the best results is to just plow into it and do it. I would practice on something else first though. Or you could pay a professional painter to come in and do it, but they are usually pretty expensive. That's why many cabinet makers bite the bullet and find the paint and equipment and method that works for them and stick to it. I feel your anxiety! good luck, hope this helps a little.