Gun for water based lacquer

[Manel Liria]

Hi folks!

I need help to chose a gun for spray water based lacquer, KTM in this case. I was considering purchase a Husky, what do you think?

Thanks.

[Greg Robinson]

Hi Manel, welcome to the MIMForum!

When I'm spraying waterbased lacquer (I have a whole lot of KTM9 to get rid of), I use a generic conversion gun with a 1.0mm tip. Works very well, atomizes extremely well. I think I paid around $30 for it. I've never had any reason to upgrade.

[Dave Stewart]

I've used a simple Campbell-Hausfield detail (or touch-up) gun from HD for USL and now EM6000 (tip as supplied). No problems

[Chuck Tweedy]

Along these lines - Do you need to use an all-stainless gun to shoot waterborne?
I have an old cheap jamb-gun, but it has steel parts. Is this a no-no?

[Dave Stewart]

Is this a no-no?

no.....

[Chuck Tweedy]

Okay, so I just need to clean it with solvent (denatured I'm sure), and make sure it is stored dry.
Cool ... I always thought I'd have to get another gun if I was to do waterborne.

[Jim Bonnell]

At the suggestion of John Greven I bought a cheap Harbor Freight jam gun. I saw no point wasting money on a good gun until I got better. After several years I'm still pleased with it and have several. I just store them with a little alcohol in the canister.

[Mark Swanson]

I use the Campbell-Hausfield gun too. It's inexpensive, so it's probably comparable to other cheap guns. I use the same gun for nitro or water-based finish, as long as you clean the gun well it works good for both!

[Bob Gramann]

I have an Asturo ECO/SX gun with a 1.4mm tip. I shoot Target EM6000 with it. After I got it dialed in, there was a big improvement in my finishes over the Grizzly gun I was using before. It takes a lot less time to level and polish after spraying with this gun. I don't really understand why it should make a difference--the mechanisms look almost identical. The factory rep at a show told me that the better gun is more accurately milled and thus atomizes better. After I got it dialed in, I didn't go back to my old gun and try to figure it out.

[Greg Robinson]

Okay, so I just need to clean it with solvent (denatured I'm sure)

I've found that, at least for KTM9, denatured alchohol (ethanol) doesn't work all that well for cleaning. It is soluble in alcohol, but not particularly so, it tends to gum up more than dissolve. However, acetone is much more effective. After a good scrubbing with warm water, I leave my gun in a bucket of acetone, and give it a brief scrub in that before I use it, and spray some through before I load it with paint.
If I remember correctly, Mario Proulx was the one who suggested storing the whole gun in a bucket of acetone when using waterbase lacquers. It's made my gun cleaning schedule much simpler.

[Dave Stewart]

I have to say, while the acetone thing sounds sensible, I've not had any issues cleaning with just water. I "mini-clean" after each coat......... drain lacquer & spray water, then drop the butterfly air tip into a jar of water. Next coat, scrub the tip with a toothbrush, load up & go. At the end of a "session", do a thorough water cleanup, disassemble & dry gun & reassemble.

[Manel Liria]

Ok, I'll buy that cheap one, let see how it goes.

I'm thinking to use it in classical guitars, on top of shellac, just a couple of thin coats to give a little more protection against scratches .

Thanks for your replays.

[Andy Birko]

I've been using one of these : http://www.spraygunworld.com/products/A ... 20Gun.html for a couple of years now and it seems to be pretty good without breaking the bank. Now that I've figured it out, the finish seems to be going on pretty well. The only rub is I bought the kit with the 1.2mm nozzle and it would be interesting to see if the 1.4 or 1.5 would give better results.

It's a bit more than the cheapies but it won't really break the bank either.

[julian gifford]

I use harbor freight guns with automotive paints. I believe they're 1.4 tips. The larger gun goes on sale all the time for about $15. It's an air hog though. You need a decent size compressor.

No reason to buy an expensive gun until you have the skills to utulize a quality (expensive!) gun.

[Gordon Bellerose]

I'm using a HVLP gun with a 1.4 tip. works very well for waterbase clear coats.
I use about 30 lb pressure.

[Clay Schaeffer]

Hi Manel,
You may want to do some test pieces to see how well the waterborne lacquer adheres to the shellac. If it doesn't bind with it well it may show scratches even more.

[Manel Liria]

Hi Manel,
You may want to do some test pieces to see how well the waterborne lacquer adheres to the shellac. If it doesn't bind with it well it may show scratches even more.

I guess you mean cracks rather than scratches.

Anyways...I bought the gun and made some tests. I don't think I'm going to like that stuff.

I'm thinking about trying real lacquer instead of water based.

Thanks for your replies.

[Darrel Friesen]

I'm thinking of going the pre-catalyzed lacquer route. I was on the fence until I saw some of Will Hamm's beautiful guitars. He said that he now prefers it, particularly for the fact that it's way...... faster. Here's a link to some pictures on his site. He's a real local pro and builds incredibly well crafted stuff. http://hammstrings.com/Home/Photos.html Is anyone here using it?