Anybody shot waterborne pre-cat varnish?

[gates559]

John,
The waxy feeling can be obtained easier with different brands, Try Becker Acroma. That has a nice feel to it, Lots of sanding between coats too, I use my orbital and put a square foam backed sanding pad (320) on it to flatten everything out between coats.

 

[gates559]

Curt,
What is the advantage to using a WB topcoat if you use solvent for all the previous coats, It seems as though you are defeating the purpose.

 

[junk731]

Gates

Let us know when you find out which company. I'm using the same sanding method but with the Target EM2000 Alkyd Varnish, in my opinion, you just don't get that feel off the gun. If you rub it out it feels better.

Tim

Sorry Tim I think you misinterpreted my pressure pot comment, I think it was to do with air vs turbine and how much I liked my Cat gun with the PPS system. Good to hear you got something from the school, they suggested to our class that an AAA gun was only needed when spraying higher quantities on a daily basis because of the amount lost in cleanup. I did like the way it worked though.

John

 

[gates559]

Junk,
Ill bet if you try a Kremlin Airmix you will get an off the gun finish you will be happy with.

 

[tiralie]

Sorry Tim I think you misinterpreted my pressure pot comment, I think it was to do with air vs turbine and how much I liked my Cat gun with the PPS system.

John
I was just kidding around, I really appreciate your feedback. The turbine (@ 10-11psi) really doesn't atomize higher viscosity coatings (pigmented) as well as the conventional systems do. Unless the material is thinned 5% which means you need more coatings, more air bubbles are trapped in the WB as it settles causing fish eyes. Conversely if you reduce the amount of finish to compensate for the lower pressure you get a very rough finish increasing sanding. Combined with a good compliant gun and a higher pressure (20-25 psi) and low cfm (11-12) atomizes the WB much better and produce an excellent finish.

After I got home from the class I did some tests with the turbine and my gravity gun with smaller needles and the finish was much better than I had been getting previously.

Good to hear you got something from the school, they suggested to our class that an AAA gun was only needed when spraying higher quantities on a daily basis because of the amount lost in cleanup. I did like the way it worked though.

They did tell us that an AAA system is over kill for an occasional user, or one with small finishing requirements. However, the efficiency of the pump puts less demand on a compressor (smaller capacity tank) is lower and I may be able to get away with not having to get a huge tank right away. I notice that the portable CAT AAA system uses a 4 gallon tank.
The trade off of course is more of the coating is left in the lines to clean up but that may be the only draw back.
There was a guy in my class who uses an AAA system and does about the same amount of finishing as I do so it's not out of the scheme of things.
Tim

 

[sancho57]

I use waterbase finishes exclusively. It used to be Enduro Coat but Enduro got bought out by General Finishes. Its still has the Enduro name on the can. I love it. Sure ya have to raise the grain but its not that big of a issue for me. Just take a wet cloth and wipe the wood then sand.

Ive been very impressed with the general finishes stains too. The have reformulated it and Its a pleasure to use.
One reason I think waterbase is a great finish is because it is a tougher finish then O/B. It has more solids in it due to the emulsifiers.

Drys and can be sanded and recoated in about 2 hours. No orders to seak of.

 

[Curt B]

gates,
    I use the solvent based stains and oils because I hate using WB stains...  And i have a huge inventory and sample catalog of oil samples.  I don't like the staining side of WB. I use wipe on oils but use WB top coats, tints, as well as toners.  I think it works well for that...