Terry Sorry for the delay. Hopefully I understand your questions which are answered in the text below. Paul Chick ----- Original Message ----- From: Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Monday, September 10, 2001 11:13 PM Subject: Re: Oxford Premium Spray Lacquer > WOW! Thanks for the details. I must ask for just a few more. They appear > below, in your post. Thanks. > > Terry Farrell > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Paul" <tunenbww@clear.lakes.com> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org> > Sent: Monday, September 10, 2001 9:49 AM > Subject: Re: Oxford Premium Spray Lacquer > > > > Del, Terry, List > > > > I've added water based lacquer to my finishing and along with it new > > equipment. I have a 5 hp compressor feeding an Asturo Spray Gun model BBS > > fitted with a 1.7mm tip. I sprayed the Oxford Premium Spray Lacquer right > > form the can. I did an ebony grand but used tinted clear rather than black > > lacquer. To me it has more depth. > > Can you please provide details of what tinted clear is. Is this the clear > gloss PSL with some kind of black additive? If so, what? One of the > Trans-Tint dyes from Homestead? TINTED CLEAR is clear finish with a dye or tinting medium added. It is often used to blend the colors of different pieces to a uniform shade. I normally do this after the seal coat has been applied followed by the perscribed number of top coats. Great caution must be used when sanding top coats over "toners." Watch the sanding dust. As soon as you see any color in it, you are in to your tinted lacquer. In ebony finishes, I stain the piece black, then add black tint to the clear lacquer to achieve more depth of color. I used Transtit this time and liked the results. For this piano I used half the maximum recommended for the lacquer. > > > Since this was my first use of water > > based, I had expect some differences and got them. The gun allows you to > > control fluid, pattern And air pressure. Line pressure was controlled from > > the filters. > > I don't understand the "Line pressure was controlled from the filters." What > kind of filters and where, and what kind of line pressure? > LINE PRESSURE is the PSI in the air hose to the air filters, and eventually to the gun. Some filters have regulators built in them to adjust "line pressure" on their discharge connection. Any vendor selling spray equipment has a variaty of filters available to match to your needs. > > The lacquer raised the grain a little but no worse than solvent > > based. Some air bubbles were evident but cured by adding about 2% > retarder. > > You can go up to 5% if necessary. This also improved flow out. > > Is this the SA5 Retarder? SA5 RETARDER was added. Use the same brand as the lacquer or you run the risk of incompatibility. The amount is intuitive. For me, it stems from using it almost always with solvent based lacquer to improve flow out. > > > At first my > > air pressure was too low, causing a coarse application, but it flowed out > > better than I thought it would. > > With good lighting so that I could observe the mist, I have experimented > with different pressures in my Asturo ECO/S gun. It seems that if I go below > 20 PSI at the gun base, it starts spitting a little bit - you can feel the > little droplets. SPITTING may be from heavy viscosity, too large of a tip and needle, air pressure too low, or any combination of the above. I use large pieces of cardboard to practice. You can see imediately what the gun is doing. The finish dries rapidly and you topcoat to see what kind of build to expect. The build from the Oxford Lacquer impressed me. I can't explain how its different, but it is a lot faster than solvent based. On some mahogany test pieces, the grain was about 75-85% filled with three coats. A couple more coats would have finished filling it. > > > I only sanded between the first and second > > coat with 3M's 216u FreCut Gold Sandpaper. One sheet did the entire 7' > > grand. > > I take it this was to sand down any raised grain? What grit did you use? > (That FewCut Gold IS awesome!) 240 GRIT was all I used for prep sanding, sanding the first coat, sanding out flows, and cutting down the finish before buffing. I used 4F pumice to rub out the for a final finish. The results was very close to the factory luster (Steinway). > > >Then I applied successive coats, increasing the air pressure until I > > got the desired atomization. This step is intuitive. I can't tell you > > pressures or feed rates, just practice. I built up about 8 coats about an > > hour apart, not sanding between them. There was a fine line between a full > > coat and sagging. But I was pleased with the flow out of each coat. I hang > > as many pieces as I can to reduce dust contamination. > > When you say you hang pieces, do you mean that you spray them while they are > hanging in a vertical orientation? I have noticed that I get a lot better > results if I spray a horizontal piece. I had hung everything in the past - > the only thing that came out real nice with no orange peel was the > soundboard - I didn't even rub it out it looked so nice. VERTICAL ORIENTATION is less suseptible to airborn dust that you kick up while moving around during application. It can also help with flow out and uniformaty in coat thickness and even drying. Just before I begin spraying, I usually damp mop the floor. This goes along way to control air born dust. > > > The piano sat for 24 > > hours, then cutting down and buffing began. Any sag or ruff spot was > easily > > leveled with the 216u backed with a wood block. > > What was your schedule of grits? Was all the sanding by hand? Just out of > curiosity, how many hours sanding? HAND SANDING was the only method used. I haven't found a power sander that I can feel comfortable to use for this task. The Oxford Lacquer sands faster than solvent based, combined with the 216u paper, the job went much faster. It took about 8 hours. I started with the 320 grit but found I got the same effect with 240 grit after rubbing out. > > > After sanding, the finish > > was rubbed with 4F Pumice. I never cut through-save a couple of edges-and > > got 100% burn-in between all coats. I inspected the piano 8 days after > > delivery and found no change in the finish. > > My conclusions: It took me too long the come up with the right delivery. > > I'm ordering a finer tip. > > What size are you going for - 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5? > > > I'll be thinning the finish about 10% > > Thinning with water? Or what? > > > and use retarder about 2%. > > This is in addition to the water (or whatever you answered above)? > > > Very low odor and over spray, greatly reduced the volume of > exhaust > > air. > > Sands better than nitro-lacquer; seems to be a harder film. > > The gun works well; very easy to clean, especially the fluid > filter. THINNING with water.The lacuer must stand for about an hour after adding water or retarder. This allows the finish time to absorb it. Add it VERY SLOWLY. Drizzle it in. It won't be absorbed by the lacquer very well if you just dump it in. The results may be cratering in your finish. But this calls for more experimenting. I probably will not do this when I become more familiar with Oxfords characteristics. Water is added in addtion to/along with retarder. Thinning can make it dry faster reducing flow out as well as change its spraying. The retarder helps achieve original drying times. These items are intuitive. I have the 1.2 and 1.7 needle and tip and will be ordering a 1.4 or 1.5. > I think your gun is basically the same as mine, only perhaps some different > materials for construction. Yes, indeed they are VERY easy to clean and > things do not seem to gum up like I experienced with my Accuspray. > > > The gun is very versatile; I think it will meet all needs > including > > spot finishing > > I'll never use anything but 3M 216u sandpaper. > > You got that right! > > > Other misc. reasons. MISC. REASONS are covered in the text above. I liked the results. It adds more flexibility to my finishing. Good luck! > > I purchased the gun, lacquer, and sandpaper from Jeff Jewett at Homestead > > Finishing, P.O. Box 360275, Cleveland Ohio 44136-0005 > > www.homesteadfinishing.com > > > > Paul Chick > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Delwin D Fandrich <pianobuilders@olynet.com> > > To: <pianotech@ptg.org> > > Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2001 10:48 AM > > Subject: Re: Oxford Premium Spray Lacquer > > > > > > > Was anybody going to comment on Oxford Premium Spray Lacquer on this > > thread? > > > > > > I can just imagine somebody asking a question about spray guns in six > > months > > > or so and being told to "check the archives, there was a big discussion > > > about this six months ago." It would take a skilled clairvoyant to find > > it. > > > > > > I keep kind of monitering it to see if there might actually be some > > > discussion about Oxford Premium Spray Lacquer.... > > > > > > Del > > > > > > > > >
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