Spraying Lacquer

[TellicoTurning]

This are really really basic questions about spraying lacquer..

how do you do it? do you use a spray booth (allbeit a mini-spray booth) or just spray into the air or on the lathe, do you use a special sprayer.. how do you prepare the mixture of lacquer?

I haven't tried lacquer yet and some of the finishes I see are spectacular. I'm just beginning to learn to do a fair to middling finish with the CA and CA/BLO.. not on pens yet, but did a CA/blo on some of my duck calls and was pleased with the outcome... thinking lacquer might be even better.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Jerryconn]

I think it was here that someone had posted a spray booth for pens. Seems to me he could spray 6 or so blanks at a time. It was driven by a grill rotisserie motor, had a Dust collection port, as well as light to provide heat fro drying. I did some searching but so far I am not successful in finding the post.

 

[Jamie]

A booth would have to be vented to the outside and would kill everything within 4 feet of the vent. If I'm using a spray can I put my blanks on a dowel and spray them in back of the garage. If you can't get in back of your garage, in front works almost as well. What I don't do (if I can help it)is spray lacquer in the garage because spraying a pen blank gets about 5% of the paint on the pen, 75% on the floor, 18% on equipment and 2% will glue your eye lashes together. If you are spraying with an airbrush, anywhere is OK.

 

[rherrell]

I use an air brush and spray in front of a fan facing out a window. I like the air brush because it atomizes the lacquer to a finer mist than a rattle can. This allows me more control over the spray.

 

[jeffj13]

I mount my blanks (usually 4 pens at a time) on a dowel and spray them with an airbrush. I highly recommend an airbrush as you get a better spray and you have less overspray, saving lots of money. I use the one from Harbor Freight that you can buy on sale for $6.

jeff

 

[Rifleman1776]

I spray mine right on the lathe running at slow speed. Back wall is a mess with lotsa sawdust permanently lacquered to it. Gives the place character. []

 

[raltenhofen]

I have found an airbrush to be the perfect means to apply lacquer. It creates a fine mist like no other. Each coat is very thin and dries fast, so that allows me to build up 3-5 layers quickly. I reduce the lacquer about 20% with thinner. And I rarely use a full bottle of lacquer to spray 6-12 pens at a time. No need for a spray booth under those circumstances.

The one thing I am cautious of is build of vapors in my shop. All doors are open when I spray. You don't want to breath the vapors and God forbid the concentration gets high enough for an explosion!

 

[Rmartin]

I use a bed of nails. A block of wood which I drove a dozen nails through. I hold each blank on a artist brush with some tape on it to keep the blank from sliding all the way down. I'm using laquer from a spray can. Recoat every fifteen minutes five or six times. Often, I will put blanks back on the lathe a couple days later to micromesh and add a drop of polish. One can costs five dollars and I can get at least six pens per can. I have a compressor, but no spray gun. It would probably be a better way to go to use a spray gun, but out of the can is easier/faster, and realitively cheap.

 

[jtate]

QUERY: Why would you spray when you can dip? Dipping the blank into a can of lacquer (or a tall, skiny jar lik I'm using) seems best to me because:
1. Nearly all the liquid lacquer goes on the pen part, none is wasted. Just a tiny bit runs off the end. There's none on the equipment, walls, floor, air...
2. The finish is absolutely smooth, with each layer, since you're dipping into the liquid, not spraying droplets at the part. Liquid Lacquer flows down the pen part instead of forming a droplet pattern as it drys. It's a hydrolics thing.
3. The liquid lacquer is more pure than the spray kind since the spray kind has to have some kind of propellent in it. The liquid lacquer just has the solvent in it that is necesary to dissolve the otherwise solid lacquer chips.
4. The air is breathable when you dip instead of spray. The solvent that's in the lacquer has to evaporat but that smell is minimal and is certainly a lot less dangerous than the aerosolized bits of lacquer that spraying produces.
5. Liquid Lacquer for dipping pens is way cheaper than spray cans. Rmartin said he can get six pens from a spray can. I've done WAY more than six pen from one can of liquid lacquer and I still have plenty still in the container - AND - a drywall worker already spilled half the container when he was working in my shop!
6. No compressor is needed for dipping - just the pen part and whatever you're holding it on. I use threaded rod and I dip the pen parts with the bushings still on the pen part so that the lacquer flows without forming a little bead or bump or whatever at the lower edge.

Okay, fellas! Tell my why you spray instead of dip?

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Re: #1 => You are correct, it does make a little mess.
Re: #2 => Properly applied, this is the case with spray lacquer.
Re: #3 => The solvent in the spray can will dry out, it's just there to propel the lacquer from the can.
Re: #4 => False, there are still fumes in the can of lacquer that should not be used in a closed area, however, yes.. the spray is worse.
Re: #5 => Right on the money here, no way to argue that!
Re: #6 => (a)Deft spray cans can be used over a spray gun, I have an 80 gallon compressor and would use a can over a gun for pens just based on how little is needed.
(b) I try to never use a method that causes me to "cut or break" a paint seam. If the lacquer flows over the bushing you must free it. This may cause chips, either now or down the road. When I spray I mount the blanks on a threadded 1/4" rod with a wooden handle. Then I can gently sand any clear off the ends without worrk of chipping or damage to the finish. Even if it does not appear to of damaged the outside, you may of loosened the bond under the finish at the wood causing it to fail down the road. *

*FWIW, I am a Dupont certified auto painter with many years prepping and painting cars where much the same surface prep applies.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Oh, and here is an old photo of the spray rods I made a long time ago. I space the blanks with brass tube. If I need to spray a larger kit, say a cigar I use the bushings made for the pen mill. These have ring eyes in the handle to hang they while they dry.

Although, now that I have my CA finish figured out, I dobut they will get much use. []

 

[Rmartin]

Just as I would never pour a can of laquer over a furniture piece, I wouldn't do the same for a pen. Dipping adds way too thick a coat for my tastes. Spraying produces thin coats, and that's what I like.

 

[jtate]

Richard, I don't think the analogy applies. A table top is horizontal, the pen surface is vertical while it's being hung or inserted in a hole in a block to cure. Granted, if the pen part remained horizontal, the cotaing would be quite thick. With the vertical curing the lacquer layers are extremely thin.

Lee, I love those tools! I'm gona make me some of those! I've just been using all thread stuck into holes drilled in a block. The hanging to cure, using the eye rings, is ingenious! BTW, if you need a little extra space in your workshop, you could just send those tools on down to me!

I avoid the issue of 'scoring' at the break between the pen part and the bushings by loosening the nuts and pulling out the bushings, just a hair, while the lacquer is still a little bit soft. I have had CA finishes chip at the edges but I've never had the lacquer finish chip.

I think the biggest draw back to dip lacquer is that you really ought to let the pen parts cure over night or longer before pen assembly. That's a challenge to my patience.

Here's a thread that has more information about dip lacquer finishes:
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22864&SearchTerms=lacquer,dip

 

[davidrei]

I use canned deft, sprayed with the blank on the lathe while turning at the slowest speed. I just cover the lathe bed & nearby lathe parts with whatever is handy (plastic wrap, paper, etc.) By having the blank turning, I can get even coats, and by spraying only a tiny bit at a time, I can build up very thin layers (sometimes up to 12 coats). Spraying such small amounts means that fumes & over-spray are not really problems at all, though I do open the garage door when I do this.

I have a couple of questions about dipping though. It seems to me that one of the disadvantages of dipping that I don't have with spraying is that it would harder to control the thickness of the finish. My other question is that if you are hanging the blanks to dry, wouldn't the dipped finish tend to be much thicker at the lower part of the blank the the higher part? In other words, doesn't the wet lacquer continue to flow down hill as it dries?