Help in avoiding tiger stripe in lacquer.

[red]

Hey All,

I need some advice on how to avoid getting tiger stripes in my lacquer. I sprayed 25 cherry cabinet doors over the week and they all have tiger stripe, some more than others. What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried searching here and the internet and am not coming up with much help. So far it seems I’m not over lapping enough. I guess I would only need to move the gun over about 2”-3” each pass. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. I'm here to learn. The finish feels very smooth it just looks striped. I got frustrated enough that I packed up and came home.


I’m spraying using a pre cat lacquer (hood finishing's Magna-shield) with an Earlex 5500 HVLP system using a 1.5mm tip. Thanks.



Red

 

[Willemjm]

Hey All,

I need some advice on how to avoid getting tiger stripes in my lacquer. I sprayed 25 cherry cabinet doors over the week and they all have tiger stripe, some more than others. What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried searching here and the internet and am not coming up with much help. So far it seems I’m not over lapping enough. I guess I would only need to move the gun over about 2”-3” each pass. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. I'm here to learn. The finish feels very smooth it just looks striped. I got frustrated enough that I packed up and came home.


I’m spraying using a pre cat lacquer (hood finishing's Magna-shield) with an Earlex 5500 HVLP system using a 1.5mm tip. Thanks.



Red

Are you using a color tint or stain mixed in the lacquer?

Are you spraying the panels lying down flat, or stacked vertical?

Without detailed information, it sounds as if your coats are going on way too thick. If you have to apply a thick coat to prevent a sandy finish and get proper wetting, you may have to thin your finish.

 

[red]

No the doors are being sprayed flat. I'm using just lacquer no stain or tints. I don't know if I'm spraying too thick or not thick enough. My volume knob is only turned out about 1 1/4 turns from closed and the spray knob roughly 1 1/2 turns from wide. Seems every combo I've tried turns out striped thus my frustration.

Red

 

[mshel]

You might try adding some retarder to the finish to prevent the rapid drying and try applying multiple thin coats vs one heavy one. I sometimes get the same effect and I attribute it to the finish drying too fast. With the retarder, you can keep a wet edge. Just a thought.


Mike

 

[Skymaster]

are you shooting straight from can? Normally you want to run at least a 25% thinner, mix. Shoot several light coats vs one heavier.Also use top grade lacq thinner NOT cheap stuff from box stores

 

[Willemjm]

With the type of sprayer you are using, try placing the panels vertical, or at an angle. What is not helping is if you spray them lying flat, you have to hold your type of gun 100% horizontal, which is not possible. What is happening is one side of spray fan is closer to the panel than the other, as your gun is not horizontal (flat aligned with the panel) meaning you have an uneven coat going on with every stroke. Not sure it that was good English, but the spray pattern fan has to be equidistant from the panel both sides. Also, if you are laying down the finish too thick, vertical panels will immediately tell you by creating sags.

 

[Woodmolds]

Hey All,

I need some advice on how to avoid getting tiger stripes in my lacquer. I sprayed 25 cherry cabinet doors over the week and they all have tiger stripe, some more than others. What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried searching here and the internet and am not coming up with much help. So far it seems I’m not over lapping enough. I guess I would only need to move the gun over about 2”-3” each pass. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. I'm here to learn. The finish feels very smooth it just looks striped. I got frustrated enough that I packed up and came home.


I’m spraying using a pre cat lacquer (hood finishing's Magna-shield) with an Earlex 5500 HVLP system using a 1.5mm tip. Thanks.



Red

Magna-shield pre cat lacquer is most likely a high solids lacquer. I'm not familiar with the brand, but I've used both ML Campbell & Sher-wood pre cat lacquers for the past 20 years. They are high solids and can be sprayed heavier than regular lacquers without runs or sags. Based on my experience, you're probably not coating heavy enough. Because it dries so fast, if you don't spray wet, you will get more over-spray. I've found thinning to do little or no good(YMMV), these products are recommended to be sprayed as packaged. I can't tell that retarder helps me, it may help you. It definitely won't hurt anything. If the over-spray is light, sometimes it can be wiped off with your hand(after it dries good) and is not noticeable.

One other thing because these are high solids finishes one to two heavy coats are better than several light coats. One to two coats(a sealer is optional with most pre cats) are all you should need to get an excellent finish and plenty of build.

Also this is what works for me & just my .02 cents

Tony

 

[red]

The finish feels very smooth. The lacquer can says no thinning or retarder needed in most applications. Solids by weight is 40%. Solids by volume is 35%. Viscosity is 20-25 seconds with a #4 ford cup. I don't know if this makes it a high solids lacquer or not. I just need to get one more good coverage coat and I can hang the doors and be done with this phase of my kitchen. Any more ideas please pass them along. I'll be back up there to spray early Monday morning. Here is a link to what I am spraying if that helps.

http://www.hoodfinishing.com/Products_Info-2013/Magna_Shield.pdf

Thanks for all and any help. It is greatly appreciated.

Red

 

[scsmith42]

Red, whenever I spray anything, I like to position some lights so that I can see exactly how my spray is laying down on the surface. That allows me to overlap the spray pattern slightly and keep wet edge to wet edge.

Without seeing photo's, it sounds like your problem may be that your're not overlapping the consecutive spray layers enough.

 

[Woodmolds]

Scott's recommendations are sound practice. Because the temps are getting higher you will need to keep moving once you start. Good wet coat with good lapping(wet edge to wet edge) should get you there.

40% solids is considered high solids. These lacquers are high build per coat, hence the recommendation for one(if sealed) to two coats only.

Tony

 

[red]

Thanks for all the replies. I am spraying in a three car garage with the doors and windows open. I have plenty of natural light. It looks to be going on wet but as soon as it starts to dry I see striping. How far from the work surface do most of you hold the gun? I'm headed back up Sunday morning to give it another shot. Worse case is I will hang the doors after one more coat as is and re-spray sometime after I move in when there is a little more time to mess around. I'll try to take some pics of the good or bad and post when I get home Tuesday night. Thanks.

Red

 

[Skymaster]

I hold about 8 to 10". That does not mean I know whay I am doing or am right; just that is what works for me with the guns I have. Hmmmm what size nozzle are you using, also are you sure the nozzle and gun are CLEAN? If nozzle is partially clogged it could give you a skewed pattern

 

[Jeff]

Thanks for all the replies. I am spraying in a three car garage with the doors and windows open. I have plenty of natural light. It looks to be going on wet but as soon as it starts to dry I see striping. How far from the work surface do most of you hold the gun? I'm headed back up Sunday morning to give it another shot. Worse case is I will hang the doors after one more coat as is and re-spray sometime after I move in when there is a little more time to mess around. I'll try to take some pics of the good or bad and post when I get home Tuesday night. Thanks.

Red

Striping when drying? That sounds like "blushing". However, the manufacturer claims "will not blush up to 96% relative humidity". The ingredients, with the exception of ethyl acetate and isopropanol, are largely much higher boiling so that solvent flash off when drying should not be a problem. However, one could hypothesize that relatively damp wood could be problematic because that moisture is trapped beneath the surface coating.

http://www.hoodfinishing.com/MSDS/MAGNA-SHIELD_CLEAR.pdf

Your related post back in April/May reported that you were pleased with the face frame spraying so all was well at that point with those much smaller surface areas. So perhaps it's technique with the larger surface area of the cabinet doors which others have suggested above. :dontknow:

 

[red]

Your related post back in April/May reported that you were pleased with the face frame spraying so all was well at that point with those much smaller surface areas. So perhaps it's technique with the larger surface area of the cabinet doors which others have suggested above. :dontknow:

Yes you are correct. Back then I was only spraying face frames at 1 1/2" wide compared to cabinet doors which are much wider. It's boiling down to a combination of gun settings and my technique neither of which are totally correct. I hung the doors without respraying due to lack of time at the moment. I will touch up each door at a later date after I move in and get more comfortable with the sprayer. Thanks for all the help.

Red