They call it a "pre cat" "Hybrid varnish" yes, it's water based.
My test results confirmed some interesting things. I couldn't be bothered to find a nice piece of wood and sand it smooth enough to represent a pre-sealed surface so I used the shiny side of a piece of hardboard for the test. I divided it up into 1' x 2' sections and marked them with the number of turns open for the flow control starting with 1.5, 2, 2.5 etc up to 5.5 turns open. Now I sprayed the shellac at 1.5 open and that was truely wet. The ultima lacquer was sprayed at 2 turns open and maybe; knowing what I know now, could have been 2.5. When I first filtered the EM8000 into the spray cup I noticed how thick it was compared with the UL, possibly 5 times longer to drain through the filter! My test showed that the setting of 1.5 I used on the table was VERY dry, 2 was similar, 3 a little better. 4 turns opened gave the first coat that had a true cohesive look to it. Up through 4.5 to 5.5 were not actually much differernt and still seemed to be atomzing ok. Gun inlet never moved from 25psi which is nice to think there is at least one setting to forget about. All tests were with full fan air on giving me the longest fan, of course these flow rates would change with a smaller fan. I am probably going to go with the 4 turns open for a coat on the table top. I felt that with this stuff I could have gone more open without atomization problems, but 4 turns it is. There being very little difference in 4 - 5.5 and being able to leave the inlet at 25psi has removed some of the fears that I had read about that this was an ultra fine setup. I think some of the praise must go to target for these very forgiving products.
I will let you know how it goes.
