A really amazing day today. It was a long hard road to get there, but I finally managed to get 3 reasonable coats of acrylic clear on my flamed telecaster build. It took quite a bit of trial and error to get the spray gun dialled in. At first the weather here in Holgate was too humid (I think). To help overcome this issue I added a water trap to the bottom of the gun. Next, the clear was drying the instant it hit the wood (like sandpaper). The reason was too much pressure and too little fluid. To help overcome this issue I added a pressure regulator to the bottom of the gun, reduced it to about 18psi and increased the fluid control. The resulting gun setup looks like this:
It's some kind of supercharged hot-rod affair! With the gun now ready and dialled in (I hoped), it was time to get on and spray. Retiring to my high-tech spray booth (a saw horse outside the garage) I was able to lay down 3 nicely wet coats; waiting 15 minutes in between for the coats to tack off.
Thankfully, a friend of mine recommended a good quality Sundstrom mask to keep the fumes out of my lungs. It worked unbelievably well and I would highly recommend them to anyone. The end result of the spraying was pretty good for my very first attempt. There is a bit of orange peel, (I'll deal with that later), but some decent coverage has been laid down. I'm planning to sand this flat before applying 3 more finishing coats tomorrow.
The good news from today's success is that it seems acrylic clear can definitely be sprayed over Tru-Oil without any ill effects (or so it seems). This is great news for those of us that like to use Tru-Oil to enhance the chatoyence of the figured timber before adding the clear coats over the top. Roll-on the buffing and admiring!!
It's some kind of supercharged hot-rod affair! With the gun now ready and dialled in (I hoped), it was time to get on and spray. Retiring to my high-tech spray booth (a saw horse outside the garage) I was able to lay down 3 nicely wet coats; waiting 15 minutes in between for the coats to tack off.
Thankfully, a friend of mine recommended a good quality Sundstrom mask to keep the fumes out of my lungs. It worked unbelievably well and I would highly recommend them to anyone. The end result of the spraying was pretty good for my very first attempt. There is a bit of orange peel, (I'll deal with that later), but some decent coverage has been laid down. I'm planning to sand this flat before applying 3 more finishing coats tomorrow.
The good news from today's success is that it seems acrylic clear can definitely be sprayed over Tru-Oil without any ill effects (or so it seems). This is great news for those of us that like to use Tru-Oil to enhance the chatoyence of the figured timber before adding the clear coats over the top. Roll-on the buffing and admiring!!
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