Spray painting interior paints.

[hybrid 1043]

Sup fellas,

So i'm renovating again, and thought it time I bought myself a flash wagner electric spray gun. Flexio 585 to be exact.

For the kitchen, dinning + lounge windowsill I used professionals. They sprayed the windows with an acrylic enamel .Dulux aquanamel to be exact.

I was really impressed with the finished they achieved, so decided to have a crack myself.

The sprayer a bought claims to be able to atomise normal acrylics without being watered down. However I have just completed a coat and its come out quite mottled. Im waiting for it to dry properly to pass judgement.

Does anyone else have any experience with this at all? What ratio I should be watering the paint down too. Ive had some average information that it should be 5% but wouldnt mind some concrete info if anyone has any.

[jeffbebe 1559]

No experience of interior spray painting but plenty with other paints. I'd recommend gradually watering and testing on a piece of spare plaster board until you feel comfortable with the finish.

[*Glenn* 854]

If you use a sealant (undercoat) the final coats don't need to be as aggressive and will prevent that from happening. Also play with your mixture before making an application. Air temp and humidity also effects what's going on

[Nobimmer 694]

Its humid AF today which wont help.

What paint was it?

[hybrid 1043]

cheers all

Dulux Aquanamel Semi Gloss, after reading what I thought were the instruction, turns out there were a few more pages hidden in the warrenty cards.

That and a dilution measuring stick.

Will dilute down 10% steps and as Jules said keep testing on test surface until im satisfied its atomised enough.

[westy 614]

Use a brush. Serious.

[Nobimmer 694]

^word. All those water born enamels have a sh*t load of self levelling in them and if you use a good brush the finish will be sweet. Stop fkng around.

[richard 384]

have to agree with the brush.

Goes on thicker and will level out.

[richard 384]

I've tried to pm you Josh, your either full or do you have this blocked

[hybrid 1043]

Sorry try now. Have cleared my inbox a little.

Think I might have worked out the mix ratio properly ... 20% water step 6 air and wound back on the material knob.

[Olaf 3317]

If you're brushing...

I always thin my paint for enamels. Master Painter I was working with taught me to add a little thinner (water or spirits depending on the type of paint), mix, and watch how the paint runs off the stirrer - it should be the consistency of cream. The amount, as Glenn mentions, is dependent of air temp and humidity on the day.

Don't put your paint back in the tin/bucket. Just place a damp (with appropriate thinners) cloth over the top, add to it next coat/day, thin again, you're good to go. Take excellent care of your pricey brushes.

Use thin coats, flowing out as you go. The water-based enamles flow nearly as well as oil-based, and go off quickly. Apply with a quality brush (Tynex bristles best). Use inter-coat sanding with 220grit to knock off the nibs, and tack-wipe before next coat. Count on doing three-four coats (on top of your primer or undercoat), with the final coat a little thinner again. You should be able to get excellent gloss levels and a great finish, with care.

Josh, I'm interested in interior spraying. What's the overspray like? Do you find you need to cover a wide area to control overspray?

[hybrid 1043]

Thanks for the tips. I did end up spraying the windows after I sanded it all back, I actually found that if I shimmed the trigger I could get excellent and very detailed control of the spray pattern with the trigger. Also this was running the air pressure at full wack. For the walls I put on a little more material to give it the 'stippled' roller look (some mild texture).

Would you believe that even with some silly high spots I cause by being too slow in one area, I could run the orbital with 240 over it then hit it with the spray gun again and blend with perfect results on texture and finish (low sheen shine)

I ended up watering the paint down by 20% which worked a treat and yes I now understand what you mean about the cream consistency now. This is what helped me with it coming out of the gun.

The great thing I found with spraying is you can get perfect lines and texture with masking. I found it worked perfectly.

Overspray is fine if you 'bucket' the masking sheets ... Holding the gun flat then rolling slightly as I hit the ceiling work really well.

Only complaint I have is if youre not careful when you pull the trigger the gun will spit a little, I just start spraying on the floor first the up the wall. I only had this problem on the wide coverage attachment. The finer detailed attachment didnt do this.

Here are some pics of the masking I did. Excuse the 'pink and yellow' look ... I tried correcting it but thats the be halogens for ya

Ceiling is flat ceiling white and walls are just undercoat. Final colour is a nice light gray.

[kiwi535 538]

semi gloss is actually the hardest finish to apply well

[hybrid 1043]

yeah it was a bit of a mission.

Here is the first top coat on the walls, again excuse the camera work, got a bit hard in the low light.

[jeffbebe 1559]

Is that your 'kill room', Dexter?

[richard 384]

wanta job , we need painters

[Olaf 3317]

looks awesome, Josh. thanks for the pointers on spraying, particularly how you shimmed the trigger, started spraying on the floor to avoid the spatter, and rolling (your wrist?) at the top. I'll give this a crack one day. I think I've pretty much clocked roller painting, getting an even better finish on top of level 5 plastering would be a cool acheivement.

[hybrid 1043]

haha .. I think I can only manage doing this once every 4-5 months ...

Yeah I think I'm going to attempt either plaster coating the hallway to smooth it out some what, that or texture wall paper and paint with a low sheen navy blue type colour.