>Does anyone use the Harbor Freight metal bottle that you pressurize and then use as as an aerosol spray can?
I tried using it to spray some wipe-on lacquer, and, even when I thinned it with lacquer thinner, I kept getting either a jet of water or droplets, as opposed to a spray. THis was true no matter what button I used, or what pressure I started with. (By the way, there's supposed to be a green button and a blue button---to my eye, they both seem to be the same color).
When I tried it with just lacquer thinner, I got a nice spray, but not when I used lacquer.
Per the instructions, I even cut the inside tube a little to make sure that it was at least 1/4" above the bottom, but that didn't improve things.
>I believe the HF spray bottle is more suited to spraying liquids like bug spray rather than a lacquer finish. Just buy Deft in a spray can. Works great!
>I believe the HF spray bottle is more suited to spraying liquids like bug spray rather than a lacquer finish. Just buy Deft in a spray can. Works great!
I tried something like that years ago. Didn't work very well. I bought the $19 HF touch up gun and the cheapest used compressor I could find. It ran constantly the whole time I was spraying because it was too small but I sprayed a lot of stuff with it and finally sold it to a guy wanting to use it for a nail gun.
I've since bought a bigger compressor but it's still to small to spray continuously. I can spray about 10 ornaments before it has to recycle. I just make sure it has plenty of time to cool off.
I thought the touch up gun would be junk but it works fine for me. I'm sure a professional painter would laugh at it.
>One of the best "little" tools I've spent money on was an airbrush. I mostly spray Deft, thinned with a bit of acetone with it. For finishing small objects it works great.....
My warped logic tells me that the smaller compressor may be the better one for spraying lacquer. This may be especially true in a humid climate at lower temperatures.
We all know that the air is heated as it is compressed, and cooled as it expands. When there is intermediate cooling in the compressed state, there is a drop in temperature when it expands back to atmospheric pressure.
The air has a chance to cool in the large tank of the large compressor, and the temperature drop through the spray gun can be substantial. This difference in air temperature can be enough to cause condensation of moisture and poor atomization. That is my reason for recommending that we don't spray lacquer when the dew point temperature is less than 20-degrees below ambient.
Now look at the air flow through the small compressor. The lower residence time in the tank means that the compressed air has less intermediate cooling. Therefore, it is only a couple degrees lower than ambient temperature when it expands again in the spray gun. The closer the discharge temperature is to ambient, the less chance there will be for blushing and all of those other problems we can have when there is condensation in the air stream.
As I said, my logic may be warped, but it agrees with my experience with spraying lacquer in difficult conditions.
As for the Harbor Freight detail gun, at about $20, it is one of the best small high pressure spray guns that we can buy, regardless of price. My opinion. I get mine for about half that from the back of the truck at the road-side tool shows.
Dinyar,
Your experience is typical for most of the reshargable spray cans on the market. There may be a few good ones on the market, but most of them can "spray" well when there are no solids going through the nozzle, or they can "squirt" a steady stream of high solids. They are useful for mosquito repellant, or squirting paint on the ends of logs. They are useless for everything else.
Your statement that it worked for straight thinner is the answer to your question. Yours is not one of the good ones for spraying paint. Start with straight thinner, adding solids a small amount at a time until it starts to sputter and dribble. Then back off on the solids and you will know the dillution required.
A good dillution for Deft is 50-60% thinner. Forget about it if it requires more than that.
>I spray with a very inexpensive airbrush from Big Lots, about $15 for the set. I use it with thinned down acrylic paints, thinned finishes, etc.
For this use, I much prefer an EXTERNAL MIXING airbrush, with a little bottle underneath. External mixing does not clog the internal parts with thicker fluids, and is easier to clean.
By the way, Harbor Freight has a Paasche double action internal mixing airbrush for $64.
>Janice, is there a trick to mixing the deft?..I have a airbrush and small compressor I got very cheap, which both came from Woodworkers Supply, fellow passed and family sold it, both for 30.00...just being in the right place at the right time..haven't used it, but have ornaments and would like to spray both lacquer and acrylic paint, can you give me any pointers?...Dennis
>My "method" isn't real scientific, but it seems to work ok....I take the 3 oz. bottle that came with the airbrush, fill it about 2/3 with Deft, then fill the bottle with acetone. If I know I'm going to spray a lot of Deft, I'll do the mix in a bigger jar, so I can just refill as needed....
My airbrush came with 3 different spray tips, and I use the largest one most of the time....
Acrylic paints? I use the inexpensive paints sold for general craftwork...I thin them enough to flow thru the airbrush easily. I've never measured how much water I add. Make sure there aren't any lumps in the paint, that will clog up the airbrush way faster than paint that is a bit too thick. Old bottles of paint tend to get lumpy.
When I spray paint on my scrolled ornaments, I'll mostly use the airbrush to do the base coat. I'll use a brush to add details.
Deft, sprayed over the acrylic brightens the colors and really looks nice.
>do you spray mineral spirits thru the tip to clean?...I think mine has one bottle with it, and I have 2 I got from HF, I use the paint from Pat Catan's also, for both turned and scrolled projects...I have the Airbrush, just don't have much idea how to use it to be honest..I use deft all the time, I will try and thin it down with acetone and spray it .... I have turned ornaments done and just about ready, it will be nicer than painting...How about keeping the spray down, or isn't there a lot of over spray with the brush?..tks for input..Dennis
