How/where is everyone spraying nitrocellulose lacquer? [Picture] - created 05-29-2005

Ezzo, Steve - 05/29/2005.15:45:38

After GOOD results on 4 guitars with water-based lacquer, I'm ready to get EXCELLENT results!. I really think that nitro is the way to go. I find that KTM-9 or Oxford water-based lacquer always stay a little soft and polish out ok, but not like a guitar finished with nitro. My problem is, I work in 1/4 of my garage. I can't build a dedicated spray booth, and even if I could, I don't want to spend the money for explosion-proof fans and lights (which in my preliminary searches looked like I could spend $600-$800 easily). I can't believe that everyone here that talks about using nitro has a fancy booth with all the explosion-proof equipment - but I might be wrong. Please tell me your setup for shooting nitro.

Hi Steve,

Personally, when I spray indoors I use a small touchup gun adjusted to minimize overspray and I move a lot of air with a large squirrel cage fan (belt driven motor). I don't let the fumes build up. This is still probably not the safest or best way.

If you have close neighbors things become a lot more problematic (I don't think I would want me as a neighbor ).

There is stuff called brushing lacquer, and you may be able to get good results with it if you get good brushes and buff it out.

I have a small closet sized forced-air ventilated room 6'x6' in the corner of the shop that I do my spraying, and use a campbell-hausfield down flow spray gun. I have also done some spraying outside, but it seems that every bug within a 2 mile radius is attracted to the lacquer.

If my wife came in and found me spraying lacquer in the house ~ I don't even want to think about it!

You can get by without explosion proof equipment by having good ventalation. Try placing a box fan in the window and having it blowing in so that the spray mist is forced out of the area under pressure instead of being drawn through a fan. Also keep your compressor as far away from the spray area as you can since compressor motors have brushes that spark as well as pressure switches that arc as well. The induction motors in box fans don't have arcing so they are pretty safe to use around lacquer spraying. I once trained my spray gun directly at the motor of a running box fan to see if it would create a fire and it did not ignite. You can also get spray cans of nitro from Stewmac that are the safest way to spray the stuff although somewhat more costly than spraying from bulk sources. Wear a good organic vapor filter mask while spraying either.

My "spray booth" is a room next to my free standing garage that also houses gardening equipment, snow blower and what not. I spray outside and leave the instruments to cure hanging from the ceiling in there. Spraying works best on not to too cold winter days when there's no bugs and no humidity to get trapped in the finish.

You can also get spray cans of nitro from Stewmac that are the safest way to spray the stuff

Why would spraying from a spray can be any safer?

I know that my spray gun throws out a lot more overspray than a rattle can finish does. I sometimes use a preval sprayer to shoot vinyl sealer on mandolins when I don't want to take time to use the big sprayer,and it throws out a lot less finish to explode.

My SATA MiniJet, when tuned properly, spray pattern turned down, oversprays less than the average rattlecan, and gives me a really nice, smooth finish. Only downside: cleanup.

Steve, I go to a friend's shop where he has a booth built out of parts from an older booth he cut down. It's not particularly safe but it works well enough. The key is a really big fan. His moves about 3000 cfm but that get severely limited when the filters start clogging up. We don't spray when his neighbors on the vent side are around. I'd much rather have my own booth but the smell stops me cold.

Hal

The overspray from spray guns due to the volume of air moving through them creates considerably more spray mist as well as material bounce off from the sprayed surface. Spray cans are running at about 10lbs pressure with very little air volume and mostly fluid volume. HVLP guns like the ones myself and most others use today still produce more mist and spray bounce than cans. The vapors themselves whether from cans or gun will give you cancer and brain damage either way.

Although I now have a dedicated and explosion proof booth I didn't always. When I started in NY I would build in the basement and spray in my 1 car garage. I used 2 19in window fans, one blowing in at high speed and one at the opposite end drawing out at medium speed. The speed variance between the two fans would slightly pressurize the garage and make dust infiltration from cracks much less likely. I used furnace filters on incomeing air as well as outgoing. Prior to spraying I'd wash down the garage (I sheet rocked the garage and set it up so that it could be safely washed down.) The system worked flawlessly with respect to keeping the air clean as well as mist and vapor free. I always wore and still do wear a full paint suite and Surviveair resporaitor and gloves. My current booth measures 10ft x 22ft and uses a 2800cfm fan to vent fumes. Its really gross overkill for guitar finishing but it was present when I took over my building so I'm glad to have it anyway. I've been know to spray some pretrty large and strange things in there when not spraying guitars. Hope you find this usefull.

I built a spray booth in my garage consisting of a plywood box about 24" square suspended from the ceiling and clearing the floor by about 18". The box is hinged at the top so it can be folded up out of the way against the ceiling if desired.

The filter holder fits across the inside and consists of chicken wire to serve as a backboard for the filters. The air chamber behind the filter bank leads up thru the top of the booth into an explosion proof fan (motor outside of airstream)

The instrument being finished hangs from a pulley arrangement with the rope having a hook attached to the end somewhat like a pegboard hook. The wall happens to be 1/4" pegboard so just a matter of adjusting the instrument to the desired spraying height and sticking the hook back into the wall.

Nitro will dry sitting in a 45 degree shop.Not as fast as a warmer environment, but it will harden up.

I've also sprayed in humid weather, and while there was an initial blush under it at various times, over a few days it went away.

Just buy a few rattlecans and go at it on a calm day, if you really want to use it. It worked for me on a number of things until I got a spray rig.

Instead of moving the car out of the garage, spray outside in a bug proof screen room. Move out the chairs, but the little table makes a dandy spray platform.

P.S.- wait for a day the wife is away.

Clay, you're a genius.

One of those picnic tents which are all bug screen should be perfect for the job, at least for 6 months a year where I am located.

I worked at a shop where the "booth" was a room in the back with a fan in the window. I believe they put it in in the mid 60's and still use this today! I painted lots of guitars in that room.

When I moved to Portland I looked for a repair job just so I could have access to the paint booth! It has always been a struggle with lacquer. But there is nothing like it.

My current situation is the best I have ever had. It is so nice to have good lighting, ventalation, climate control, safety, etc. I hope never to have to do it in the garage, or out the back door again! The finish is so important. It is the first thing you see, it is the thing you touch. When I build my next shop, I will build the install a proper booth, and then build the shop around it.

check out how lucky I am!

One way to keep the neighbors happy and at bay is to shoot 'sections' only. Shoot the back, and walk away for 1-2 minutes to let the air clear. Shoot the sides, and do the same. Again for the top. Longer on still days(or wait for a breezier day). Nitro is lovely for its burn-in properties, so this will have zero consequences later, but by shooting just short spurts like that, the air will never get too smelly and you'll not have a cloud billowing from your garage door.

Healthier for you, too, since it greatly reduces the concentration levels of nitro you'll be exposed to. win-win....

My exhaust fan is ducted vertically through my roof because my garage shop had no windows and the outside wall was bricked. The roof mounted outlet has the advantage of not blowing directly onto my neighbor's house.

Low-volume amateurs like me might look into another option- the local vo-tech high school rents out its industrial-grade booths and equipment when they're not being used by students.