spraying waterbased clear finish

[westcoast]

Hi,

I've just made a bunk bed for the kids out of pine. I am planning on finishing it with satin waterbased poly. I own a decent airless sprayer (ie suitable for spraying neat house paint from the can). Some internet sources suggest that spraying waterbased poly is fine and easy to do but most of the cans I have looked at say that the product is not suitable for spraying.
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The bed is fairly intricate and spraying will be a big time saver.

Does anyone have any actual experience with spraying water based poly and if so how did it go?

I would also consider other clear finishes if they would spray better so any recommendations there would also be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[fletty]

Hi Westcoast,
I successfully spray a lot of my utilitarian work with water based clear with an HVLP setup. I don't know how well it would go with 'airless' but it should be simple enough to try?
Airless may even be better than airborne because the only problem I've had is the finish being too runny and my only experience with airless indicated that the coat is dryer?
Ive also found that a 2 coat finish is far better than trying to achieve a final finish in 1 coat. I spray the first heavy coat and then give it a light sand before applying the finish coat. It leaves a silky finish.
fletty

[droog]

I was sure that I had replied to this thread but can't see it anywhere.

Recently sprayed Intergrain Ultraclear with gravity feed HVLP, the manufacturers notes also note suitable for airless spraying.
Could not be happier with the result.

A lot of manufacturers state " not suitable for...." Just so they don't have to provide support when there are problems. Most paints can be sprayed you may need to thin them first.
Thinned water based paints can be difficult to get a high build coat and need numerous thin coats.

The Ultraclear sprayed straight from the tin.

[rob streeper]

If you're talking about a hand-held airless I'd suggest stopping the flow down quite a lot as these units typically put out large volumes per unit time. Does the manufacturer of your finish endorse the use a diluent such as Floetrol to facilitate smooth application? If so you'll find that they really help in attaining a good finish. http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?18679-Polyurethane-mixed-with-Floetrol
I'd avoid retarders unless you find you really need one.

[westcoast]

Thanks for the replies. I have a fine finish tip that i haven't used before...I guess I'll just give it a go and see how it works out.

Cheers

[mike100jobstodo]

You can use a HVLP spray equipment to spray your waterbased poly. They are suitable for spraying. However, if you are spraying softwood, you may need to pre-seal the wood before spraying it for an even finish.