Spraying Acrylic paint on MDF

[pwill]

I have a project making kids toys (scrollsawed jigsaw puzzles) which need to be painted. I have sealed the MDF using shellac, which is fine, and need to paint the pieces with acrylic finish - which is non toxic for the kids.
Using even a fine haired brush leaves brush marks, so was wondering if it's possible to spray the paint using either conventional or airless. I have never used airless sprayguns before.
Any advise would be appreciated. I've tried enamel paint but it takes for ever to dry.
Thanks
Phill

[Harry72]

There's no reason you cant spray it on, a conventional spray gun will give a better finish than the airless... unless you spend big$$$ on a proper pro airless set up.

[MurrayD99]

Certainly - no problem to spray acrylic paint on MDF. You'll need to thin it a bit. I don't seal the MDF first so I need to give a light sand between coats but results are excellent. In fact, I'm not sure you'd need to do that shellac coat. Some brands of paint might be easier than other... sludgy acrylics can be tricky.

[mag]

pwill,

I have sprayed acrylic paint regularlyt using a cheap spray gun, I have a good HVLP gun, but I keep that for spraying 2K paint.

The results were pretty good with the cheap gun, so I havn't needed to use anything else.

The gun was the type you buy from super cheap etc.

[PuppyPaw]

yep you can deffinatly spray acrylic.
I would recommend you use a air gun medium and water to thin (so that you maintain a strong acrylic binding)
also use high quality artist acrylics, you will get better coverage and it will go ferther because there are more pigments in artist acrylics then in hobbiest, also find ones that are lightfast and use an undercoating of gesso (also sprayed) (2 coats would be enough)

[scooter]

If you are interested in sticking with brushing, you could add a product from the flood company called Floetrol (I think), it makes acrylic paints "flow out" like enamels.

Most paint shops, bunnings, mitre 10 etc should have it. I think the company sends out free samples also, per ads in Home Handyman, etc.

Cheers..................Sean

[MurrayD99]

Right - I use that too and can recommend it (for spraying acrylics, haven't used it with a brush):-

www.flood.com/Flood/CustomerSupport/ FAQ/DIY/Floetrol+FAQ.htm

[pwill]

Thanks everyone for your replies - really appreciated. It's nice to know there is great support out there :)
Am now going down the track of smallish spraygun with the reservoir on top as the quantity of paint will be pretty small.
To save any trial and error, what is the best type of gun to use? HP or LP - even though I have a 18cfm compressor I know nothing about spray guns and what pressures to use etc. (I can answer questions about sand blasting though!!)
The Floetrol seems the way to go - I spoke to the paint manufacturer and was told that it 'is definately worth using such a product' to get a consistant finish.
Rgds Phill

[MurrayD99]

I use a conventional Devilbiss JGA at 60 psi. It needs 10 cfm FAD so your compressor will eat the job. Good luck MurrayD.