Spray painting advice needed

[Dengue]

I am new to spray painting, and wish to spray some Cabots Oil and Varnish on ply. Cleanup for this is mineral turps, so I presume this is the thinner that I would use. Is this correct?

The real problem with this stuff is that it takes 2 hours to touch dry and 8 hours before a recoat, during which is collects fine dust on the tacky surface.

I saw a tin of Diggers Enamel Thinner in the shop. Would this be suitable for this Cabots product, and would it speed up the drying time?

If I were to use this, what would I use to clean the spray gun - this Thinner or Mineral Turps?

[blockhed]

hi there!
on the can it will mention "cleaning", the cabots varnish i have says mineral turps.
yours probably says the same. so yes, you thin the varnish with mineral turps.
the drying time won't change, just follow the instructions.(it will be worth waiting for)
the dust is always there, just do a light sand between coats with some 320 grit or finer. if the finish looks tacky, you might be spraying on too thick or too close to the wood. always experiment on a scrap piece first(distance from work piece, how thin the polish etc) should be some more help coming through shortly from more tech members.
regards
the block

[Dengue]

thanks block, that is good news. Is there anything I can add that that will speed up the drying time of this oil based varnish and stain?

[Master Splinter]

Some can be sped up by adding Terebine to the varnish - http://www.feastwatson.com.au/SpecialtyTerebine.asp

Don't know what it will do to the colour, though.

Best spraygun cleaner I have found is spray thinners - it works a lot better than turps (more solvent power), and I'd also stick to it as a thinner rather than adding turps. If you add turps, it's yet more slow evaporating solvent that needs to flash off your painted article, whereas spray thinners will flash off in a few minutes.

But also see:
http://cabotstain.com/pdf/TchBul05.pdf

And there's a good video of spraypainting technique here: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/spray-technique.htm