Ahhhh, you tried spraying it straight without adding alcohol?

Hmmmmm. could be the need to thin it.. I still think sealer is too heavy
and needs to be cut down.

On 11/23/2011 1:25 AM, wrote:
On Nov 22, 3:45 pm, wrote:

Shellac's about all I spray, and always with an HVLP rig.

! ! ! ! !

Maybe time for my lesson, señor.

I tried spraying shellac out of my Fuji four stage, and about halfway
through a large kitchen of cabinets I had large icicle looking things
coming out from around the fluid passage, just around the super fine
air holes. I had been spraying for about 20 minutes straight and shot
about quart and a half of material. I got splatter. I got ****ed
off.

I stopped, cleaned the gun, and it did the same thing. I had it on
low pressure, and was spraying straight sanding sealer, so I the
viscosity wasn't a problem. Someway, between me and my setup the
shellac fired off too fast.
I can't seem to get the mix right for my HVLP, and actually, not even
close.

It is exasperating, since I can easily spray BIN which is no more than
a pigmented shellac. A call to the manufacturer of BIN was no help;
they told me they had "proprietary conditioners" in the BIN mix that
allowed me to spray it so easily. What makes that more maddening is
that Zinsser makes both the shellac and BIN and they still couldn't
help me.

Oddly, I can easily shoot shellac out of a CAS gun, including when
mixed down to sanding sealer cut, so I don't worry about it. But out
of a true HVLP, it's voodoo to me.

Until a year ago with an el cheapo ($150) Campbell-Hausfeld rig; now
with an Earlex 5000 SprayStation ... still mid-level or below.

I usw two cups: one filled with the shellac cut I'm spraying; the other
filled with alcohol for gun storage between coats.

Between coats I simply switch cups, slosh the alcohol around good and
spray some through the gun. When I'm ready for the next coat, I simply
switch out the cups.

Now that sounds really simple. Suspiciously simple. Any offerings to
those Cajun folks in your heritage... maybe a chant or two you aren't
sharing? =^0

If you would indulge me, how big are your spray projects? Are you
spraying out enough material all at once to dump the gun? How big is
your cup? What size air cap are you using, and what cut do you
shoot? IIRC, the Earlex is a two stage unit, no? Are you controlling
the air flow or are you wide out?

Inquiring minds... I hate unsolved puzzles.

TIA -

Robert