What thinners again!

[Flapdisk]

I bought a tin of Paragon enamel to spray my lawn mower with, it says thin with synthetic thinners, what's that? I know of cellulose and 2k thinners but what's synthetic and where do you recommend to buy it please

 

[dan.taylor.1]

I use some stuff from a welding supplier near me it has Xylene in it if that's any help, I think Tractol thinners will work too.

Dan

 

[Flapdisk]

Strewth! Dan, I searched for Tractol thinners on the bay and it's £15 for a ltr

 

[MattF]

Personally, I just use white spirit for synthetic enamel. It hasn't caused any problems so far, and seeing as I use it for cleaning the brushes etc. and it works as expected, in my book that makes it an acceptable choice. It thins the paint and it dries more quickly. If you were leaving it mixed for weeks, that might theoretically cause a problem, but for straight after mix application, the white spirit won't be there long enough to be detrimental. Try it with a small sample and see how it goes.

 

[Flapdisk]

Thanks Matt, will white spirit thin it enough for spraying? it's thicker than thinners isn't it?

 

[MattF]

Thanks Matt, will white spirit thin it enough for spraying? it's thicker than thinners isn't it?

Judging from the times I've added it, it doesn't take much to get the enamel like witch ****. Brushing wise, if I do it in something like a 10:1 enamel/spirit ratio, that usually gets it to the point where I'm practically brushing it off as I'm brushing it on, so I'd guess that should be plenty thin enough for spraying.

Simplest way to check is to do a small test. Just get a really small jar, (those little baby food jars or similar are good containers for that purpose), and pop some enamel in there then mix in some spirit. Saves wasting your main portion of enamel if owt goes wrong and allows you to play with some for proportions and to check its adhesion once thinned etc.

 

[Flapdisk]

Thanks Matt I will try it, need to get some white spirit first though, it's only for spraying the base of my rotary mower when I have welded a patch over a hole in it

 

[MattF]

Why not just brush paint? No need for thinning, you'll get a nice thick coat and enamel flows quite well when you apply it, so it's nowhere near as bad as most other types of paint for showing brush marks. It's a different beast to most paints. Seems overkill spraying for that type of application, unless there are some awkward to reach bits?

Best to give it a few days to cure somewhat before you do anything with the mower too. Absolute minimum of two days if possible, as it's still quite soft on the surface within that period.

 

[Flapdisk]

To be honest I was only going to spray it because I have the gear to do it and I will be spraying it with epoxy primer first so it would be no effort to clean the gun while the epoxy flashes and then do the red. I have never used this type of paint before and didn't know how well it brushed, but surely sprayed has got to be better?

 

[graffian]

Try thinning some with panel wipe.

 

[steveo3002]

also worth warming the paint up...works alot better when its warm

 

[Flapdisk]

Try thinning some with panel wipe.

Really? I haven't heard of this before, I have five litres of slow wipe

 

[langy]

Enamel goes on much better when warmed and flows better, personally I like the correct thinner, that's why it's made for it.

 

[Flapdisk]

Hi Langy mate, yeah that's what Steve said and I have taken that on board, good tip, I will do a thread when I get started on the job, still waiting for my shoulder to heal after the op. Bored sheeetless at the moment

 

[langy]

My grand dad was a coach painter and as a kid I had an Anglias, he painted it with a brush and enamel paint, he put the paint pot in a saucepan of hot water then brushed it on, when dry he flatted it and put on more coats thinned, in the end it looked like a sheet of glass, incredible !!!

 

[eil]

^^ He He same here except it was a morris minor.

 

[MattF]

...personally I like the correct thinner, that's why it's made for it.

Always the best option, especially if absolute certainty is required. Only reason I experimented with spirit and found it usable is due to a partially full small pot, (I decant into small jars so that I'm not constantly opening the main container each time I paint), I'd had standing for a good few weeks which would have been nigh on unusable if I hadn't thinned it.

If it was something I used all of the time or frequently, I'd likely go with the correct thinners. I rarely tend to thin the paint though, so spirit serves well for those odd occasions. No adverse affect noted with it so far.

 

[Flapdisk]

My grand dad was a coach painter and as a kid I had an Anglias, he painted it with a brush and enamel paint, he put the paint pot in a saucepan of hot water then brushed it on, when dry he flatted it and put on more coats thinned, in the end it looked like a sheet of glass, incredible !!!

Certainly sounds like that's the way to go then, I haven't used this stuff before, I will try a test piece with brushing, I'm sure I must have a bit of gear in the workshop that needs paining red

 

[lexi]

If you are thinning synthetic enamel you need PU thinners.

 

[MattF]

Enamel goes on much better when warmed and flows better, personally I like the correct thinner, that's why it's made for it.

Heat does seem to make a notable difference to how it applies. Been testing it recently, by warming the piece being painted rather than the enamel container itself. Does flow with a much more watery consistency onto warm metal, and doesn't have any problem going off quickly, as I'd feared it might. Obviously it tends to be a thinner coating though.