# Lay flat or hang to spray?



## skatefriday (May 5, 2014)

All you spray finishers out there, when spraying a bunch of
cabinet doors or drawer fronts, do you hang your parts to spray
or lay them flat on, say, saw horses?

I presume if laid flat you can't do the opposite side until the first
is finished. If hung, does sway become a problem?

Thanks


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## Earlextech (Jan 13, 2011)

Lay flat on lazy Susan, do backs first.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

I really prefer to spray parts laying horizontally when possible, as it helps the finish lay out nicely and prevents the possibility of runs in your finish. 
Start by spraying the back side, then flip the parts over and set them on painters pyramids to finish the fronts. No need to wait for the finish to dry before flipping.


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## Num11 (Sep 2, 2014)

Dumb question but how do you flip a wet cabinet door? (I've not figured out how to master that.)


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## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

Skate and Num. Thanks for asking these questions I've got a project I'm starting next week and was just going to muddle thru it. You've helped answer my questions.


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## Mosquito (Feb 15, 2012)

The professional painter I know hangs everything he can. His reason being that dust doesn't settle on vertical faces. Now that's paint, and I don't spray finish, so I don't know if viscosity is different or something to consider here.


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## SirIrb (Jan 12, 2015)

flat. if hung the hanging method would get in the way of the finish too. I have done it and sway would happen. I like to have my stuff very stable where I can watch the light and when its moving this is hard.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

"Very carefully"  
The trick is to NOT spray the edges, so you can handle it with your fingertips and flip the piece.

I dont have any fancy pyramid holders, I use simple finish nails, driven thru a piece of scrap to hold the parts up. Oh, and I usually DO wait till the backs are dry to flip and do the fronts.


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## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

What ever you do never rush the finish especially on a set of cabinet doors. The wall cabinets usually makes the first impressions on craftsmanship when someone walks in and sees them. You can have a master built set of cabinets and a 2 bit rush job on the finish will destroy them.

We never spray a finish on one side of anything and then flip it over immediately. If you're using a pre cat finish you can do the flip job in 10 or 15 minutes. Even with pre cat we let a coat of finish dry at least two hours or until it sands clean before we do anything else to it.

We spray both horizontal and vertical. It's easier to get dust particles spraying horizontal so the larger the item the more it may get sprayed vertical. For spraying vertical we have a system that holds the top and the bottom to keep it from swaying. When we spry vertical we can spray the complete project at one time.

Good luck on your project.


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## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

> "Very carefully"
> The trick is to NOT spray the edges, so you can handle it with your fingertips and flip the piece.
> 
> I dont have any fancy pyramid holders, I use simple finish nails, driven thru a piece of scrap to hold the parts up. Oh, and I usually DO wait till the backs are dry to flip and do the fronts.
> ...


Finish nails are painters best friend sometimes even in a professional shop lol. Always keep finish nails close by.


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## NiteWalker (May 7, 2011)

> Lay flat on lazy Susan, do backs first.
> 
> - Earlextech


This. I also use nail boards; 1/4" sheets of plywood with screws driven in so the points support the workpiece. It leaves even smaller dimples than painter's pyramids.


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## hotbyte (Apr 3, 2010)

I remember a YouTube video where someone hung cabinet doors from the holes bored for 32mm hinges. Looked like a decent way to hang them where string/wire was out of way.


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## mnguy (Feb 4, 2009)

I sprayed my kitchen cabinets, using ML Campbell water borne opaque cabinet finish (paint). I had my 2 car garage to work in, and I had to spray in small batches. I lightly drove #4 hard trim nails into the end of the doors. I sprayed on a turntable - it really helps get the edges and the relief of raised panels. I sprayed the backs, flipped them onto nail boards using the nails in the ends as handles, and sprayed the edges and then the fronts. Then I set them on nail boards, fronts up, to dry. It worked well for me.


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## skatefriday (May 5, 2014)

Ok. Flat it is. What got me thinking about it was seeing 
the hanging widgets from Rockler that go in the 35mm bore hole.

Practiced on some scrap with GF Enduro-Var this morning over
raw wood and am pretty pleased with the results. Using the
Earlex HV5500. I had 3 coats on in about 4 hours. Each coat
was dry within 30 minutes. Waited about an hour to sand with
220 and put another coat on. Manufacturer instructions say 2 hours
to recoat. I seemed to have good results coming in under 2 hours.
It is hot today though.

Which begs the next question. It takes literally seconds to spray
a couple doors. Do I really need to empty the gun and clean 
in between each coat if I'm recoating every two hours?

EarlexTech, you still here?


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

When I spray I leave the finish in the gun until the end of the day. I don't clean between coats. One thing I think you should do with spraying waterborne finishes is keep a fairly damp rag handy and wipe the tip of the gun every now and then to prevent dried finish build up on the tip and cap.

I'm using a HVLP conversion gravity gun.


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## skatefriday (May 5, 2014)

Experimenting today I found that after about an hour my gun would no longer
spray and I'd have to take the cap off and wipe off the needle and could see a
little pink film (enduro-var is pink out of the can).


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## Earlextech (Jan 13, 2011)

Yes I'm here! I don't empty or clean the gun until the end of the day. In between coats there will be a small amount of forced out (the can is under pressure) finish that dries on the tip of the needle/nozzle. I just scrape that off with my fingernail and go right back to work.


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## hotbyte (Apr 3, 2010)

I've also sprayed for several hours in a day and only had to wipe off the tip - never remove cap, etc.

One thing I've also done that probably isn't recommended is, if I plan on using sprayer following day, I remove the cup and stretch a 1qt freezer bag over the top. Then, seal the whole cup in a 1 gallon bag and put in the fridge over night.

I then can't fill cup with water to spray through gun for cleaning. So, I bought a $12 hand held pump sprayer from Ace Hardware. I found if I remove the adjustable tip it will fit into the pickup tube of the gun and seal tight on the pump sprayer's O-ring. I remove the air cap from gun, pump up the sprayer and send about 1qt of warm water through the gun using the pump sprayer. It seems to work great for cleaning out water based material from the gun.


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## skatefriday (May 5, 2014)

I discovered that keeping a wet rag handy, wiping the tip after spraying
and then draping the rag over the gun worked well in between coats.


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## Pezking7p (Nov 17, 2013)

Because all the questions were answered I'm just here to say keep it up! Spraying is fun and easier than it seems at first. Painters pyramids can be had at lowes for a few bucks for 10. I think I have about 50-60 after spraying my kitchen cabinets. I could send you some? PM if interested.

PS did you ever get that plane sharp? You made a thread and I tried to keep up with it but I lost track.


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