# General Finishes Milk Paint sprayed with HVLP Fuji XPC



## Hartworks (Jan 9, 2014)

So I am doing a large media center for a customer and had some material on hand, that being prefinished birch ply. My customer wanted the unit painted white and I have been wanting to try GF Milk Paint for a while now after reading good reviews on it.

So not wanting to screw up, I talked with a guy at my local woodworking store and asked if I could apply GF to prefinished ply. He said he had done it before with the exact same materials and simply wiped down the ply with acetone before applying.

So off I went, built the unit, and wiped everything down really good with a terry cloth towel soaked in acetone and painted the entire upper and lower portions of the unit.

Now let me say when I painted the units I also did the doors. The doors were raised panel solid wood (no ply no mdf) and the paint laid down beautifully. I have NO complaint about the paint itself. On the doors it went down good with no a problem.

Now for the ply, it DOES NOT ADHERE WELL. I did watch a GF video also saying the paint can be put on over finishes if they are completely dry. It did stick, by definition only, with a mere fingernail it could be scratched off. So I warn you, do not apply this on prefinish ply. I am obviously not an expert finisher / painter as this may or may not be common knowledge and shame on me for not testing a piece first (cardinal rule).

So I burned up a day removing the paint, sanding through the topcoat on the ply and have applied the paint again. And it looks great. So lesson learned and hopefully my lack of intelligence can benefit one of you all and save you the heartache.

As for the Fuji XPC powered by 4 stage turbine works very well at laying down the paint. Used a 1.8 needle / cap and worked out very well.

I can say that with the above combination the final product looks like I actually know what Im doing. (thank god they don't know the real story)

Cheers


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## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

I've painted pre finished ply successfully (actually prefer that, since it's a dead smooth surface) but I put on a coat of dewaxed shellac first to insure adhesion. That works with almost any finish except (maybe) milk paint. I've not used milk paint on anything, wonder if the shellac would have helped?


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## bonesbr549 (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks for the heads, up, but I would have been very leery of putting it on pre-finished ply, but the shellac makes perfect sense, and would not have thought of that. The wife wants me to start making pieces with milk paint to sell, but I just hate it, since it covers the natural beauty of wood.

However she keeps showing me pieces and what they are selling for and I'm starting to reevaluate that situation.

What cut do you use on the ply 1 or 2 lb cut?


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## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

I've used a variety of cuts, but mostly I like to spray it and for me a 1# cut works best. I think Seal Coat out of the can is a 2 # cut.


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## bonesbr549 (Jan 1, 2010)

I forgot to ask, but what needle/cap size do you use.

I'm comfortable spraying finishes, but am a total newbie to milk paint.

I have the apollo 1025 HVLP 4 stage, and was wondering based on it's thicker viscosity. I could use the viscosity cup to calculate, but I'm lazy


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## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

If you're asking about spraying shellac, I use a Fuji XPC with 1.4MM cap set. Looks like Hartworks uses a 1.8Mm for milk paint with the same gun/setup.


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