Paint or Matching Conversion Varnish?
Many CV suppliers can match latex paint colors. Here's a conversation on which is more practical for the cabinet finisher to use. April 19, 2011
Question
Can anyone comment on BM satin impervo for spraying on cabinets? I have a job and the customer wants the "white dove" color in BM. I've done some work with general finishes paints and liked it - laid nice and flat. GF doesn’t have a white dove color listed. Is there anything I should know about spraying BM?
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor G:
ML Campbell has the match to Ben Moore in their Resistant and Stealth products. Both are conversion varnishes. Impervo takes 12 hours to dry.
From contributor Z:
I recently learned how to apply BM paint. I used an Apollo 4 stage turbine with a 2.5mm needle and D air cap. It does not atomize like we are used to with thinner WB finishes. Rather it appears to go on in larger blotches, but will layout nicely - just practice a little and you will get use to it. I had to thin the paint just enough so it won’t sag on vertical surfaces, but still atomize well. I used 6 oz. of Floetrol and 6 oz. of distilled water per qt. I don’t know if you’re using airless or HVLP as I did, but the needle and cap are crucial here.
From the original questioner:
I have a Titian 5 stage with both a #3 and #5 needle. I need to check the mm size. I will try your ratio. I did 3oz Floetrol 3 oz dist water and then fill to quart line. I was going to try today and see if I can spray it straight out of the gallon, and see if the 5 stage can push it through the #3 needle, which is their medium setup. Should I not be as concerned with the atomaztion as much, and go to the #5 needle and spray un-diluted? I need this to lay as flat and smooth as factory painted cabinets. This could lead to larger job for me.
From contributor P:
Are you talking about waterborne or oil? I hope waterborne, seeing you are using Floetrol. If oil use Penetrol and a bit of thinner.
From the original questioner:
It’s waterborne, I just haven't use BM in a spray job before. I’m looking for as much advice as I can get thanks.
From contributor K:
Instead of Floetrol, take a good look at Benjamin Moore Extender (51800). I find it to be a really excellent product for thinning water based paints to sprayable viscosities. Ben Moore Extender is as good as, if not better, than Thin-X Latex Thinner, which is very difficult to find west of the Rockies. It should work real well with their Impervo - definitely better than Flotrol.
From contributor A:
GF or ML Campbell (and others, I'm sure) will match BM colors. This works much better than trying to get Impervo to spray well. I do it all the time with GF and Agualente WB finishes. Test it before you spray the whole job to make sure it matches!
From contributor M:
I'm fairly certain that GF will tint to match BM colors. I've sprayed both WB impervo and GF - the GF sprays much better.
From the original questioner:
Yesterday I spent part of the day messing with BM and mixing ratios. I found that my 5 stage sprayer with a 1.3 mm needle and tip could spray right out of the can. It seemed to lay down quite well. It looks almost perfect but I noticed a few (fewer than 12) small little marks that look like a small pin poked the paint as it was drying. They’re only noticeable if you hold the door on an angle to a light source, not looking at it straight on.
I light sanded and vacuumed before the last coat. The only thing I can remember is when it was sprayed on it I saw what look like small little bumps sticking up on the fresh spray, smaller than a grain of sand. They weren't there when it dried.
From contributor G:
Your description sounds like a fisheye which could be a contamination problem or a bubble that formed and popped after the paint had the ability to flow back and fill it in. It’s hard to know without seeing it. Because of the long open times you will likely find stuff in the dried paint. My drying room is pretty clean, but it is not a clean room. A six hour open time is a long time to have something fall out of the air.
From the original questioner:
For what it's worth I sprayed GF's milk paint and it laid down perfect. I guess I’m going to see if I can get BM's color mixed by GF. GF seemed to be less work to get right. I just thinned with a bit of water. Next I want to see if the 5 stage turbine can push it un-cut.
From contributor B:
I think you want GF acrylic, not the milk paint. I'm spraying a job right now with GF tinted white acrylic with a gravity feed HVLP gun, 1.3 tip, no thinning. I was actually thinking of this thread as I was spraying it just about a half hour ago with little effort. The other nice thing is it dries really.
From contributor A:
I've sprayed GF milk paint (which is not really milk paint) with a 3-stage turbine. It sprays better thinned a bit (10-15%).
From contributor L:
I use to spray Impervo cut with water and Floetrol, until I started using Agualente. The problem that I noticed with the Impervo was that it took so much longer to dry when you thinned it, except in perfect warm dry weather. The other thing is that it seems to be softer, which made me nervous.
