Spray-Painting Shaker Doors
Advice on spraygun technique for painting doors laying flat. December 8, 2012
Question
I’m painting shaker doors laying horizontal and was wondering if there are any tips on how to get more paint on the 3/8" vertical reveal. I use an airless and have been shooting the reveal first with my turbine set for round spray pattern. How do you guys do it?
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor G:
I just put my gun at an angle to hit the small flat. Then do my normal box coat.
From the original questioner:
I tried that and I wind up with a pile of paint at the top and bottom of the frame. Is your spray pattern perpendicular to the 3/8 edge or parallel to it when you spray?
From contributor G:
With a box coat it's both, depending on which way you are shooting at the moment. Sometimes I spray in an arc to get both left and right sides. I only do that if I plan on a single pass instead of a box coat.
From contributor M:
Try doing the edges at a 45 first then complete passes for the rest. You have to think about the angle of the fan ahead of time. If you stop or try and do a section by itself with a spot fan, you will build up. If you want to break it down into smaller pieces to spray then you must fade in and fade out to try and even the amount on the surface. Don't ever break the spray at a corner and then try to start in the corner again, that is just asking for trouble. I only do that if I absolutely have to. It is darn near impossible to do without getting a heavy overlap unless you do complete passes.
From contributor B:
Not sure what size tip you have but I'd get the finest tip you could. Airless are great for putting out lots of material, eaves, walls, jams/doors, but not so good for finer work. You might consider a bigger tip for your turbine.
I always spray the stile edge (edges straight on) closest to me then the right side rail (I'm RH'd) then the inside stile away from me always stopping before I go over the bottom/top rail. Spin the door (Lazy Susan) do the stile/rail edges, and then come back over the style closest to me and then even passes (slightly angling the gun as I approach the inside of the top/bottom rails to get good coverage) before making the final pass on the outside stile.
