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Caught my finish turning chalky after switching dust collection, here's the before/after
About 2 months ago I swapped out my old shop vac setup for a proper cyclone unit, thought I was doing myself a favor. Within 3 weeks I noticed my sprayed lacquer on maple started looking dull and almost powdery in spots, nothing like the glassy results I'd gotten for years. Turns out the new system was pulling way more air through the booth and I never adjusted my spray gun pressure or fluid flow to match the increased airflow. I cut the gun pressure from 28 psi down to 22 psi and slowed my passes by maybe 30%, and just sprayed a test panel yesterday that came out mirror smooth again. The weird part is my old setup had me at like 15 psi with a weaker vac, so I'd been compensating for the exact opposite problem this whole time. Has anyone else had to completely retune their gun after upgrading their dust collection or ventilation? I never would have thought the exhaust side would mess with my finish that bad.
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kaigibson1mo ago
Dang, that’s a wild one. So did you also notice your overspray hanging around longer before the new cyclone? I’ve seen guys chase their tails for weeks over finish problems when the real culprit was airflow pulling solvent out of the wet coat too fast. Your fix makes total sense, lower pressure and slower passes to match the new air movement. I bet your old setup was actually starving the spray area, so you had to crank the fluid to get decent coverage. Now you’re just balancing the whole system, not just the gun. Good on you for figuring it out before you blamed the lacquer.
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jessej231mo ago
Did you check your booth filter pressure drop after the swap, because that would change how much solvent the airflow pulls off the wet coat?
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