Post cat clear

[alexh1]

Hi,

I have used Campbell post cat tinted product and had great difficulty with it because of its extremely fast drying. I finally got it to work out after getting a gun with a pressurized cup. From what I have heard the clear products are not as finicky. 

I'm not necessarily married to the Campbell products but I have the catalysts and the slow thinners and for tinted my local dist is able to match the Ben Moore colors.
Also I switched to post cat tinted (vs pre cat) because of the much longer shelf life and the pre cat cracked like crazy on me, my fault of course but don't want a repeat of that.

Anyone used the Campbell post cat solvent clears and if so is it difficult to spray large surfaces? I'm building a large cabinet and will be spraying the interior (with back off).

[BrentDH]

Not really answering your question, but I have used the M.L. Campbell precat clear lacquer for years with what I would consider great success.  I use a 3 stage hvlp sprayer.  My first introduction to the product was through a professional painting company that did higher end houses.  I am very satisfied with the product and find it really easy to apply for even an extreme amateur like myself.
The 120 day shelf life is a pain though and I do end up wasting some occasionally.  The actual product I used is called Magnamax.

[alexh1]

When I got the tinted precat (I think it was MagnaMax) it was a 275VOC product here in CA and they could not sell the slow thinners like Flow 2 or retarder. So they told me to use lacquer thinner and both the primer and topcoat came out of my gun like sand! After struggling a while I realized that Butyl Cellosolve was worth a try and that made it spray so easily but of course its probably a VOC violation. Bob Flexner talks about this in his book, where they sell nitro lacquer the Butyl Cellosolve is right next to it (not in CA though). But BC does not seem to work well for post cat - I tried it.

I think the precat cracked because I ended up too thick due to all my attempts although I did sand heavily between coats. It only cracked on the solid wood parts of my cabinet, the ply parts are good.

Thankfully they seemed to have relaxed the VOC regs in CA, now I can get 650 VOC product and the slow thinners. I think they actually make things worse when they go to low as the products become unusable and people resort to unapproved thinners.