I got the bubbles out of my finish!!!

[Nappylady]

(didn't know where else to put this, so, um, it's here.)

The people at the hardware store said it can't be done, but I know the secret! (At least with Verathane--YMMV with other finishes) You lay the finish down with a foam roller and then spray the thing (start lightly until you get a feel for how much blowing it takes) until all the bubbles come out.

Air compressors are great. I don't know if cans of air would work well, what with being an unstable petroleum product and all. But, failing that, you can just blow on it yourself (don't pass out though) to get the bubbles out.

Cool, huh!!

*wonders who else he should victimize with this random info*

[capslock]

I've been trying to finish a cabinet with glossy black gasoline-based acrylic lacquer. Unlike slightly-matté (filled) lacquer from the same brand and water based glossy acrylic (which isn't all that glossy), foaming is a big issue with this paint.

I have tried a superfine foam roller, wool-velour roller and a foam roller that has a fine yellow velvet-like coating. These velvet bristles are supposed to eliminate bubbles.

With the superfine foam, I get lots of bubbles. I can roll some away by passing the roller lightly over the surface again, but others will appear in just this process. The paint seems to flow so well that all bubbles disappear by themselves after a few minutes. The surface looks fine afterwards, but when the paint has dried, it has a look almost like car paint except for tiny holes which I assume appeared where the bubbles popped. I wonder why there is a phase in between where the surface looks fine.

The wool roller has the same problem, only bubbles are bigger and fewer. Also leaves small holes in dry paint. Leaves an occasional bit of lint, too.

With the velvet thing, it is possible to pop all bubbles by passing it lightly over the surface. However, I still get the little holes. In addition, there are lots of yellow bristles in the coat.

Do you get the holes, too, after your compressed air treatment? Would a hot air gun with the heater switched off be likely to work?

[Cobra2]

Try a thin womans nylon sock over a large-diameter wool-roller...

Arne K

[Battlepriest]

I'd prefer the nylons (in black of course) on the woman's legs. Especially in kombination with high heels and a tight, round ####

uh, far off topic. I apologize for that

hm. does that really work? I used a spraygun (is that correct in english?) and a compressor I borrwed from a real nice neighbour. What a pity, I moved away to another town :-(

[Nappylady]

Hmm. Interesting.

When I apply my treatment, it's IMMEDIATELY after I've laid down my finish, so the bubbles pop and do not leave any holes. Everything comes out very smooth.

I'm not sure what grade the rollers I'm using are, but I know they leave lots of bubbles, and that if those bubbles are left unpopped, they make things very, very ugly.

Try just blowing on it, you know, see if your lungs have enough power. I bet they do. But I bet you can also get very dizzy by doing this for a while...

Good luck, in any case.

[Sch3mat1c]

Boy, ya know what? You could get *really, really* dizzy with hard blowing and all those varnish fumes...

Tim

[Nappylady]

Pah! I didn't even think about that!!

Definitely, then, get a compressor (you don't need much; 20-30 PSI is enough) and an attachment that will allow you to hose down the box with air.

This is a fantastic way to defeat bubbles, and I hope I'm not the only one to profit from it.

[ppfred]

Hi,

What works for me and in fact gives excellent results is after brushing or rolling on the desired number of coats of varnish, with careful sanding in between applications to eliminate the bubbles & dust accumulation, I apply the final few coats with wipe on polyurethane varnish as sold by MinWax. Wipe on varnish is just ordinary varnish that has been diluted and as its name implies rather than brushing or rolling it on you apply it with a soaked rag. Unlike brushing or rolling, wiping leaves a very thin coat which is quite acceptable in this situation since all you want to do is to restore the sheen after the last sanding.

You could easily dilute ordinary varnish yourself.

I've only tried the oil based stuff. I wouldn't know if you can get the same results with water based polyurethane. I'll test it out for my project - a piano black finish on Lynn Olson's Ariel speakers.

pf

[capslock]

Had a look with a magnifying glass: the holes are not holes, instead they kind of stick out. Wonder what causes them because I don't seem to see them on a freshly painted surface just after the bubbles have self-popped.

[janneman]

Hi,

I'm not an expert on finishing, but from experience (I had a car painter finisch my speakers) I know that the ground coat (if that's the correct expression) is very important. Nobody mentioned it in the above posts, but the result of the finish depends to a very large extend to the ground coat.

Jan Didden