I'm still getting way more orange peel than I wish I were. Takes a couple hours wet sanding to get rid of it. Any tips?
I use a Fuji Turbo HVLP, 1.4mm tip and Varathane Ultiate water based Poly. Feels like an overspray issue for sure but I don't have a gorgeous booth to suck it out!
I agree with what Matt said above, and I'll add:
The main cause of orange peel in water-base polyurethanes, like Varathane Ultimate, is the spray being too finely atomized and traveling too far through the air before it hits the surface. If the droplet sheds too much water mid-air, it sticks to the surface as a lump and doesn't want to flow out. It starts curing too quickly and forms into a little hard bump.
From my years of experience with VU and other water-base polyurethanes, I get the smoothest surface by turning the air pressure down low (like 13 psi), turning the Fan all the way off, and holding the gun about 4" off the surface. I'm spraying about a 2" dia circle, and it's very heavy with water. It flows out smooth in a couple of seconds. The trick is to spray it on thick enough that it flows out smoothly, but not so thick that it sags and runs.
This is the opposite of solvent-base paints. They'll flow out to a smoother surface with finer atomization and a wide fan pattern. Expensive, precision guns and higher air pressure. The oil-based solvent takes longer to evaporate off, and the little droplet has more time to flow out and not become a lump.
Turbine-type spray guns can be a problem, because they may not be able to be adjusted to low enough air pressure and fan. I don't own a turbine rig myself, but my buddy Jeremy used one here in my spray booth for a while, spraying Varathane Ultimate. No matter how he set it, it always sprayed a much larger cloud and pattern, with lots of overspray floating around. A rougher surface and much more peripheral mess than my non-turbine HVLP guns. But he liked it because it did the job quicker, and covered a larger area faster. I never tried messing with it, to see if I could get it adjusted to my taste.
That's my recommendation: Try adjusting the air pressure, flow and fan down as low as possible, so that it sprays a small circle at a closer distance. With minimal overspray. Try working with it like that, and learn the technique. You'll find that point where it lays on just thick enough that it flows out smooth.
