Ama Menec on sun 9 may 04
I have recently moved from majolica to low-fire glazing and so from =
dipping and painting to spraying glazes. I wonder if anyone has any tips =
as to how to make an inexpensive glaze sprayer, particularly for fairly =
detailed spraying? I have killed several hand garden sprayers in this =
attempt, and have now bought an electric paint sprayer for spraying =
garden fences etc, and while it's great for big expanses, or pieces that =
only need one glaze, it won't be too good for sculptures needing more =
than one glaze and a bit more control. Any suggestions?
Ama Menec, Devon, UK.
BobWicks@AOL.COM on sun 9 may 04
In a message dated 5/9/2004 7:48:48 AM Eastern Standard Time,
amamenec@LINEONE.NET writes:
Ama : I would caution you on spraying glaze unless you can be completely
protected from breathing the fumes or excess spray. I have taught ceramics at
college level and even an exhaust spray booth does not protect the operator.
Bob Wicks, Prof Emeritus
Harrisburg Area Community College
Vince Pitelka on sun 9 may 04
> Ama : I would caution you on spraying glaze unless you can be completely
> protected from breathing the fumes or excess spray. I have taught
ceramics at
> college level and even an exhaust spray booth does not protect the
operator.
Bob -
It does no good to make such generalizations. A proper spray booth does
protect the operator. There are lots of people around using inferior,
inadequate spraybooths, and even some of the small commercially-made ones
are completely inadequate. The problem is most often in the power and
volume of the exhaust fan, in proportion to the square footage of opening
across the front of the booth. The front opening should not be any larger
than it needs to be for efficient access while spraying.
Any spray booth is easily tested. With the fan turned on, grab a handful of
ball clay, and sift it from your hand at various locations across the front
opening of the spray booth. If it moves into the booth, towards the exhaust
fan, no matter where you sift it, then the booth is working well. For an
extra measure of assurance, take an empty spraygun set at working pressure,
and spray air into the booth while you are sifting the ball clay, and see if
the turbulence caused by spraying creates any disruption in proper
exhausting of the clay dust. As long as all the dust is drawn into the
booth, then there is negative pressure across the front opening, and it
would be very unlikely that any fumes or overspray could move against that
negative pressure and escape from the front of the booth.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
| |
|
