[sdiy] Lacquer finish/second thoughts

[Scott]

Well, from my reading on the woodworking forums it seems as though the non yellowing claims by the manufacturers are false..  should be "doesn't yellow as quickly" or something.  But, the woodworkrs had photos of "non yellowing" products, 5 or 10 years later and they were as yellow as morning pee :D.

I didn't search for metal and lacquer, so I'll do some research there.

-----Original Message-----
From: rdrake [mailto:rdrake at data2action.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 9:13 AM
To: Scott; synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: RE: [sdiy] Lacquer finish/second thoughts

Scott,

a quick google search for "metal lacquer yellowing" provides some solid-looking results, especially from brass instrument makers:  

http://www.doctorvalve.com/AboutLacquer.html

sounds like nitrocellulose-based lacquers do yellow, but that some modern (added acrylic) formulations do not.  same search also returns some links to product mfrs...

>----- ------- Original Message ------- -----
>From: Scott at scottwick.com
>To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>Sent: Mon, 4 May 2009 08:58:13
>
>I had done a lot of reading through the sdiy
>archives, and on various synth and electronics
>forums about panel finish over the past few weeks. 
>I had been using an acrylic spray which dried
>clear, stayed clear (about 10 years now) but looks
>like my panels are coated in plastic.	I need to
>re-do all of my panels, so read up on other
>finishes.  The consensus on almost every list/forum
>ends up being lacquer.  Sounded great.  Re-did 3
>panels this weekend.  Silk-screened and then
>sprayed w/ lacquer.  It looks GREAT!
>
>Last night I decided to read about lacquer at
>places other than here and e-music, and the tube
>forums, etc, and the first thing on just about
>every page is "Lacquer WILL yellow" which made my
>heart sink.  Now that I think about it, I went
>through this 10 years ago when I first started
>building my synth, and that's why I avoided lacquer
>at that time.
>
>So, to my question..  A lot of aluminum panel
>people seem to like lacquer, but then every
>woodworking site, the first thing they say is be
>ready for it to turn yellow.  It seems like that
>would be completely undesirable for panels!  My
>panels are bare aluminum (not anodized) so are
>bright silver.  Turning yellow would be noticed. 
>Even black panels, though, it seems like all of the
>lettering would turn yellow.
>
>Does lacquer not yellow as much on aluminum as it
>does on wood?	Are the woodworking forums which
>talk about yellowing using old info, and modern
>lacquers don't yellow so much?  (I used DEFT which
>was recommended as an easy solution.. which it was)
>
>then finally, if it does yellow, why do so many
>people recommend it?  At least you could strip wood
>and re-finish.  w/ the panels, Im pretty sure the
>lacquer thinner would strip away the ink lettering,
>so you'd be starting from scratch if you want to
>re-do the lacquer finish on a panel.
>
>any thoughts on the situation? 
>
>
>
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