- 1). Fill the cup of a siphon gun about 3/4 full of acrylic enamel and screw the cup onto the gun. Put on a respirator and then turn on the compressor. Test the spray pattern on a scrap piece of wood or metal.
- 2). Adjust the air pressure and the nozzle of the gun until you get a spray pattern that is about 6 inches wide from a distance of 6 inches. Loosen spray that is too thin by adjusting the nozzle or add reducer to the paint. Add reducer if the spray is chunky or uneven.
- 3). Hold the gun about 6 inches from the surface to be sprayed and pull the trigger. Keep the trigger depressed while you move the gun in a steady up-down or back-and-forth motion, overlapping about half of the spray pattern on each pass. Maintain the same distance from the surface as you move the gun; don't let it arc away from the surface as you approach the ends.
- 4). When you have finished spraying the surface in one direction, immediately spray it again in the perpendicular direction to form a cross-hatch pattern. Correct drips after the paint dries.
- 5). Let the enamel dry for at least two hours, and then sand it with fine sandpaper. Sand any drips until they are flat with the surface. Clean off the sanding dust with a clean cloth and spray the surface again in a cross-hatch pattern. When the paint dries, sand and spray a third coat if necessary. Do not sand the final coat.
- 6). Polish the final coat with polishing compound or wax and a lambswool polishing cloth, if desired.