Reduction science 101.

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I'm pretty sure I failed science, so I'm going to struggle keeping up here...

All the paints I've seen have their own specific brand of reducer.
I can't help wonder if this is due to some scientific chemical equation, or just a marketing/money making scheme.

I've seen a lot of generic 'home brew' reducer recipes online, and read mixed reviews.
This is one which seems to be a little better thought out than the rest:
Homemade Reducer

Not that reducer is particularly expensive. But if I start experimenting with different brand paints, then it would be more convenient to have just the one reducer. Plus, I like DIY.

So, to anyone who has made their own reducer - What have your experiences been?
To anyone smarter than me (it's a long list), what do you think? Is thinning paint a real science best left to the pros?

Cheerio!
 
I'm no expert but will be glad to share my thoughts. The basic answer is, for water based paints, reduce with water, for solvent paints, reduce with solvent. Now, that the easy part is out of the way... some water based paints, also have some mild solvents in them to help with tip dry and pigment absorption in their bases... for those, you could use plain water, but you would be changing the ratio of water to solvent. Wicked, Auto Air, and Auto Born are all considered "water born" paints because they do contain solvents, and if you want it to spray and behave as the chemists that created it, intend it to behave, then yes, you should use the reducer that they also created for that particular paint. After a while though, you will find that by experimenting with different paints and different reducers, that you might like one brand of paint, another brand of reducer, and maybe a third brand of flash retarder. It all comes from trial and error. I use mainly E'tac which recommends reducing with plain water, but I know guys who like E'tac with Wicked reducer. Find something that works for you and just when you're comfortable with it, try something else to see if you like it better. But if you're on a budget, plain water will work for most projects, and home made reducer is fine for practice or personal pieces, but I would hesitate to use that on a client piece, especially a hard surface project where I would want to be 100% positive that the bonding properties of my chosen paints were spot on. Hope that helps.
 
I try a formula similar to and I don't have good results , but I can't get here the same brand of glass cleaner and I think that Glass cleaner has diferent componentes in difrent brands , maybe there is my problem.
 
Can e'tac and spectra tex both be reduced with distilled water?
 
All water based paint can be reduced with distilled water.
With Createx brand paint . Their reducer for all of it is the same stuff just different bottle . So I am told .
Glass cleaner is not a good ideal and yes each maker puts different stuff in there to help it work.
 
If you have a tumble drier that condenses you will have a water trap, this is usually full of nice soft distilled water that has been evaporated from the washing. Works great and is a free by product of drying.

Lee
 
Will any of the evaporated detergents in that water cause any issues?
 
In the formula that I try , at the end of every line a have a bluff , like if foam was formed in the nozzle because of the detergent
 
Can e'tac and spectra tex both be reduced with distilled water?

I know Spectratex can. However there should be little cause to reduce it - unless you are trying to push it through a very small aperture nozzle (.25 or smaller).
 
Thanks for all the replies as usual. I ordered a set of Spectra Tex primary colours, which also comes with brown, black and white. I also ordered a few random colours from e'tac to test out as well (private stock).

I was thinking about sticking with wicked, but thought I would try a few brands out while I'm getting started. Might as well get a feel for what else is out there before getting set in my ways :)
 
In the real world, you'll probably find things you like about every brand, and use certain ones for different situations. I love E'tac, but I still use Wicked,Spectra Tex, and Createx in a some cases. The other night, I couldn't get the E'tac white to flow right at all... I'd normally go to wicked, but was out, so grabbed the Spectra tex, and it sprayed flawlessly for the detail I needed. The next night, the spectra wasn't doing what I wanted, but the E'tac was... I think most of my problem comes from the fact that the temperature in my basement fluctuates dramatically from day to day. If my studio was on the main floor, the paints would probably behave a little more consistently for me... but even when it was on the main floor, I would still use different paints throughout different projects. Just keep trying different paints and you'll find what works for you.
 
E'tac paints arrived.
I got 5 random colours (private stock), since the Spectra Tex I ordered is the primary set.

E-tac were nice enough to throw in a sample of the Opaque Black from the AG series.
I haven't been able to find any information on the AG series though. Can someone point me in the right direction?

I have only opened one bottle, but haven't had a chance to really test them out properly.

First impression - Damn this little red lid is impossible to get off!!
Second impression - This smells delicious.

That's about as far as I got.
Any tips for removing these little rubber caps? haha.
 
E'tac paints arrived.
I got 5 random colours (private stock), since the Spectra Tex I ordered is the primary set.

E-tac were nice enough to throw in a sample of the Opaque Black from the AG series.
I haven't been able to find any information on the AG series though. Can someone point me in the right direction?

I have only opened one bottle, but haven't had a chance to really test them out properly.

First impression - Damn this little red lid is impossible to get off!!
Second impression - This smells delicious.

That's about as far as I got.
Any tips for removing these little rubber caps? haha.


LOL... same first impressions when I first got them... I ended up using a pair of needle nose pliers to get that little stopper out. I'm a huge fan of the paint, but not of the tops they put on the private stock. Paint likes to build up and dry out in the little opening. If I don't use a particular color for a while, I have to go in and clean it out with a needle or something. I think they sell those little droppers that are sized for their bottles, so I'll probably invest in some of them on my next order. As for the AG, they threw in some of the AG modifier on my last order, but no AG color. I believe the modifier is the clear base... I add a few drops to whatever color I'm using when I'm doing hard surfaces. I don't know if there is really much difference, but in my mind, I see it helping with the adhesion of the paint... I've sprayed plenty of E'tac on hard surfaces without the AG modifier and have never had a single problem with it, so its probably all in my head. lol
 
If you are serious about your art and providing the highest quality product to your clients get off the home brew reducers. Thats my opinion, unless your just playing around or painting just for the heck of it.

I like to provide myself and my clients the highest quality paint possible so even on projects of my own I still work within a system.
 
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