# Northstar 10" & 12" box fill&2nd coat settings



## BShoot (May 27, 2015)

I've saw many people run their fill coat wide open, flats and butts.. Not going over it after w your blade.. My northstar seems to put way too much on a fill, wide-open.. I'm trying to find a perfect method here with my new tool set.. I'm 28 and have owned my own business for a cpl years now.. Just troubleshooting and putting the best of all the regions I had learned from.. Never the less, was raised by my father into finishing, yet he's old school, offset knife and hawk kinda guy.. I'm trying to make more production than what he is set on.. Idk if I am setting my mud too thin, but when I lay my fill coat on setting #2 on my flats, it'll almost raise the paper tape above the top of the coat, weird.. And no the tape isn't wet when filling... There's hundreds of different methods of course and no "exact" right way, mostly preference... But I'm trying to find a better preference to fit myself and my tools..


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## gopherstateguy (Apr 8, 2012)

It's been said on here many times, but... run a flat on a setting and check it with a straight blade(knife/trowel) and adjust your box accordingly. In my experience Northstar and Columbia boxes come with an agressive crown. With these I run flats on 4 or 5 on both coats but your conditions(mud mix, bevel, etc.) may differ from mine. As far as your tapes rising, I have never seen or heard of this. Tape with a taping or glue mud and LET IT DRY.


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## Mudstar (Feb 15, 2008)

BShoot said:


> I've saw many people run their fill coat wide open, flats and butts.. Not going over it after w your blade.. My northstar seems to put way too much on a fill, wide-open.. I'm trying to find a perfect method here with my new tool set.. I'm 28 and have owned my own business for a cpl years now.. Just troubleshooting and putting the best of all the regions I had learned from.. Never the less, was raised by my father into finishing, yet he's old school, offset knife and hawk kinda guy.. I'm trying to make more production than what he is set on.. Idk if I am setting my mud too thin, but when I lay my fill coat on setting #2 on my flats, it'll almost raise the paper tape above the top of the coat, weird.. And no the tape isn't wet when filling... There's hundreds of different methods of course and no "exact" right way, mostly preference... But I'm trying to find a better preference to fit myself and my tools..


Young grasshopper once you learn to coat the sheet rock properly you will not see the tape beneath the coats you have applied till then keep trying. :yes:


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## endo_alley (Nov 2, 2013)

Check your fill all the time with the appropriate broad knife which is known to be straight. No one setting works in all situations. I will always recommend running a blade over the fresh boxed mud on the joints.


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## mld (Jul 2, 2012)

endo_alley said:


> Check your fill all the time with the appropriate broad knife which is known to be straight. No one setting works in all situations. I will always recommend running a blade over the fresh boxed mud on the joints.


:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


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## BShoot (May 27, 2015)

Mudstar said:


> Young grasshopper once you learn to coat the sheet rock properly you will not see the tape beneath the coats you have applied till then keep trying. :yes:


Stay off my threads.. You were no help to my last thread.. Nor this one, thanks


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## P.A. ROCKER (Jul 15, 2011)

BShoot said:


> Stay off my threads.. You were no help to my last thread.. Nor this one, thanks


Take it with a grain of salt, BShoot. Ask a novice question get a smart ass answer from a pro. 
That's life.
Most pro's know Northstar boxes dump a lot of mud at factory settings compared to other brands. 
Learn proper settings for the tools you run.
If you don't like the way your tools run, tweak them until they run like you want them to. 
It's all part of learning the trade.
Good luck.
:thumbup:


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## endo_alley (Nov 2, 2013)

I have noticed that Tape Tech boxes have a little less crown in the crown bar than some of the other brands. The guys that I work with have lately rediscovered an old set of Tape Tech power assist boxes I bought years ago, and are liking them. Where I am going with this is that when I put new blades in this Tape Tech setup (7", 10" and 12") I need to pre crown the blades ever so slightly so that at the zero setting they leave enough mud when splitting out butt joints. I have some Columbia boxes and Northstar boxes too. They don't seem to need to have the blades pre crowned before installing the blades. If a box needs to be run at a setting of five to run "just flat" your blades may be over crowned . You may even want to experiment with a negative crown on the blades. I knew a guy who had to do that years ago to some Tapeworm boxes. They had too much crown to them. Any how, when you run a box on the five setting, sometimes there is too much pressure where the pins contact the crown bar. And you get a "W" or 'S" shaped fill. So you need to eliminate a little bit of the crown at the outset. And the only way to do that is with the blade crown. That is assuming you have done a good job with the spring adjustment. The spring should usually be adjusted to where the when set at "one" the adjuster should just barely make contact with the spring, with just a little wiggle to it.


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## GreatLakesTools (Feb 27, 2015)

BShoot said:


> I've saw many people run their fill coat wide open, flats and butts.. Not going over it after w your blade.. My northstar seems to put way too much on a fill, wide-open.. I'm trying to find a perfect method here with my new tool set.. I'm 28 and have owned my own business for a cpl years now.. Just troubleshooting and putting the best of all the regions I had learned from.. Never the less, was raised by my father into finishing, yet he's old school, offset knife and hawk kinda guy.. I'm trying to make more production than what he is set on.. Idk if I am setting my mud too thin, but when I lay my fill coat on setting #2 on my flats, it'll almost raise the paper tape above the top of the coat, weird.. And no the tape isn't wet when filling... There's hundreds of different methods of course and no "exact" right way, mostly preference... But I'm trying to find a better preference to fit myself and my tools..


Are you Taping with lightweight or heavy weight all purpose? Lightweight won't shrink back so don't tape with lightweight. Tape with full weight. Check crown with trowel.


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