alkyd enamel..
if spraying the best thing to use is naptha. flashes fast and gives the best shine. mix 8:4:1, 8 parts paint, 4 parts naptha, i part enamel hardener. you don't need the hardener, but it will cure much faster and be stronger and shine better. if your spraying in the sun or real hot weather, subsatute mineral spirts for the naptha. it will flash slower and give you time to keep the project wet for the last coat and avoid dry (dull) spots. you can do a mix of naptha and mineral spirts to get the right flash you need. if your brushing/rolling , use naptha.
Mineral spirits is used for cleaning alkyd paints.
Not if the melamine paint is oil (alkyd) based.
What they call "oil base paint" is really called "alkyd base paint." So yes, you can do that.
paint jobs
An enamel or alkyd.
I wouldn't recommend it. Some of the chemicals in the alkyd will dissolve the latex and the alkyd won't "stick". It's best to remove the latex using laquer thinner or xylene first.
Not if the melamine paint is oil (alkyd) based.
What they call "oil base paint" is really called "alkyd base paint." So yes, you can do that.
paint jobs
Yes.
An enamel or alkyd.
I wouldn't recommend it. Some of the chemicals in the alkyd will dissolve the latex and the alkyd won't "stick". It's best to remove the latex using laquer thinner or xylene first.
Acetone is usually used to test if a paint is alkyd or latex, though rubbing alcohol will work as well. Use a Q-tip soaked in either acetone or rubbing alcohol on a surface painted by the paint. If it comes off, it's latex.
Traditionally, alkyds are found in solvent-based paints that must be reduced with paint thinner or mineral spirits. "Waterborne alkyd" is a generic term to refer to an alkyd resin that can be used in a water-thinnable paint. Because alkyds are not miscible with water, a chemical modification is sometimes used to produce a hybrid alkyd resin - often acrylic/alkyd or urethane/alkyd - that is compatible with water. These hybrids are often categorized generically under the term waterborne alkyds. A pure alkyd can be emulsified in water using appropriate surfactant combinations. This type of surfactant-stabilized alkyd emulsion has been sometimes referred to as an "alkyd latex." Different resin manufacturers use varying terminology to describe waterborne alkyds with the terms alkyd emulsion, alkyd dispersion, and alkyd latex being among the most common.
The solvents used to thin alkyd paint can vary as much as the painters do. However, most references point towards using regular paint thinners such as lacquer thinner. However, usually more than 10% is needed. ChaCha on!
They can be the same cost. Depends on brand
Alkyd paint has a resin in it to help the oil in the paint dry faster, oil based paint in my opinion has a more vibrant colors, both in depth an brightness, waterbased seems to be toned down some-what. Wood paint can be either water based or oil based and even water soluble oil based. Oil based alkyd paint lately are used for things or areas that might receive abuse, and because of the slower drying time the oil based alkyd paint will show less brush marks then water based paint.
That is what it is made for