hvlp

[wanabee]

Am considering the purchase of an hvlp spray gun. I have a compressor. I'm interested in opinions of reasonably priced spray guns, top fed, and associated equipment needs. Will use for paint and varnishes.

Thank you,
Wanabee

 

[Bill Clemmons]

I use a gravity feed HVLP gun and am very satisfied w/ it. Mine has the Porter Cable name on it, but was probably made by someone else. Several people on here have good experiences w/ the cheaper model from Harbor Freight. For a first gun, I believe I'd try that one for around $20, then upgrade later if you really like it.

When you say "paint", are you talking about oil based or latex? Oil based can be thinned w/ mineral spirits or paint thinner and sprays fairly easy. Latex, however, is thicker and more difficult to spray. I would recommend a different nozzle for latex. A 1.4 or 1.5 nozzle is fine for varnish, shellac, lacquer, etc. But a 2.0 is better for latex.

Bill

 

[JWBWW]

I have a Porter Cable gravity feed gun that has been used twice and I will happily let it go for $20 plus cost of shipping.

I am particularly happy with a Lynx 3 conversion gun that I bought from Hood Finishing for $150. I use it with a two quart pressure pot and have had great results with it. But I have also had very good results with a traditional high pressure Harbor Freight setup that is much the same and it cost me $49 back in 2001.

 

[Tarhead]

Pay attention to the CFM rating on the paint gun and make sure your compressor CFM at gun pressure exceeds it. It gets frustrating waiting on the compressor to catch up.

 

[jnforness]

I use a Sata gun that I used to use painting bumbers on cars ($500). Finishing wood projects is alot more forgiving than the bumber of a car. Works like a charm, but the cup is small. Some things that I have learned, if you use a gun with an oil/lacquer based liquid, don't ever use it with a latex base product. It's not good to switch back and forth. When using latex, you can thin a little with water, but you will need more coats and time inbetween to dry. Oil/lacquer is quicker as you don't need it to dry, just "flash" where the shinning part goes away as the urethanes are evaporating. It is best to start with a real thin, quick coat which is called a tack coat first. Makes sense as if you touched it, it would be sticky and as such the next coat will stick to it better and create less chance of running on you.
I have used many of the $20 guns from Harbor Freight and they do work good. Especially for what you pay for it, and at that price you can get two, one for latex and one for oil/lacquer.
Above all, when you are done with any gun and you think you have cleaned it well enough, clean some more. Lacquer thinner works better than paint thinner for cleaning them. I use a lot of Q Tips when cleaning. Hope this helps someone out there!

 

[junquecol]

Bad thing is last weekend, those $20 HF guns were on sale for $9.99. I used a couple on a stair rail rehab job. One for primer and another for top coat. Job lasted about two months. I spent almost as much on paint thinner cleaning guns, as I did for guns them selves.