HVLP Paint Sprayers

[WayGray]

I have seen some articles recently hinting at the superior working qualities and finish produced by HVLP paint sprayers. Anyone have experience or recommendations on such a piece of equipment? I have an 18' boat and trim, as well as household projects, which this might be useful for.

[kc8pql]

They work fine once you get used to them. Quite a bit less overspray. Plan on spending about somewhere around a thousand for a turbine unit though. The cheap ones don't have enough air volume to atomise anything much thicker than water. I have an Apollo 1000, which I consider about minimum for serious work. If you have a BIG compressor, the conversion HVLP guns work very well and a good one will cost less than at decent turbine.

[John Hastie]

There is a HVLP spray gun called a conversion gun system. This is a HVLP gun that works at reduced pressure on a standard air compressor. It is used extensively in auto body shops. I have one of these made by Sata. This manufacturer is one of the best.

[ssor]

For most in-home projects the prep time and clean up time will far exceed the time it would take with a brush. So only if finish quality is of prime importance will I spray.

[WayGray]

I saw an ad for a HVLP conversion gun that says all you need is a 2 HP or better compressor. I have a 2 HP compressor (in fact two of them, 4 gal. and 6 gal.); is that really enough? I also saw a Wagner HVLP gun-hose-and turbine kit advertised for $98 at Lowes. Sounded too good to really work; I'm sure you are right about the paint required to be of water-like viscosity. We are finishing the trim & doors on our house as well as the details on my boat project; so we do have possible uses.

[Dale R. Hamilton]

I have a Sata Jet HVLP gun myself. Its the best I ever used. Made in Germany, fits your hand like a Lugar. If you have a full sized air compressor, this is really the way to go. I can paint cars , trucks, boats, or just spray varnish. All comes out perfect. Nothing else offers the quality and flexibility- certainly not the $99 cheapies from Home Depot.

[Bob Perkins]

My .02$

I have a Turbinaire HVLP. It is a very good setup. Spraying is a bit of an art and it takes a while to be come proficient with tip sizes, air caps, viscosity etc...

All that said - I've had very good luck shooting varnish - I think I'm getting the hang of it...

They are not good at latex IMHO... if you think you will use it for spraying a house or something really big.. It can do it... but it will be real slow.

Thoughts from novice/ early intermediate sprayer smile.gif

[ssor]

Years ago Electrolux had an attachment that would spray paint using the blower end of the vacuum cleaner, never tried but heard that it worked alright. The discharge end of most vacuum cleaners put out a lot of air. It would be "make shift" at best.

[Paulyboy]

Originally posted by ssor:
Years ago Electrolux had an attachment that would spray paint using the blower end of the vacuum cleaner, never tried but heard that it worked alright. The discharge end of most vacuum cleaners put out a lot of air. It would be "make shift" at best.This would be the siphon tube principle, with a tube from the paint supply coming up into the airstream, before the airstream went throught the final spray nozzle. Very temperamental, sloppy, inaccurate and inconsistent. As a former airbrusher for signs, t-shirts, fine art, etc.,I can tell you that any spray job looks alluring when you see the final product. However, prep time and viscosity adjustments mean the actual spraying is about 5% of total time for each job, unless you're just slathering massive amounts of fluid onto huge areas.

[ssor]

Paulyboy wrote: unless you're just slathering massive amounts of fluid onto huge areas.

I was in the Duron paint store the other day and a contractor was buying 60 gallons on interior flat wall paint. 12- 5Gal. pails
I said to one of the clerks that it was a lot of paint! He replyed that the contractor would be back at noon for that much more. Airless spray at over a gallon/minute. They do an entire block of eight townhouses in one day/crew.

[Garrett Lowell]

You can also check out low-volume, low-pressure systems.

[WayGray]

My wife and I primed & painted the entire interior of our house using a professional Graco airless unit. Those units really put out the paint; the gun needs to be moving before you squeeze the trigger. Five gallon buckets get used up quickly. But HVLP is new to me. Thanks for the advice.

[imported_chris]

I use sprayer’s hvlp and airless weekly; they are two very different products. One will not do the job of the other. Airless sprayers are great for priming or painting a house . I would not use it on trim, boat or car. The hvlp is the only way to go for this. As for painting your trim in the house, I would only use it if the house is new or there is nothing in the house. you will spend more time getting things covered up and taping off areas then cleaning up everything. This will probably not save you any time.
Painting things like your boat the hvlp will give you a fantastic finish. The trick is getting a good sprayer then the right tip for the paint. Get the viscosity of the paint just rights not to thick and not to thin then you’re off. It takes practice. With any of the paints you need to make sure you spend a good amount of time cleaning the gun or this will lead to a lot of frustration in the future.
good luck.

[Ellis Rowe]

I have a Citation HVLP sprayer/respirator system that I really like. It has a four stage turbine to supply air to the gun, and a separate turbine to provide fresh air to the respirator. I've sprayed awl grip with good results. I bought the unit from Axis products, and have had very good service from them over the five years that I've had the machine. info@axispro.com

[Scott Rosen]

I have a Capspray 4 stage turbine HVLP unit. With the gun, it runs about a grand. I've been using it for a year. It takes some practice to get good at it. Semi-gloss and satin finishes are tricky because the silica additives prevent the paint from atomizing finely and you can get tiny globs unless you thin the finish just right.

My latest project was a bunch of louvered doors, which are one of those things that go a lot faster and come out a lot better with spray instead of brush.