Paint Research - Surprising Findings

[sketchman]

I'm always digging for info on things. Blue needs a paint job. I don't have a compressor that's up to it even with a cheapo HVLP gun from the harbor of freightiness, so I started looking for alternatives.

Started with a handheld chem sprayer, but it doesn't atomize nearly enough for that kind of thing. Then I did some more searching on HVLP in general. Output at the nozzle is supposed to be around 10psi. Hmm. That's very low. Something say a shop vac could probably do in blower mode. I remember Kirby vacuum cleaners had/have an attachment to paint with too. That is what got me in this direction.

Then I searched turbine HVLP standalone units and found this.

For $70 plus shipping that would probably be a good bet at least for a very occasional job like I do. But I have a shop vac already and so I started looking for just the gun.

And found this.

And looking again at the Eastwood piece.


Obviously styled differently, but the similarities are too great for me to ignore.

And finally the reason for posting. G12 HVLP on eBay

$35 shipped. If the plastic will hold up to the chemicals in paint and thinner it should be pretty cool. And of course, for $70 the Eastwood painter is probably worth a shot too.

[skeeters_keeper]

My dad painted one of his motorcycles with an Electrolux vacuum - it looked really bad. Might have been good enough for a barn but that's about it, rattle can paint job looked a lot better.

Maybe those setups would work better but I'd want to see some examples of nice paint jobs done with them before I spent any money on it!

[william]

Top one looks like a spray tan unit lol

[sketchman]

^It is.

When it comes in I'll be doing some testing. I'll post pics. If it's junk, it's just $35. If not, I may buck up for the Eastwood thing.

[rmoltis]

those are turbine sprayers.
they are kind of in a category of their own.

im a union painter and ive used all the different sprayers; airless,conventional,hvlp,electrostatic,turbine etc.

ive used the turbine sprayers before.
they use a vaccum style blower motor for the air supply, they are usually very noisy,
you see the wide hose running to the guns.
they create their air pressure my flowing large amounts of air through that line which at the nozzle produces anywhere from 1-10 psi.
and usually they are suction fed guns, meaning there is a tube that runs down into the paint and the air blowing over the top portion of the tube creates a suction and draws tha paint up through the tube.

they have their uses in certain applications.
for example i have used them in the past to paint elevator doors in scyscraper lobbies and such.
they work best with very thin paints that require multiple coats.
usually the elevator doors were painted with mettalic paints which turned out not too shabby.

their output of paint on surfaces is very low, so it takes a good amount of time on large surfaces.
but say you had small parts that needed painting or trim pieces it would do good.

the best thing i could say to you when you use it. is since they dont put out much air pressure they can have a hard time atomizing the paint into smaller particles since they dont produce much air pressure. so i would reccommend thinning your paint down when you use it. or else your going to get some texture with your paint.
maybe start with your paint as is, then if it is having a hard time getting it into a fine spray add a lil more thinner each time until you get the right consistancy through the nozzle.
you may experience a more textured paint job using one of these.

i would use one of these on say a fender or a bumper or mouldings trim pieces etc.
but it would be a pain in the butt to mask off and spray a whole car with it.
they just work so slow.

also if you use them for long periods of the time the blower motor warms up and contantly blows warm air through the line,
which is my experience has gotten guns so warm that sometimes i couldnt hold onto the gun anymore.
which can also warm up the paint as it is sprayed causing it to flash before it hits the surface.
but these look to have plastic handles which would probably help keep you from burning your hands lol

[sketchman]

Thanks for the input.

Hopefully my shop vac will be able to push enough. I think it should. It was either this or a Wagner type airless, and this was cheaper to try, so....

EDIT: Seems I should have checked eBay for Wagners first. Could have gotten one for about the same as the tan gun. Oh well.

[rmoltis]

those kits you posted pictures of. both had the blower assemblies attached in the picture. you shouldnt need a shopvac

[Twistiva]

If you bought the unit pictured in the very top of the thread, does the girl on the can come with it? :toothy7:

Good luck choosing!

[sketchman]

I got just the gun for $35, so the shop vac will be needed.

I'll let you know if there is a girl with it.

[Twistiva]

Or you could buy an $800+ spray gun here:

http://www.sata.com/index.php?id=3944&L=11

I knew Germans were passionate about "fine engineering" but who knew anyone made a spray gun for $800+? Looks like it sprays cars and even interior house trim and walls.

Good luck, sketch!

[sketchman]

Woah, twist. That's nuts. :shock:

[sketchman]

Well I tested it. Unless those full kits come with one whopper of a "turbine"/blower, I don't see them working very well at all. I have my gun hooked up to a supposed 2hp shop vac. It is newish, and working fine. I even ported the blower housing in steps to see if I could make it work. It helped, but it still just doesn't really cut it. What's happening is the thing starts to work fine. Has a good even fine pattern, but it only lasts for about a 3 ft long sweep at best, then it has to stop spraying for a few inches to build pressure back up to work again. This was with water, so I can't imagine paint working well at all. I took it apart some to see how it works, and I think I can make it work with a combination of things.

I should only need to put a nipple in the body where the paint cup attaches, and block off the stock pressure feed tube to do it. This should (in theory) let me paint with my tiny 1gal pancake compressor, because the volume needed to feed the paint is almost nothing, and that's all the compressor would need to do. The high volume feed would be supplied solely by the shop vac, which it can do just fine.

Updates when I get em.

EDIT: Oh, and girl not included.

[rmoltis]

that must have been a very cheap turbine sprayer.
I guess maybe i got to use the higher end version lol.

something like this

http://www.sherwin-williams.com/home-builders/products/catalog/capspray-95/?referringCategory=equipment-supplies/spray-equipment/hvlp-fine-finishing/

[sketchman]

Yeah, it definitely is. But for $10 in npt fittings and some vinyl hose, I think I can make it work. It does spray nice when it works, so it should work out OK.