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Teach me about H P L V spray guns and painting

Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Location
marysville ohio
Just what it says, I have always used a siphon spray gun and would like to learn the new technologie about 20 years late! What brand is a decent gun, mind you I am not looking for a Oakland Roadster show results. I have to paint a mess of parts for a Mori Seiki milling machine. Do you thin the paint about the same as with a siphon gun? What else do I need to know?
 
Just what it says, I have always used a siphon spray gun and would like to learn the new technologie about 20 years late! What brand is a decent gun, mind you I am not looking for a Oakland Roadster show results. I have to paint a mess of parts for a Mori Seiki milling machine. Do you thin the paint about the same as with a siphon gun? What else do I need to know?

Well the first bit is its HVLP ;)
As far as guns go, the usual Deveblis / Sata etc are the top bucks. Honestly, if youre not planning to use it all day every day, for spraying machine tools, just get a cheapy or two. They were getting pretty good 10 years ago, plenty of reviews and youtubes out there to avoid the lemons.
A gravity gun (cup on the top) next to a siphon gun will put a pile more paint out at the same given pressure and nozzle size, you can generally run with less thinner. Something like 2mm should blob it on quite quickly, just spray out some tests to get a feel for peel and dont let things RUUUUN away from you :D

Cheers
D

Edit:-
This guy is decent The Gunman
 
don't know what materials you intend to spray but for the most part paints are designed to be mixed to an exact ratio regardless of what equipment you are using.
 
I have an older model of this series:

FinishPro HVLP | Graco Inc.

Its been great for the 15 years or so I have owned it. The largest thing I have painted is the size of typical household doors. Also a lathe cabinet in that size neighborhood. That is the upper size limit to get great results. It holds one quart.

It will spray unthinned latex paint with the right needle and tip set. For painting oil enamels, you’d only need to thin as needed for keeping a smooth wet edge. It will spray common materials about as smooth as they will go on. The as sprayed finish will have slight texture, but really close to good factory paint on most things. Its mostly up to the operator as the machine is a good one.

I also have a little Anest Iwata brand HVLP sprayer.

Anest Iwata | Manual Spray Guns | LPH80 | United States | Anest Iwata

Ita great smaller gun. Gravity fed and needs a compressor to run. Will paint up to a door sized object but its really stretched to do that. Super convenient for things easily held in one or two hands. Toaster oven size, or parts for machinery as you mention. It rules for small jobs with especially easy clean up. Holds about 4 ounces.

If painting upside down and out of position on big objects you can’t move you should look at a pressure feed version. I find that generally I can work around that by moving the thing I am painting. Also appropriate where you are putting down lots of paint. But more equipment to clean is a significant downside.
 
It is my understanding that HVLP (high volume low pressure) was an EPA thing to do with overspray and emissions. Now they have HTE (high transfer efficiency). If you don't "fall under the regulations" I wouldn't worry to much about it. I have done some nice work with $10 gravity guns. For $10 I just send it back to the Shen-Zin scrap market as it costs more in thinner and time to clean it out than a new gun :willy_nilly:

Also liquid paint is HazMat, if you let it sit in a pan and dry then it is not and can be thrown out in the trash.
 
Do you thin the paint about the same as with a siphon gun? What else do I need to know?

The consistency of milk and you can gauge that as you mix in the reducer. Lift the mixing stick and watch the paint drip off.

Devilbiss GTI HVLP or PLUS HVLP guns with 1.3, 1.4 tips

Sata HVLP RP 3000 or HVLP RP 4000 without digital displays. RP - Reduced Pressure.
Get a RP gun and catch up on the new stuff.

Sagola 4500 Xtreme HVLP

DSC_0600.jpg

DSC_0592.jpg

Notice the attachment I made at the bottom of the handle. It has a gauge but no cheap ChiComm regulator.
The standard gun handle regulators reduce the air flow by 12%. I know because I measured it with three different paint gun brands.

DSC_0609.jpg

Use high-flow hose fittings. The ones here are made by Devilbiss and they were just a few dollars each. The standard air couplers are heavy,
cut down air flow, and the internal springs will rust.

Cashiers Auto Supply is where I bought my Sata's. They sent me a pile of those plastic bags and connection pieces for throw-away paint ops.
They were free but I don't use them. Cleaning a gravity feed cup is easy and I'm not sending a bunch of plastic with dried on paint to the landfill.

The most important thing is having a clean paint area. I use a booth that I can walk into and close a door. There is a fan providing down draft air.

(much more can be typed so specific questions are better...)
 
I remodeled our master bath and bedroom last winter. I put wainscot on the bottom half of the wall and didn't want to spend days with a brush, so I bought one of these.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PGQI48/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It didn't take very long to get the hang of it but boy was it messy. In the bathroom I painted the walls first then taped it off and used 2' wide kraft paper for overspray and I still got overspray on the walls.

In the bedroom I covered the whole floor (laminate) and painted the walls last. Much less work but still overspray all over the ram board.

Overall, it gave a WAY better finished product than I could have got with a brush and roller.

bath remodel 048.jpg
br 002.jpg
 
If you're just doing one thing, a cheap Harbor Freight HVLP will work fine for you. Get the Nice 3M cup liners, though.

I did this with one of these cheapies and a gallon of rustoleum, thinned with acetone in my driveway:
20170506_163344.jpg


That said if I was going to do any more than one project I'd spend the money on something nice. If I ever have occasion to spray something again I'm throwing that Harbor Freight unit in the trash LOL.
 
I have to paint a mess of parts for a Mori Seiki milling machine.

If you are not painting anything large then a mini gun is my choice.
I suggest:
A Devilbiss SRI-Pro mini-gun. It is mid-to-high range quality and something to keep.(I own a couple).
A HF POS that you only use once or twice. It is a copy of the Devilbiss mini. (Not my style)
 
The HVLP guns are gravity feed. But I don't think all gravity feed guns are HVLP.

You will love a gravity feed gun over a siphon feed gun for several reasons. The gravity feed gun will work in more positions than a siphon feed gun. The gravity feed will work until the last drop of paint is used. This alone will pay for a gun in not much time with the price of some paints today. The siphon feed gun will spray thicker materials but may require a different nozzle to do so. You don't have to put a sock around the cup to catch the drips with the gravity feed gun. The only down side is that you have to hang it up as it will not stand up like a siphon gun.

I have a devilbess GTI but save it for the high end work. I have a bunch of high end Binks siphon guns that don't see any use any more. My go to guns are the HF guns that go on sale for $10. They spray great and if you plug it up due to improper cleaning, toss it. I have one $30 dollar gun for high build primer as the HF guns do not have large enough nozzles.

Bill
 
I was shocked at how efficient those hvlp guns are when I first used one, much less overspray. I used half the paint for the same size job
 
The only down side is that you have to hang it up as it will not stand up like a siphon gun.
The Devilbiss guns I have came with a rubber coated hanger.

I have a devilbess GTI but save it for the high end work. I have a bunch of high end Binks siphon guns that don't see any use any more. My go to guns are the HF guns that go on sale for $10. They spray great and if you plug it up due to improper cleaning, toss it. I have one $30 dollar gun for high build primer as the HF guns do not have large enough nozzles.

Bill

The GTI was my first paint gun. Still have it. I bought a PLUS cap for it to improve performance.
 
When I paint a machine I make a plastic paint booth around it (with a cheap 20" fan and furnace filter), go to HF and buy a gravity feed gun and then throw it all away when finished.
I cover the floor with cardboard and wet it down.

I do have very expensive spray guns for doing cars but that is oh so different.
Once upon a time I would body fill a machine, board sand, alternate color primer and block sand.
You could see yourself in the finished machine from 30 feet away but looking back it was a huge waste of time.
The only good that came from it is that such a finish is much easier to clean. Only crazy people actually wax their machine tools and yes that was me.:willy_nilly:

Thinning I use is much the same or up to 50% less.
Bob
 
The entire pallet change and all the sheet metal is apart. It is a six year old machine that has run nothing but pure water for coolant. Most of it looks like it was salvaged from the Titanic.
 
I meant to say... if you don't have some time of air dryer, you're going to need a water separator for HVLP for sure.
 
What is "HTE compliant". Seems like the cheap HF HVLP guns are well liked, does anyone have a part number for a known good one? They have about 200 choices. The primer I am using is high solids, will any of these guns work ok?
 








 
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