Thinking Of Replacing a Wagner Power Painter

[crokett]

with an electric HVLP system. My Wagner is a good tool for what it is, even though I know most folks hate them. I've painted two sheds and a couple bedrooms, and stained 3 decks, a playhouse and several thousand square feet of fence. I was in HF yesterday and this was on sale for 50 bucks:

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...bCategoryName=

The paint cup is only a liter. It does not have a hose to suck paint directly from the can and most of the painting I would use it for is that kind of painting. Another drawback is apparently it won't do stains. The Wagner will. The minus to the Wagner is I don't use it for shop projects because the quality of the paint job is lacking. So I am left with whether the quality of this thing (and the neatness) is enough to get it and live with the 1 liter at a time so I can use it for woodworking projects. Would an HVLP system generally be neater and give a more even finish than the Wagner?

[eccentrictinkerer]

I have a Wagner conversion HVLP gun that I've used on several projects (latex only, so far). Great results! I have a six HP compressor that just loafs.

I took my little 1.5 HP on a job and it worked, but I had to give the compressor a few coffe breaks, sprayed 2 gallons of deack stain.

[WLee]

For painting buildings, I ditched the Wagner junk a long time ago and went with a REAL airless sprayer ( http://www.google.com/products?hl=en...less%20sprayer ) -- painted several garages, houses, and other buildings -- things are great.

HVLP likewise for small things -- even spraying and great finish.

The only drawback to BOTH of them is that while you save a lot of time painting, you have to spend an equal amount of time in prep and cleanup (so painting tends to be 1/3 of the job).

[Gator95]

Crockett- that is not the HF HVLP you want. Get the one that's normally $89, looks like the same HVLP sold for $100-120ish at Rockler and Woodcraft.

[docrowan]

I agree with Gator95. I've been very pleased with my HF HVLP system. The 1 liter is not bad when you consider the paint transfer efficiency you get. I had a whole garage wall full of projects and it only took about 1/2 liter to spray them all. Then I had to wait for them to dry enough (about 30 to 45 minutes) before I could flip them and spray the other side. Not a big deal to refill the cup while you're waiting for the first coat to dry.

Thinning to the correct viscosity is vital to good results.

I haven't tried spraying large areas like a fence or wall. Why not keep the Wagner for spraying stain?

[rjwaldren]

I hope the link below works for you, it's from a recent Rockler email offer, the email also has promo code V9768 for 20% off one item, I don't know if it can be combined though.

Turbine HVLP 30% off
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...8&cookietest=1

[rjwaldren]

One more thing, I have done a lot of research on sprayers iver the last year or so. Any of the setups listed here are highly regarded from many sources.

When I asked about a compressor driven model the Wagner Conversion gun was overwhelmingly the winner. I haven't purchased one of my own yet, but a friend picked up a complete kit with pressure pot and all accys from gleempaint.com based on my research. It is truly a great gun.