Okay, I think I have this down as well, or probably better than can be expected for my puny air compressor. And yes I probably should have just gone and gotten a turbine HVLP, but something about those bugs me. I think it's the fact that the spray gun itself is specific to the turbine system. And I am worried if I break the gun I break the whole system... But I digress...
In the meager amounts ot time I have had to fiddle with spraying since last weekend I have made a discovery... And it came at Harbor Freight...
I got the Central Pnuematic #91011 32 Oz. Automotive/Industrial Air Paint Spray Gun With Internal Mix Nozzle, and let me tell you, cosmetically, it's a real piece of junk, but it was cheap. $24.99 minus a 20% coupon that was about to expire... So we are going to call it $20.00. Now according to the manual in the box, and the box for the product, air consumption is 4 SCFM @ 30 PSI, but it calls for pressure to be regulated to 50 PSI (go figure), but the web site calls the air consumption 1.5 SCFM, so which is right?
Well to put it bluntly, I don't know, I have no way of measuring it...
But let's test this sucker out shall we?
So I reduced some junk latex paint (we goofed on our color choice) to a reasonable thin, sprayable viscosity. Okay now first up, the Husky Pro paint gun...
Loaded, regulated, and tested to get the pattern I want I go from a full tank, spraying until the compressor cycles. 1 minute 45 seconds.
Next up the HF gun. Same test. load it, regulate to spec, get the pattern, insure compressor is charged up and spray until it cycles. 3 minutes 30 seconds.
More advantages to the HF gun design for the lazy... It's MUCH easier to clean. At least with water based finishes. Rinse, fill tank with water, and spray until it runs clear then drain tank, and put up with tank open. The Husky wants you to brush out the orafices and etc...
Now having said that, I will say this, I did, when I was in college, use a spray gun in an industrial application that sprayed adhesive like 3M Super 77 (I worked very briefly part time in an upholstery shop in college. Never again!) and the HF gun I swear is the exact same gun but with a different orafice.
The total spray time I used for my test wasn't all that realistic though, it was grab the trigger, pull and hold until cycles, not spray, stop, spray stop like you would do in actual use...
I do suspect, for my upcoming paint projects, this HF gun will more than do the job with my little compressor, and compressor cycling may not end up being quite the problem I anticipated.
I do have one eensy weensy concern though. I lost my original manual, so I downloaded one, and printed it out, and I recall the break in procedure being done VERY differently than what the online manual shows. The online manual tells you to basically put a male with no hose in the female quick connect, fill the pump to the proper line with oil, and run it for a half hour straight, let cool, drain and replace oil. That is NOT the procedure I went through, and now I am concerned I may not have broken my compressor in right. The procedure that I recall going through was fill with oil, bring to pressure, turn off, dump pressure from tank, lather rinse repeast 10x, let cool, drain and replace oil. Have I ruined my compressor with the wrong method?
In the meager amounts ot time I have had to fiddle with spraying since last weekend I have made a discovery... And it came at Harbor Freight...
I got the Central Pnuematic #91011 32 Oz. Automotive/Industrial Air Paint Spray Gun With Internal Mix Nozzle, and let me tell you, cosmetically, it's a real piece of junk, but it was cheap. $24.99 minus a 20% coupon that was about to expire... So we are going to call it $20.00. Now according to the manual in the box, and the box for the product, air consumption is 4 SCFM @ 30 PSI, but it calls for pressure to be regulated to 50 PSI (go figure), but the web site calls the air consumption 1.5 SCFM, so which is right?
Well to put it bluntly, I don't know, I have no way of measuring it...
But let's test this sucker out shall we?
So I reduced some junk latex paint (we goofed on our color choice) to a reasonable thin, sprayable viscosity. Okay now first up, the Husky Pro paint gun...
Loaded, regulated, and tested to get the pattern I want I go from a full tank, spraying until the compressor cycles. 1 minute 45 seconds.
Next up the HF gun. Same test. load it, regulate to spec, get the pattern, insure compressor is charged up and spray until it cycles. 3 minutes 30 seconds.
More advantages to the HF gun design for the lazy... It's MUCH easier to clean. At least with water based finishes. Rinse, fill tank with water, and spray until it runs clear then drain tank, and put up with tank open. The Husky wants you to brush out the orafices and etc...
Now having said that, I will say this, I did, when I was in college, use a spray gun in an industrial application that sprayed adhesive like 3M Super 77 (I worked very briefly part time in an upholstery shop in college. Never again!) and the HF gun I swear is the exact same gun but with a different orafice.
The total spray time I used for my test wasn't all that realistic though, it was grab the trigger, pull and hold until cycles, not spray, stop, spray stop like you would do in actual use...
I do suspect, for my upcoming paint projects, this HF gun will more than do the job with my little compressor, and compressor cycling may not end up being quite the problem I anticipated.
I do have one eensy weensy concern though. I lost my original manual, so I downloaded one, and printed it out, and I recall the break in procedure being done VERY differently than what the online manual shows. The online manual tells you to basically put a male with no hose in the female quick connect, fill the pump to the proper line with oil, and run it for a half hour straight, let cool, drain and replace oil. That is NOT the procedure I went through, and now I am concerned I may not have broken my compressor in right. The procedure that I recall going through was fill with oil, bring to pressure, turn off, dump pressure from tank, lather rinse repeast 10x, let cool, drain and replace oil. Have I ruined my compressor with the wrong method?
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