EEK! There is a Critter in my shop!

[The Guy]

This evening I broke out the new Critter spray gun and let some paint fly. My initial impression is very favorable (favourable where required...).

The paint was Rustoleum semi-gloss white with a squirt of Flowtrol and a couple of ounces of water as thinner. The gun performed well, although it was necessary to shoot at between 50 - 60 psi to get that paint moving. Next time I will thin more so that I can shoot at 30 - 35 ish to reduce over spray.

The gun produced a nice finish. Clean up was very easy.

The gun gets a couple thumbs up for price / performance. I only have two v.small gripes. First, the lid gasket should be just a bit larger in diameter to keep it retained in the lid better. Second, the pickup tube is a little short for the jar depth. It was necessary to break out my painting nuts to compensate. :)

Tim

[xrongor]

i swear there is some kind of conspiracy afoot. seems every time i buy somethign with a gasket in the lid, its worthless, and for exactly that reason. it just wont stay put. whats so friggin hard about making a gasket that will stay in the top of something? i dunno. this just seems to happen quite a bit more than it should..

randy

[The Guy]

Yep...I have the fix in store already. I was making some gaskets for a vintage car and had some rubber gasket sheeting left over. Tomorrow I will trace the top for the OD and use the old gasket for the ID and get out the scissors.

On the good side, this is a pretty minor gripe about the Critter spray gun...

Tim

[B a r r y]

Try adjusting it. Mine came with the tube adjusted too far up. I was able to turn it and readjust the locknut.

Barry

[The Guy]

The siphon tube was a good half inch above the bottom of the jar. I did adjust the tube down to put the pickup just below center of the air stream as indicated in the instructions; however, this only lowered the tube assembly by a couple hundredths of an inch. Tossing a bunch of stainless steel 1/4 X 20 nuts into the bottom of the jar brought the paint up to an acceptable level for the first use, but this was just a quickie "Plan B" for yesterday.

I will probably hunt around for some tubing to extend the pickup tube to just above the bottom of the jar. Before doing that, I need to figure out what solvents will be used in the future and then determine an appropriate material for the tubing.

Tim

[B a r r y]

I just ordered a stainless steel tube, as I plan on using mine with shellac quite often. This will allow me to use ammonia to keep the thing clean.

Barry

[The Guy]

That sounds like a plan. Is the new tube any longer than the old one?

Tim

[Eric Ryder]

Floetrol, or did you mean Penetrol?? I thought Rustoleum was oilbase?

[B a r r y]

I doubt it. Maybe you got a defective critter? A short tube is available for smaller jars, I can't help but wonder if yours was equipped with the wrong tube. The short tube is about 3" long The standard tube that came with mine, leaves about 1/2" of space between the tube and the bottom of the included mason jar.

Barry

[R. E. Engerman]

I've been reading what you guys have been talking about. Can I spray the Minwax Polyurethane with this thing? It mite be the best way to paint the kitchen cabinets I'm making. Wehn I use a brush I get some brush hairs stuck sometimes so just spraying should be better.

Ralph Engeman R. E. Quick Transit

[jo4hn]

[Herman Family]

Gee, I thought for a moment that other folks had chipmunks in the shop too.

[The Guy]

I was using Painter's Touch by Rustoleum which is water based, so it Floetrol which is also for water based paints.

Rustoleum has branched out from the bad old days of their damn near indestructable oil based paints. :)

Tim

[The Guy]

My pickup tube is about 1/2" off the bottom of the jar as well. This leaves too much paint out of reach when using small quantities. I will extend the tube to reach the bottom of the cup. For now, I will use some plastic tubing for latex paints. I may just solder a permanent tube extension of metal on later.

Tim

[B a r r y]

The short tube is designed for small quantities. It lets you use smaller jars, with less product.

Barry

[B a r r y]

Probably, but I actually prefer wiping polyurethane on. Wiping beats brushing any day.

Barry