pseudo HVLP

[C & M]

I see these guns listed on-sale in HF (yea, I know) and wondered if any of you have had any success using these in lieu of a 'real' HVLP system. Are they really better than a standard spray gun? TIA, Chiz

[tom_murphy]

I bought one after reading this site.

a pretty good endorsement of the gun and provides excellent info for setting it up.

I'll be doing more automotve work than wood finishing but I haven't used it much yet so I can't offer any personal experience.

Tom

[Robatoy]

I needed to spray a headboard a couple of weeks ago, and borrowed a Husky HVLP gravity-fed gun from an acquaintance. I liked it enough to buy one. I have full access to my old company's booth which has a DeVilbiss HVLP pressure-pot fed pro system and it had spoiled me over the last few years. I was pleasantly surprised at the performance and quality of the much cheaper Husky... like about a quarter of the price for the gun alone. I don't think I'd attempt a Flip-Flop Sikkens Pearl coat on a Porsche with it, but for any kind of lacquer or poly, it's pretty good. I paid $148.00 Can$ for it here at Home Despot (SKU 128-335) so I think in the US you'd be closer to $100.00 (SKU 551-334) MUCH better than a standard bottom-fed gun. At about 6 cfm @ 40 psi, it's a bit of a hog though.

How much less is the Harbour Fright gun?

[C & M]

$50 on sale, I believe, which is why I am a bit suspect of the quality! Like most of their stuff, 'Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances'.

[bridger]

I used this gun:

a while. it sprays pretty well and has stainless parts so you can use it with waterbase finishes. it performed OK on my 2hp portable compressor with frequent breaks to let the compressor catch up. it is not particularly smoothly formed inside the gun, so it is kinda difficult to clean, and the tip was cranked WAY too tight from the factory- I had to apply enough force to get it off that I left tool gouges in the body of the gun. the plastic cup broke after a while and the needle limit knob stopped holding a setting after a while. basically I wore it out, but I did get my $40 worth out of it and it taught me a lot about spray finishing.

[Robatoy]

I'm not the world's biggest Home Despot fan, but sometimes they get it right. Go take a peek at that gun. I think you'll like it.

[Robatoy]

This is the gun I was talking about: