Ok - so we're all agreed then. I'm so glad I was able to bring peace and
accord to this little group. Tanus - you buy this round of beer.
Swingman - you grab a few girls, there's a thing gonna be happening here...
On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:16:21 GMT, "toolman946 via CraftKB.com"
Because the cheapie can't spray some of the products I apply with the
Fuji. The cheapie dosen't have a long enough hose to spray millwork,
and it can't be extended. There's no pressure pot for the cheapie.
FWIW, the $200 HVLP can't apply half of the products the that the Fuji
can.
I usually trim replies more than I trimmed this one. I'm leaving Barry's
comments in ahead of yours, because I'm curious to know how you got to the
point of your comments, from anything Barry said. I do believe you went off
on a rant over something that was never said.
Because you buy the better equipment for two reasons: You have the
extra $600 to $1000 to put in the machine if you find you need to.
Why would you need a "better machine? Flexibility of finish
application, a better quality gun, and the ability to purchase other
aircaps for the same gun. The second would be reliability. I do not
expect to be able to use the HF gun all day and all night as needed,
several times a week if needed without any fear of failure. It is a
$69 unit. If it fails in the garage while you are spraying a project,
it would truly suck. But if your HVLP system failed while you were
spraying precat lacquer, that would be a tragedy.
My Fuji, with all the aircaps, the extra whip, extra filiters, and a
second gun dedicated to spraying dye cost me around $1400. I paid
that money for the sake of the Fuji reputation as well as their
outstanding product and tech support.
Baloney. I have been finishing my own projects on my remodels and
repairs for years. I also refinish custom doors, conference tables,
etc. A crappy finish is a crappy finish. I have seen HVLP finishes
that look like they were put in with a sheetrock texture gun that were
put on with a very nice Graco system. I have seen brush finishes that
look sprayed (not layed down by me, though).
You missed it. Barry never said it was an inferior tool. In fact, he
said he liked it enough he would probably buy another if his current
machine quit. Read carefully... he and others have said it is a good
machine for a lot of finishes, not all finishes. No machine is good
out of the box for all finishes without tweaking and adjustment of
materials and hardware. The same could be said for my Fuji HVLP or my
Graco airless; they won't spray everything without additional aircaps,
tips, material modifications, etc.
You should know too, that thinning is part of most finishes with
HVLP. What the additional stages (or turbine impellors) allow you to
do is to shoot less viscuous finishes without thinning. They DO NOT
lay down a better finish simply because they have more stages.
I don't know the difference, but one of those little HFs has a two
stage turbine, and the other has a single stage. I have seen some
nice finish work put down with those things by non professionals.
And there is nothing wrong with a quality beginner machine. If it
winds up being all you need and all you want then you are just that
much better off.
Robert
As the OP here, I have to agree! I hope all of you will accept my humble but
heartfelt thanks!
The conclusion is. . . I will determine which of the two HF units has the
two stage turbine and focus on that one. Either way I can neither afford nor
justify the around $1000+ machines. So for the apparent differences in the
$69/$39 HF and the $200+ CH units, I will go with HF. I luv this group! <s>
I bought the same sprayer you offered in the link. I picked it up 3
years ago and paid the same for it. It comes with 3 different tips
and nozzles. It's a great value and works better than anything else
I've tried. I haven't done a spray job yet that I'm disappointed
with. I've sprayed everything except shellac (including waterborne
finishes). I've had no problems at all getting what I consider to be
perfect results. The only issue has been dust and bugs but I made a
spray booth to take care of that. You can only change flow and
viscosity but that's enough for great results. My brother has an
accuspray setup at work that I've borrowed and I can't say it does any
better than the cheap HF model. More settings with the Accuspray
means more experience required and more variables to screw up. Same
thing goes with air brushes. My brother has a single action and a
double action brush. I do a lot better with the single action because
of fewer settings.
Getting viscosity correct is pretty easy. I don't even use the drip
cup. I'll use paint as an example. Fill the spray cup about 1/2 way
with paint and then add about 1/4 cup of thinning agent. I use
flowtrol/penetrol and also use mineral spirits when doing oil based
enamel. I use both for reasons I won't get into here. After adding
some type of thinner, stir and look at how the paint moves around.
You can gauge viscosity this way. It should look about like heavy
cream. I also pull out the stir stick and watch the paint stream
off. This is also useful (keep a count). After getting the viscosity
to where you want it, close the nozzle all the way and then open to a
conservative flow. Test on some scrap and look at the droplets.
Adjust the flow to get the desired coverage. If the drops are
splotchy and you can't resolve by slowing the flow then the paint
needs to be thinner. If the paint runs then you've got it too thin.
Same goes for any material really. There's a lot more to spraying
like distance to the work, temperature and so on but you'll figure
that out through use. All turbines put out heat but that can be
remedied (if needed) by working in shorter time periods. I've sprayed
20 minutes straight without issues. I've sprayed furniture, siding,
interior walls, moulding, metal and even canvas with this sprayer.
One other point...you don't need to clean the sprayer after every
use. It just depends on how much material vs air is left in the cup.
I leave material in it for a couple of weeks at a time. It's a good
idea to swirl the cup and squirt out a couple of sprays every other
day but that's not even necessary. The only time I had something
start to dry in the cup was after 4 weeks. The paint dried to the
inside of the cup but was really easy to get off.
So from somebody who actually has this sprayer, yes I'd recommend it.
Especially for the price. You can find a lot more opinions on this
sprayer with a decent google search.
Thanks for a very informative reply. I will prolly check it out soon. I am
only a few miles from the HF here.
I hope this posts. . .having news server problems
I have a different HVLP unit[1] from Harbor Freight. I'm not a
finishing expert and certainly not an expert at spraying finishes.
However I can say I've been pleased with the results I've had using my
unit. I've used it to spray several types of finishes and some laytex
paint. Regarding finishes, I've used my HVLP unit to spray plain
shellac and shellac I've tinted with dyes with very good results.
I've also use the unit to spray Miniwax's Polyshades product. I've
never been able to get the results I wanted with either shellac or
Polyshades by brushing or wiping, but when I spray them with the cheap
Harbor Freight HVLP unit, I get results I like.
[1]: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber‘772
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Thanks. . .I had not seen that one(1) from HF. I had a Wagner airless and
got tired of cleaning so much for so little for nuthing extra. I thought I
would try an HVLP. I don't mind cleaning if the thing at least works.
You will need to clean out the gun after every use, but it's not too
bad. All the parts in the gun are made of some type of metal so it's
actually of decent quality.
The only problem I've had with the thing is the hose that connects
the gun to the turbine/blower. The hose and the connections are all
plastic. At least once a session, I have the hose come loose from
either the gun or the turbine. Fortunately it doesn't require any
tools to put things back together. It is an annoyance, but usually
about the time that happens is after I've been at it for 30 minutes or
more and I typically need a break anyway. :)
One other tip, if you should decide to get one of these units in
particular... The turbine is designed to be carried around with
you via a shoulder strap. I found that the default length of hose
going from the turbine to the gun was too long, and I'd frequently
step on or trip on the hose as I was moving around. So I cut the
hose in half and eliminated that situation.
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I bought the ble one, which was $49, but I got it for $34. Was very
happy with it so far, except you CANNOT unscrew the paint cup using the
handle as a lever, or you wil crack it like I did mine. Not terminally,
but now I use a large pliers to unscrew the cup.
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