Latex paint over spar varnish?

[Max]

Homemade. I built it to wash and wax my travel trailer and I use it to trim some Japonica hedges we have that are quite tall (7' )

Max

[Max]

Here is fine. There might be others who are interested.

Max

[Joe Gorman]

Oh well I'll keep looking. Maybe the Werner

[George Max]

And I'd get one if I had enough need for one. Until then, stripper works too.

Even so, mebbe this'll go on the christmas/birthday list.

[Max]

I almost bought one of those but I wanted one a little longer. Mine is approx. 8' long (or wide, depending on your point of view). and it's a little higher. Lowe's had those on sale awhile back. You might ask if there's any chance they would do it again.

Max

[Joe Gorman]

Well, just bought a side by side refrigerator that will get me a $75 gift card, along with the $400 off as a non stock item, that should cover it, or maybe 2. Joe

[nailshooter41]

Thanks Max. I am a general contractor that specializes in repair/remodel and maintenance. I do a fair amount of just about anything but electrical and HVAC.

I install doors for a local lumberyard, and many times I wind up finishing them. I also refinish a lot of metal and wood doors, and I am playing around with a lot of the newer super finishes that are out there to add to my tool box.

In an effort to cut down on my overspray, I have used an HVLP pressure gun. It cut down the overspray a lot. A huge difference. I bought a knockoff one of the newer lower CFM requirement guns to test it out and I liked it.

That is until I tried a real, turbine powered HVLP setup. These units can be tailored to have almost no overspray at all. The first one I tried was the top line Turbinaire, and it was nice. I don't have concerns that some have for the machine, and it seems that all that buy them love them. My concern was that it was one loud machine. I will also be refinishing (kitchen cabinets) in people's homes, so the less noise the better.

Accuspray it too expensive, and the gun does not have metal airways or paintways inside it. They are Delrin, which in fact may be better than metal. But on the other hand, they sell an upgrade gun that touts the fact it has real metal ways inside it. The noise level is the same as the Turbinaire, which is no wonder since they use the same exact turbine. I didn't like the fact all accessories are expensive, and that some seem to think that the repair end of things is too slow. That could be a matter of opinion, so I will go back to the plastic gun (which Jeff Jewitt was not enthusastic about, but told me was "it was fine") and the higher purchase price and higher accesories. But then no one has ever said anything bad about the performance of their Accuspray.

So that brings us to Fuji. I am looking at the Q4, and their new gun. The upside is that when you have a question or concern, you can talk to the owner. I have done this twice now to make sure you actually do it more than once. They sell the machines through a system of dealers, and one Ohio guy is a prince, and a couple of his customers told me that he will overnight parts to you if you need them. The owner in Canada told me he could not overnight, but he could do 2 days if need be.

The turbine (although it is the same as the previous two) has different baffles and some other kind of business inside it, so it is substantially quieter than the others. All accessories are really reasonable. And the machine is a little less $$ to begin with, especially since most dealers ship for free.

The air hose can be put on the bottom or top as you need. And what I really liked about the new gun is the fact that you can disconnect the cup from the bottom, flip the housing around, and you can make it a gravity feed gun. The aluminum cup is $54 buck for a 20 oz cup and you are in business. I like this feature because I spray horizontal and vertical projects, and the conversion is literally about 2 1/2 minutes from cup to gravity. That really sounds great to me as I like both designs for different applications, but don't want to buy two guns.

So why don't I have the Fuji now?

I read the article in Wood magazine that covered most of the major HVLP machines, and they didn't like the gun as well. Even though they use it in their pictures to show the patterns a gun shoots, They felt like it wouldn't shoot a pattern less than 5" in width. (I am thinking

2" rails and stiles here.)

I called 3 different Fuji dealers, and called the Paul Smith, the owner. They denied that statement as completely false. I mean they were adamant. I talked live to a refinisher that told me that just like the other guns, when you got the gun closer to the work the pattern was smaller. He confirmed to me that to shoot a pattern that was about 1", he had to hold the gun at about 4 " away from the surface. Then he told me that he had to do the same with his other HVLP gun, too.

As it is, to have a contained, usable pattern of only 1", that 4" is about where I am with my high pressure guns.

So, since you have no financial interest in this, can you shed some specific light on this pattern business? Can you give me an idea of how you like the machine besides that, and maybe an idea of what materials you have sprayed with it?

Thanks a million.

Robert

[Max]

Robert, I just got the sprayer about a month ago and have only used it for the prime coat (exterior oil based) on the door I'm refinishing. But I do like it. The gun has enough adjustments (material flow, air flow, pattern, etc) to allow close operation and narrow pattern. The article in Wood magazine is not the first to seem hastily written (and likely not the last). I think most tools require a little "tinkering" with to get the best performance. My experience with conventional spray guns is an advantage in the "learning" process with the HVLP. I can't make a meaningful comment on the noise since the Fuji is the only turbine operated unit I've used. However, one of my sons, who has been around other units, claims that my Fuji is quite a bit quieter (maybe "less noisy" would be more accurate). I intend to use an oil based finish on the door but I need to spray a garage door (10X7) and I will be using latex. I'll let you know how it works out.

Max (my e-mail address is obvious, just drop the "not")