Currently, I use a Harbor Freight spray gun to spray acrylic lacquer on some of my finished products. It is a top feed spray gun and runs on up to 50 lb. of pressure. Its HFs detail spray gun and only cost $14.99. It seems to blow a lot of air and I wish it did a better job of laying down the lacquer. I'd like to upgrade and still want to use it for spraying my projects but don't want to break the bank. Does anyone have any recommendations for a HVLP spray gun in the $100 area? Thanks,
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Need Spray Gun Recommendation
- Thread starter Bill Stewart
- Start date
If its the purple one the spray tip is a little to small for un thinned lacquer. You can drill the tip out if you have a small enough drill bit. I use the silver one with the plastic cup and regulator. It sprays un thinned lacquer and poly without issues.
Homeright makes a reasonably priced HVLP electric spray gun with 3-different sized spray tips that will spray lacquer and cabinet finishes.
HomeRight C800766 C900076 Finish Max Paint Sprayer HVLP Electric Spray Gun
HomeRight C800766 C900076 Finish Max Paint Sprayer HVLP Electric Spray Gun
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Yes, Chris, it's the purple one that only holds 4 oz. I'll check out the silver one with the plastic cup and regulator. Thanks.
Our local spraying lacquer expert recommends 30 psi of pressure or so, and also the HF spray gun. Would that help? He also reports that some lacquer products don't works well, and his favorite is a traditional lacquer from Sherwin Williams.
I assume HF is Harbor Freight. Which HF spray gun? I have an HF now but it only has a .6 nozzle. I think I need at least a .8. Thanks
What are you spraying, what is the ford cup viscosity, and have you attempted thinning?
I'm spraying Target Coatings EM6000 acrylic lacquer. I think my problem, up some further research, is that my spray gun only has a .6 mm nozzle. If I got one that was .8 mm that would almost double the volume of lacquer being sprayed.
Doug, where would an inquisitive person find the ford cup spec?
I use a California Air Tools LVLP spray gun. I swear there is so little overspray and that you can spray a dowel with out a mess. There are videos of its use on the site.
I can interpret this question numerous ways, but I take as being with regards to the ford cup spec for a given finish. There are 2 types of cups, a ford and a zahn. The zahn is more of a calibrated lab device, and expensive. The ford is a much less costly alternative and there are conversion charts. Some finish mfrs will quote a cup viscosity, and Target Coatings does, for the zahn cup.
What is important is for the sprayer to develop familiarity and a reference with how their gun sprays various viscosity finishes, what range of viscosity a tip/needle will spray well. When trying a new finish, check viscosity and compare to past experience. Take lots of notes to build your reference base. Different guns will vary a bit, especially due to different air cap designs. Some gun mfrs will have reference charts for tip/needle combinations vs viscosity.
I think you are on the right track, but......water based finishes are a different animal to spray vs solvent based, and much of it due to viscosity and surface tension within the finish. Solvent finishes (at least the kind we mess with, higher end stuff my be different) be thinned a huge amount as necessary to get them to spray and still perform after curing. WB finishes have limits on thinning - too much thinning gets in the way of the coalescing that happens after they are laid down. Due to the nature of the WB finishes they tend to be harder to atomize vs solvent. Surface tension plays a role in this.
Also, we are all different and have different expectations. What one person says is fine or good may be unacceptable to someone else. When one says "I use xyz to spray abc and it works great" may not be acceptable for another. The reverse is also true, some may demand perfection beyond what others believe is necessary. In the end we each eventually find a "happy" level we accept - and not just with spray finishing.
I have sprayed quite a bit of Target EM6000 and EM9000, more flatwork than turnings. I tried cheap box store guns with limited success. I stepped up to an Asturo detail gun, and had a lot more success but still not to my satisfaction. I then stepped up to a CA Tech CPR-G gun, and had great success. Going through these steps allowed me to experience the difference proper design and development make. The ability of the CPR gun/cap to atomize WB finishes at reasonable pressure, and the effect on how the finish laid down, vs the others was quite dramatic. All of these guns could be made to spray solvent finishes acceptably (the Asturo does very well with them) but not WB.
I am not aware of a <$100 gun that will spray WB acceptably, but I may be more discriminating. I recommend you email, or better yet, call Jeff Weiss, owner and chief chemist of Target Coatings. It's been a few years but Jeff was always willing to answer emails and discuss things over the phone. I suggest you spend some time to dig through Target's website and forum, both new and old, to gain some knowledge before contacting Jeff.
I don't use WB finishes on turnings anymore. They do a lot of things well, but one thing they suck at is enhancing the chatoyance of wood - by themselves they just look dead. There are work arounds, most notably using shellac as an undercoat. Solvent lacquer does a wonderful job of enhancing chatoyance, sprays easily with about any gun, with some knowledge about retarders can be sprayed with less temperature/humidity restrictions, rubs out/polishes easily, accepts dyes for toners, and I don't have to use multiple finishes etc. When I want a fully filled high gloss finish for turnings, it's my choice. I know it's a long response to seemingly simple questions, but they aren't really simple questions. Finishing is a skill all its own, and requires time and effort to be good at it.
Not sure about water base but I am about high-end solvent based - the nastier the better.
Hats off to the guys that can spray-n-go - don't understand how to do it and never tried. I can only guess that, to do it well, you gotta know what you're doing.
I'm not that good with a gun - no matter how I try, I get orange-peel. I still get an occasional sag but, at 75, outgrew the runs (coatings).
I have three guns: 1.7 for barrier ($160), 2.5 for sealer ($175) and 1.4 Sata ($500) for clearcoat. Truth be known, a less expensive clearcoat gun would do the job. I believe I could go to Home Depot and walk out with one gun with three tips or three-guns with the right tips and, after screwing up a few times, get results, assuming I have all my sanding stuff.
I spray-sand several times before I can spray-sand-sand-sand-compound and go - the magic is in the performance of the material applied and the abrasive material and how it's used (I get all misty-eyed when talking sandpaper) - obviously the gun has to be adequate.
Hats off to the guys that can spray-n-go - don't understand how to do it and never tried. I can only guess that, to do it well, you gotta know what you're doing.
I'm not that good with a gun - no matter how I try, I get orange-peel. I still get an occasional sag but, at 75, outgrew the runs (coatings).
I have three guns: 1.7 for barrier ($160), 2.5 for sealer ($175) and 1.4 Sata ($500) for clearcoat. Truth be known, a less expensive clearcoat gun would do the job. I believe I could go to Home Depot and walk out with one gun with three tips or three-guns with the right tips and, after screwing up a few times, get results, assuming I have all my sanding stuff.
I spray-sand several times before I can spray-sand-sand-sand-compound and go - the magic is in the performance of the material applied and the abrasive material and how it's used (I get all misty-eyed when talking sandpaper) - obviously the gun has to be adequate.
Many of the spray gun kits come with a small cup with a hole in the bottom, you dip the cup into liquid being sprayed and count how many seconds it takes for the cup to empty out. This basically determines if you need to thin the liquid being sprayed thru the spray gun. Use an appropriate thinner for the liquid add some to the liquid until it allows the liquid to empty thru the test cup in the proper amount of time. Once the liquid is thinned to the proper amount it will spray thru the gun and nozzles as designed. A few adjustments and several test shots and you should have a good spray pattern and coverage for the nozzle being used.