HVLP Spray Gun Recommendations

I want to get a conversion gun to run on my 4hp air compressor. I've had a lot of experience, including doing lacquer jobs on late 1930s car restorations.

Before I got serious about woodworking, I would use my Binks 'door jamb' spray gun and was moderately pleased with the results. What is the word for serious furniture refinishing using HVLP guns?


Gary Curtis
 
This is the one that I use and I really like it. http://www.spraygunworld.com/products/Sharpe/Sharpe SHP5495.htm

As well as the canister on the gun I also got the 2 quart pressure pot and hoses. I will admit that I have only sprayed waterbased stuff so far but I do not know why it would not perform just as well with anything else. I also purchased a .8 tip to go with the 1.2 but have only needed the 1.2 tip so far. I like the option to use the gun mounted canister for small jobs and use the two quart for larger jobs. I also like the pressure pot set up so that I can use the gun in any position that I need to.


Of course if you really want to go high end or low end sparygunworld has those also. They had the best prices that I could find at the time that I bought mine and they were good to work with.
 
Last edited:
I had been using a Porter Cable PSH1 gravity fed conversion gun, and have been happy with the results. I liked it so much I ordered a second one when Amazon had them on sale for less than $50. I know several people that have gotten Wagner, Vaspar, and even Harbor Freight and have had good results overall. At least with the PSH1, I have had zero success spraying latex paint. I was to put it bluntly, stupid when I tried it. I didn't thin the paint, didn't use floetrol, and didn't use a larger needle size.....

FWIW, I have since gone full bore into HVLP and got the Fuji Q4 which IMO is pretty impressive. Small, not real loud, and a 4 stage turbine to boot. Got it for 20% off during Amazon's paint supply sale and it was a lot cheaper than anywhere else I have seen.
 
Gary,

I have an astro, and I did buy it from Astro, but I have the LVLP model.

Astro EVO4018 LVLP

It's worked well for me, but I have only sprayed about 4 projects, the biggest being the inside of the office I built in my backyard.

I use it with a small Ingersol Rand GarageMate, hence the LVLP.

Another vote for spraygunworld, good folks, shipped fast and easy to deal with. Even got mine on sale, only about $60 at the time.
 
HVLP

The gun I ordered is the Italian-made Asturo. Not Astro. Both are sold by spraygunworld. I've used a variety of guns and find spraying to be rather unforgiving when it comes to the spray pattern and adjustability.

When I was doing cars, and the materials ran upwards of $500, there were times I wished I had something better than my Binks. My guess is that furniture finishes are not so demanding.

If I like the HVLP setup, after awhile I might look into a Turbine for the air. Although I am put off by that unwieldy hose. Your wrist technique is very, very important when handling a spray gun, and the thicker turbine hose is burdensome.

Gary
 
Gary...oops, misread your message, I see you are using a gun from a different company...:rolleyes:

I am not sure about the finish on furniture not being demanding, seems people agonize over it in the same way they do over car finishes.;)

All you've got to gain is grain!:thumb:
 
gary, it all depends on what you`re spraying as you know....i`ve found that the binks i use work well with most wood finishes...so long as you`re able to work the finish to the proper viscosity for your needle/tip combo. you should be fine........many of the new waterbased finishes advise against thinning or adding flow control or retarding agents to them so if you plan on spraying them you might want to invest in a few needle/tip/airhorn arrangments for your new gun.
 
Gary...oops, misread your message, I see you are using a gun from a different company...:rolleyes:

I am not sure about the finish on furniture not being demanding, seems people agonize over it in the same way they do over car finishes.;)

All you've got to gain is grain!:thumb:
I've found that most people don't notice a bad paint job unless its really bad. It's only the enthusiast types that really notice that kind of stuff.

I say that because my first few jobs were poorly finished, and all but one of those customers have come back. It had more to do with poor choices in finish than actual skill. I used a couple of those stain varnish mixes, and had a lot of trouble with them, but still the point is that people don't really tend to notice.
 
Last edited:
Gary,

I took a quick look online at that gun that you are getting. Looks top notch and I'll bet that you are going to really like it.

tod was talking about water based finishes and I have found that with a pressure feed HVLP gun the 1.2 tip works really good for all of the ones that I have sprayed. I think that would translate to a 1.4 or slightly larger tip on a gravity feed gun. I think that you probably got the gun with the three tip sizes anyway although you will likely never use the 2.2 for what you are doing.

In the next couple of weeks I am going to try my HVLP on a couple of automobile panels instead of using my high pressure gun, that is if I can keep my courage up. Hope that I do not have to sand and refinish.
 
Since my entire experience is based on car refinishing, here is what I expect. I just moved from Los Angeles, where a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari are common sights. I would often see a Rolls that had been repainted. Those long, flat doors are a killer, and I could spot the bad body work and 'orange peel' on the finish while the car rolled past me at 20 mph or so. Frequently. My wife got tired of me pointing this out in our travels around town.

Flat surfaces are the hardest to hide defects. The eye doesn't pick up on irregularities on curves, such as on fender crowns. A lot of the new cars I see coming right from the showroom exhibit orange peel. I assume that is from the environmentally driven switchover to water base paints.

I'm driven to buy the best gun I can get to avoid such defects. A lot of the work I do will be with tints directly sprayed on the wood, with an automotive clear coat on top. Because of the durability, and the fact that I know how to control the finish to get that 'three mile deep' look.

Gary
 
I'm driven to buy the best gun I can get to avoid such defects. A lot of the work I do will be with tints directly sprayed on the wood, with an automotive clear coat on top. Because of the durability, and the fact that I know how to control the finish to get that 'three mile deep' look.

Gary

gary,
check with your paint supplier before you start squirting catylized automotive finishes on something as mobile as wood....besides being 5-50 times the cost of nitrocellouse lacquer you may find that the finish manufacturer won`t stand behind their product if it`s applied over wood.
just something to think about....
 
Auto Finishes

Tod,

As I stated earlier. I sprayed a Maple butcher block dining table in 1999 with Glasserit Clear 2-part finish (catalyst). After sanding, I sprayed the wood first with auto sealer.

Eight years later, the finish looks as good as it did when applied. My home is on the city line of Santa Monica, so in summer, we have foggy, damp nights, and dry desert heat during the day.

You're right about the cost, though. Furniture finishes are new to me, but I'm sure I won't be hit with $150+ per gallon like some of the car stuff.

Gary
 
Gary,

Fender used to spray auto paint on the guitar bodies. Didn't seem to be a problem.
 
Top