HVLP Gravity Feed Setup And Techniques

cblevesque

Hello...

I have two HVLP gravity feed spray guns, Porter Cable and Husky. I am an amateur with these guns but very much want to learn them. I wanted to know if there was anyone that could provide, or suggest a place to look for,

1. Instructions on configure the guns to spray correctly (setting the fluid and fan control?, in what order?, tank and regulator pressure?) Not sure if my pressure at the tank or the regulator is correct for spraying acrylic poly or laquers.

2. Advice on using the guns to spray latex paint. Thinning, Floetrol, tip size???

Thanks for any advice that you can give.

Chris

ProWallGuy

Sorry, my experience is very limited with any type of sprayer. I look forward to any answers you might receive also. :Thumbs:

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AAPaint

Ditto. Mine's all with gas and electric airless, but I am very interested in the HVLP systems. Good luck! :Thumbs:

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Leo G

He Chris - I don't think that you will be satisfied using an HVLP gun to spray latex unless you are spraying cabinets or trim. If you are using it for walls and houses get a airless high pressure type setup.

OK here goes. For shooting latex paints out of your HVLP you will need to thin your paint, probably more than you want to. For latex I usually use distilled water, for acrylic you should use floetrol. The only way to find out is to stick it into your gun and see if it sprays a good pattern. If you have a Ford #4 viscosity cup you can adjust your viscosity of the paint to around 30 seconds. As for tip size, for latex paint you should probably start around 1.9mm and go up from there. You'll probably find that a 2.2mm tip (usually used for primers) will start to look good. As for adjusting the fan and pattern, what you want to see is a slightly heavier coat in the center of the fan and tapering off as it goes to the edge. When you are spraying you want your strokes to overlap by about 50%, this will keep a good wet edge and keep the dry areas to a minimum. As for pressure read the instructions, for my gun the suggest you start at about 43 PSI. Make sure your compressor can keep up with the air requirements of your gun, I think the PC is about 7 CFM. You should have a small gun regulator that goes right before the gun (attached to the gun), this should be a constant regulator with a gauge, set the regulator for 43 PSI without the trigger pulled. Setting the fluid and fan control is a give and take proposition. When you change one, it affects the other. Try to get as small an atomized particle with a large fan as possible while still getting adequate coverage per stroke. Not so easy to explain as to show, to bad you weren't here LOL. I guess this is a good start, if you have more questions just ask.:Thumbs:


Leo

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Teetorbilt

Leo, keep talkin'. Squirting latex gives me extreme headaches.
I'm a good painter with roller/brush, don't have any problem with air guns and most paints, including Imron, Awlgrip, gelcoats, lacquers, acrylic lacquers.
HVLP and latex just don't seem to go together. I have a Campbell-Hausfeld turbo rig and a Nesco/compressor rig, neither will squirt latex worth a damn.
BTW, I bought the first rig on sale for some personal stuff, it has been retired until I can find something that it can do, like move in a yard sale. The Nesco is a knockoff of a Bink's, I shoot a lot of gelcoat and if the sucker freezes, I'm not out much.
Any advice on latex would be appreciated.

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Leo G

I've got a Husky gun that I use for latex and get very good results from it. It is a standard type siphon cup gun with a pressurized cup. It cost about $60 @ HD. This is what I use when I need to shoot latex. I thin out the paint 32 oz to 2 oz of distilled water. I set the gun up for 50 PSI with the pressurized can and it shoots pretty well. At the time I was shooting Ben Moore Acylic Enamel. It was a fairly new product and I got good results from the gun. The only problem I had was the transfer ratio was around 40% whereas a HVLP is around 65% . But if you get poor results with the HVLP what good is it anyway . When I was using the gun it was straight out of the box with no modifications or additional tips. It came with two tips, the standard type with holes to produce a fan and a different type without the air holes to make the fan. Take the one without the fan holes and toss it, it's worthless in my book.

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Custom Cabinets in Hartford County Connecticut