I am new to hvlp spray finishing. In fact this is my second project using my Earlex 5000 spray equipment.
I have noticed in both projects (spraying lacquer and now spraying oil based paint) that I am using over a half gallon of cleaner (lacquer thiner, mineral spirits). So, here is what I am doing, please tell me if I need to change something.
1. Drain as much finish as possible from the cup. About 30 seconds of holding it upside down.
2. Fill the cup about half full of solvent and swish it around. I put a plastic lid on the top and hold it tight and swish to cover the top half of the cup. I drain this out and throw it away.
3. Fill the cup about half full of solvent and put the gun on and spray it out of the gun till the cup is empty. I drain and throw this away.
4. Dissassemble the gun and put the parts (needle, nozzel, spring, adjustment knob, spray fan assembly into a container and add solvent till everything is submerged. I will save this solvent and use it in step 2 the next time.
5. While #4 is soaking I use clean solvent to wipe down the outside of the cup, gun and hose. I dispose of rags.
6. Take #4 and remove each part, swish it in solvent and blow it down with air from the hvlp unit.
7. Reassemble the gun
8. put about a half cup of solvent in the gun and spray it dry.
9 Dissamble the gun and inspect each part to see if I can see any finish material. If so I go back to step 4.
10. After everything is clean, I set each part aside to dry.
Today, I sprayed about 2/3 quart of oil based paint and used over a 1/2 gallon of mineral spirits. By time I finish this project I will have used about 2 quarts of paint and over 2 gallons of mineral spirits. It just seems like I am using too much solvent, but I can't figure out what to do differently.
Any Suggestions?