Critter Sprayer from WoodCraft

[Brad Hammond]

looking for input on these.
anyone used one with any success? my spraying needs are light, but when i need one i really need one.
thanx
brad

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

Well, it sprays liquid. You can get a little more or less out by adjusting the suction tube. That's about it. Not very high end, I like my $20 detail gun better with fan & flow adjustments. Neither of these can put down enough finish fast enough to make top coating furniture size items very effective. They both work for toning, shading, dye application and top coats on tiny things like toys.

[Brad Hammond]

thanx eric

[GEDunton]

Have one, use it to lay on shellac as a sanding sealer, does that. Way too much overspray for much else. But it is easy to use. So fits a role.

[Curt Harms]

Originally posted by Brad H
looking for input on these.
anyone used one with any success? my spraying needs are light, but when i need one i really need one.
thanx
brad

I have one; no one'll mistake it for an Walcom or Binks but it does work. I've used it with paint with reasonable success. Thin the paint a little with the appropriate solvent and I've found about 20 PSI or so atomizes reasonably without excessive overspray. I've never tried it with shellac, lacquer, poly or any other better finishes.

Clean-up sure is easy though!!

HTH

Curt Harms

[Bob Oswin]

Originally posted by Brad H
looking for input on these.
anyone used one with any success? my spraying needs are light, but when i need one i really need one.
thanx
brad

I use mine like the other fellows to blow sanding sealer and shellac undercoats but it just is not a serious gun.
Why do I use it?
Easy to clean and you can store the shellac etc in the mason jar bases.

[Herb Blair]

I have one I bought from Lee Valley about three years ago.
Once you learn to use it, it's not bad for the price. I used it to restore a 1950 model Allis Chalmers tractor,( primer and 2 coats of paint). I don't use it much for furniture projects as I prefer to use hand-rubbed oil finishes and brushed poly.
It makes it easy to store your left over paint in mason jars though.

[Lynn Kasdorf]

The big benefit of these is that it is so easy to cleanup. There are no teensy, hidden orifices that the finish goes through- just a simple, straight feed tube. You can keep various paints, finishes, contact cement, etc in cheap mason jars. And keep a mason jar of suitable thinners for each of these.

Since it is an external mix gun, to clean up, you take of the jar with the paint or whatever, put on the jar with the proper thinner, swish it around, spray the thinner through the gun, remove thinner jar and wipe down with a rag and you are done.

For me, it is the closest thing to an aerosol can, in terms of simplicity. Results are pretty similar, too I end up using it more than my HVLP sprayer because of the ease of cleanup.

Although I've not done this yet, I plan to use my critter gun to spray contact cement next time I do laminate work. I'd never put contact cement through a "real" spray gun, unless I was dedicating the gun to that purpose. Even then, cleanup would be a bear.

[Brad Hammond]

great info.
sounds like you all use it for pretty much the same applications i had in mind.
cya
brad

[Dan Stuewe]

Hope I'm not too late on this thread..

We're installing a bunch of moulding (baseboard, crown, wainscot and char/plate rail). Actually we've already installed a great deal of it. Anyway, a big portion of the time spent on the work was/is priming and painting the MFD & poplar pieces (for most of it we primed off the wall, then painted after installation). Anyway, I was wondering if the critter would be good for priming and painting before installation, then just fill and touch up once it is up? We've been using a bargin latex primer (Kilz from HD) and good quality, eggshell paint (Dunn-Edwards). Main reason for the latex is ease of cleanup.

So is this the ticket for quicker painting with a good finish?

Thanks,

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

Dan,

Since I haven't tried this I'm only offering you my guess based on using the critter in other ways. I think a good wide brush will get the primer on quicker then the critter. I wouldn't use it for the topcoat as the atomization is "iffy" and the overspray would be pretty bad. Earlier in this thred, it was stated that someone painted a farm tractor with it. Maybe drop them an email to ask their experience on using it with paint. For low cost latex paint application, you might want to ask around about those wagner airless sprayers. They are popular, so they must work at least OK.