HVLP Questions

[Jack Wilson]

I am thinking of getting an HVLP system, but have noticed that all the guns come with a cup, over or under. Does any one sell an HVLP system that has 2 hoses, so that the cup is NOT attached to the gun? Pretty much like a conventional spray system... Thanks

[David Hawxhurst]

it sounds like you want a pressure pot system. most the better ones can be bought as a pressure pot system without the cup.

[Rick Lizek]

It's called a pressure pot and can be added to the cup under type guns as an option.
http://www.harborfreight.com/profess...kit-93305.html

[Julie Moriarty]

http://www.hvlpsales.com/pressurepot.html

There's a video on the site showing a guy spraying siding with his HVLP gun attached to a pressure pot. The siding looks like what I have on my house. I sprayed stain on our exterior siding last year using an airless sprayer. It was MUCH faster than what the guy in the video is achieving and coated better. And with the extension on the sprayer, it made the job that much easier. Oh, and one other thing I did different from the guy in the video, I wore a respirator.

[David Kumm]

Most of the cup guns can be converted. spraygunworld and Jeff Jewet(sp) site have lots of info and are good about answering questions. They sell some similar stuff. googling hvlp should bring up both sites. Dave

[Peter Quinn]

There are lots of guns that can convert to pressure pot use (two hose set up, coating external in the pot), pretty much any cup under gun should work, a few HVLP guns can do gravity, cup under, and pressure pot. Apollo comest to mind, maybe SATA and binks too. Julie mentioned the airless sprayer, its my impression or understanding that those are really meant for just what it was used for, house painting, or covering lots of distance on architectural millwork. They don't really give a first rate clear finish on fine cabinetry. Maybe somebody will tell me I'm wrong, but when I was looking into this some time back, thats the way it was described to me at a local paint shop. Good guns for wood working are closer to auto body types, less about high pressure required to spray mass amounts of thick house paints. My HVLP rig has a cap and needle set to do thinned latex, but its very slow, and you don't really want to have to thin your coatings for exterior house painting...thinner means more coats means more work not less.

I'm no expert on this, I know there are AA (air assisted), and AAA (air assisted airless), that get used for spraying clears and lacquers, people seem to like them for thicker water borne stuff, and then there are the airless rigs for spraying mud thick laytex.


Keep in mind with the pressure pot set up you now have a lot more stuff to clean when you are done, so you have to have a lot of surface to cover to make it worth the trouble, but it does give you a very light compact gun to hold.

[David Kumm]

Also keep in mind that you need multiple tips as a pressure pot delivers more finish than gravity. Peter is correct, you don't want airless. You can get a pretty nice gravity with multiple tips and cups for 100-200 and the pressure set up adds another 100-150. Dave

[Julie Moriarty]

On the site I linked, the video there showed the guy spraying exterior siding. Thus the mention of the airless. I would never use an airless for woodworking.

I'm doing a pretty big project (35 cabinet doors) and have the gravity fed cup. I think it's a pint or so. I just fill it up a couple of times per coating. A pressure pot, to me, would be overkill. Plus you have to introduce a compressor and with that comes moisture and oil filters. The HVLP system is neat and clean and works great. So I wondered what project would require a pressure pot and all that comes with it?

[Peter Quinn]

On the site I linked, the video there showed the guy spraying exterior siding. Thus the mention of the airless. I would never use an airless for woodworking.

I'm doing a pretty big project (35 cabinet doors) and have the gravity fed cup. I think it's a pint or so. I just fill it up a couple of times per coating. A pressure pot, to me, would be overkill. Plus you have to introduce a compressor and with that comes moisture and oil filters. The HVLP system is neat and clean and works great. So I wondered what project would require a pressure pot and all that comes with it?

Some like them for doing complex shapes, cabinet interiors where a cup would be in the way, or spraying massive volumes daily where that time spent filling the gun would get bothersome. I too have never needed more finish than a 750 ml cup could handle, but if I were spraying all day holding nearly 1 qrt of extra weight would lead to wrist fatigue. I'm thinking factory or pro finishing all day. I just switched to the PPS system and love the convienence that delivers. Lets you spray at any angle with a gravity gun, which is another convienence of a pressure pot or loses system.

[Jack Wilson]

I have a pressure system, I also have two airless sprayers for large painting jobs, usually spraying Kilz after fires, but what I am looking for at this point is something small and of the HPLV style. I want to shellac jewelry box sized projects, so no big system needed, I just hoped to avoid the added bulk and weight of having the cup right there at the gun.

Julie, a LOT of jewelry box sized projects, looking to go into production mode with these.

Peter, what is a PPS system, I'll research it myself, but still would like your insight and opinion.

Thanks everybody for all your input.

[mreza Salav]

I have a pressure system, I also have two airless sprayers for large painting jobs, usually spraying Kilz after fires, but what I am looking for at this point is something small and of the HPLV style. I want to shellac jewelry box sized projects, so no big system needed, I just hoped to avoid the added bulk and weight of having the cup right there at the gun.

Julie, a LOT of jewelry box sized projects, looking to go into production mode with these.

Peter, what is a PPS system, I'll research it myself, but still would like your insight and opinion.

Thanks everybody for all your input.

I have a Lemmer HVLP with PPS system, it's very slick and I love it. Basically, a liner goes into a cup and the finish goes into the liner. The cup is pressurized and will squeeze liner so you always get the finish flowing thorough the gun no matter how you hold the gun. You can exchange liners with different finishes easily, and keeps the cup clean. It's a bit pricy but I'm glad I have it.
Here is the link to 3M site: http://3mcollision.com/products/featured-products/pps

[Mike Henderson]

I use a gravity feed HVLP gun (actually a couple of guns) and have never felt that the cup was a problem. To me, the pressure pot system is best when you have to spray upside down, or need to have a minimum size gun to get into the space. If you're going to do small projects, the pressure pot is really overkill - unless you're doing production work. And cleaning a pressure pot is a bit more work than just a cup, although the liners make it easier.

Mike

[johnny means]

Jack, I have a nice Titan 5 stage turbine set-up with a 2 gl pressure pot. It takes more finish to fill my hose than it would take to cover your small projects. Also, don't underestimate the difficulty of handling a gun attached to a heavy paint line. Sure it gets into tight spaces brilliantly, but it is by no means easier to handle than a cup. Also, be prepared to invest an afternoon to cleaning after every finish session or between colors, finishes. My pot is my go to set-up because most of my jobs require 5-10 gallons of finish. But, when I have a few drawer boxes or an odd part to spray, my cup system is just what the dr. ordered.

[keith micinski]

I havent even drug my airless sprayer out in over a year because of the waste, overspray and most importantly the CLEANUP. I also have gotten away from my Earlex HVLP because I like to do a lot of white and the Earlex just doesn't handle latex's very well at all. I ended up buying a HVLP kit with a small gun and a large quart gun and I use my little pancake air compressor believe it or not with it a lot and it works great on finishes and also does a pretty good job on paints to. I haven't had any issue with water from the compressor yet and cleanup literally only takes about 2 minutes and there is very little waste at all.

[Jim Becker]

I have two Wagner guns...one with an attached 1 Qt cup and one with a remote 2 Qt pot. The latter is really nice for when you need to spray into close quarters. But the downside is that it's best for larger projects due to the extra cleanup and finish waste that is part of that process.