HVLP sprayers

[Paul Dawson]

As it happens that Wolf Compressor is the same as a Clarke one sold by Machine Mart - if the manager at MM can negotiate on price I'll buy one locally. If not it'll be ordered from the UKHS ebay site as their ebay sales are cheaper than their own website at the moment.

Manager at MM not interested at all - tried to say it was a different unit with different fittings. Like Clarke actually build their own compressors - I think not. So ordered from UKHS and it will be here tomorrow. (The other half just so happens to be away all day tomorrow so no )

Thanks chaps for your comments and advice. At least I've tidied the garage up now.

[1972nail]

Well done Paul. Enjoy the painting learning curve!

Check out a few videos on setting up your spraygun on YouTube and experiment a bit first.

[droopsnoot]

Then I discovered there's no power near to where the compressor will be and you can't use extension leads.

I'm glad I didn't know that. My shed is long and thin, around 65' long, and has the mains socket and doorway in the front end, but I do all the "work" at the rear end. So I have a long extension lead from the socket to a six-way block on the wall above my bench. This is where the compressor gets plugged in, and it seems to work just fine.

I suspect the issue is current drop, but I haven't found it to be an issue, although I think I've had to increase the settings on my welder to compensate - I've never tried this one closer to a wall socket, so cannot say for sure. And I don't have lots of stuff running at the same time - as it's only me working, when the welder is on, the grinder isn't, and so on. In any case, longer air pipes aren't that expensive, so you could extend the working range that way if necessary.

I've got a Sealey 3hp 50L compressor that I got from eBay some time ago. Although it's too late now, I'd echo comments about the tank size - bigger the better. I bought the 50l because all I wanted to do was spray my engine bay. Then along come Aldi with their fancy air tools, dead cheap (3" cut-off tool, £9.99, or wait until they're getting rid of stock and they're £4.99), 3 year warranty, and now I use it quite a lot and it does spend a lot of time trying to keep up.

[1972nail]

It's not 'current drop' that is the problem, it's voltage drop. The lower the voltage the higher the current has to be to supply the demand of the motor and that's particularly high on start up for compressor. Although a 2hp compressor should be OK on a reasonably chunky extension lead fully unwound.

The Wolf 3hp belt drive I have is OK on a really thick homemade extension lead as it has 'soft start' motor to prevent over current on start up.

[ShaBro]

I wish that I had seen that devilbiss gun last year when I bought the Sealey one I have, which is ok for rough stuff, but it wasn't particularly good for top coats.
I have a Sealey the same as Mike's by the sound of it and I'll agree that I wish I'd gone for something bigger as it always seems to be playing catch up, although it has improved since I got a wall mounted regulator/oiler/water trap - the regulator on the compressor is rubbish.

[droopsnoot]

It's not 'current drop' that is the problem, it's voltage drop. The lower the voltage the higher the current has to be to supply the demand of the motor and that's particularly high on start up for compressor. Although a 2hp compressor should be OK on a reasonably chunky extension lead fully unwound.

The Wolf 3hp belt drive I have is OK on a really thick homemade extension lead as it has 'soft start' motor to prevent over current on start up.

That makes some sense. When the capacitor had gone I noticed it was taking out the fuse in the contact-breaker at the top end of the extension rather than the one on the compressor plug, that would probably explain it.

[Paul Dawson]

Hmm - tried this out on the front panel. Took about 30 seconds to paint the panel, and 30 minutes to clean the gun afterwards. I can see I need to schedule my painting differently.

[1972nail]

Hmm - tried this out on the front panel. Took about 30 seconds to paint the panel, and 30 minutes to clean the gun afterwards. I can see I need to schedule my painting differently.

Where's the pics!

I agree gun cleaning is a pain. I 'percolate' the gun before stripping. Makes cleaning a lot easier and less messy.

http://youtu.be/Q0gPk_lSIu8

Although, I hold a damp rag over the loosened air cap to help force the air back through the gun. Always put the cup cover on and wear goggles! About 25 to 50 ml of solvent is all that is needed.

Don't throw the solvent away. Put in a glass bottle with a screw top and use it for cleaning again. I usually drop the air cap and paint tip in it while I'm cleaning the needle and gun body.

If I'm using the gun later in the day for the same paint I usually just pour the excess paint into a clean screw top glass jar, a quick percolate, and leave the solvent in the gun until later.

It's just a matter of draining the solvent, blast the gun dry and refill with paint.

[Paul Dawson]

Oh yes - I save all the 'dirty' solvent. Left in a jar it settles out and can be used for cleaning several times. Then I get lots of jars and forget which is which

I'm not sure what you're meant to do with old solvent. I have an old tin with waste solvent in it, I'll have to ask at the tip if they take it.

Back to the painting, it was just another coat of Bonda Primer so it doesn't look any different from before. I'll leave that a good week or so (no time off anyway for a week) and then I can get some grey primer onto it.

I have a feeling my patch and repair idea is going to end up being a whole respray. We shall see. I'll update in the project thread in Restoration.

[1972nail]

It might be advisable to keep a cheap spray gun for primer only that way you won't need to clean it so rigorously.