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HVLP Gun: How much do I love thee?

rasher | Posted in Tools for Home Building on February 10, 2009 11:05am

Wagner Conversion HVLP gun-
How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
1. You cost me only $130.00
2. You hook into my existing Makita MAK700 compressor and run just fine
3. You spray Sherwin Williams Wood and Wall Primer thinned with a little mineral spirits (1/2-2/3 pint per gallon)
4. You spray Benjamin Moore Latex Satin Impervo with a bit of Floetrol and some water like a champ.
5. The finish is PERFECT!
6. It’s faster than a brush and no brush marks.
7. You’re quicker to clean than a brush.
8. I only have to mask with 3″ tape at cut edges. No overspray.
9. I don’t even have to clean you that well. You run great and I’m a slob!

Sigh… My heart flutters for my Wagner HVLP gun. Google gleem painting or something like that and buy one from them. You too can know love.

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Replies

  1. YesMaam27577 | Feb 10, 2009 11:58pm | #1

    Alas, my Wagner HVLP conversion gun finally "met its maker" just last week. The thing was 6 or 7 years old, and had been used many times. I used it to spray latex paint, deck stains, varnish, shellac, oil paint -- the works.

    Mine was the model that had the separate cup for the paint, with hoses going from there to the gun. I had originally thought that I needed it that way, because I commonly varnish the insides of cabinets -- though I needed the separate tank in order to point the gun straight up (wrong).

    And on saturday, the pressurized paint hose puked -- one of the end fittings came apart. I was on-site way out in the sticks, and I had no way to repair it And without the hose, no effective way to empty the hoses and gun so i could clean it. I did all I could, but the gun quickly got caked with dried latex.

    So, I am now the proud owner of a new HVLP conversion gun, bought from one of the local auto parts stores. Just under $100, and it just did a great job with shellac on some tables I'm making.

    Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
    1. rasher | Feb 11, 2009 01:07am | #3

      I have the one with the one quart cup attached. It works fine spraying sideways and pointing straight up or down. The cup is sealed and pressurized, and I've done the inside of cabinets and it worked great. Words cannot express the profound depth of my love for this tool.

  2. Waters | Feb 11, 2009 12:35am | #2

    Sold.

     

  3. User avater
    PeterJ | Feb 11, 2009 01:16am | #4

    Wow, really? I've got a $$$ Sharp I bought mostly for solvent finishes, but did buy a tip and needle for latex. Just kills me to run that abrasive crudd through it, though.

    Maybe this could be my beater gun. How much do you need to thin to get the acrylic to spray well?

     

    Everything will be okay in the end.  If it's not okay, it's not the end. 

    1. rasher | Feb 11, 2009 01:42am | #5

      I'm just getting in to my second project with the gun and I haven't dug up my records for thinning the latex paint yet. I'll get to that.For the record, I use Sherwin Williams Wall and Wood primer and I thin it with about 1/2 to 2/3 pints of mineral spirits per gallon. Stir it in there and mark the can.For finish paint, I do two coats of Benjamin Moore Latex Stain Impervo. It is the best trim paint. Period. I thin it with Floetrol to the instructions on the bottle and I just can't remember how much water I used. Not much. It shoots up just a little "splattery" but then it levels out perfect perfect.Better spend more time filling and sanding, though, because your perfect finish will show everything.The inspiration for this post, by the way, is that I sort of cleaned my gun last year, the last time I used it. Since then and now I've forgotten everything about how to use it. This morning I pulled it out, dumped some thinner in an old can 1/2 full of primer, plugged it into my compressor, fired it up and was painting immediately. Had all of the baseboard, 3 door casings, 2 doors, and 3 window casings (all trim is complex victorian built-up) primed in 75 minutes and it took another 5 to clean up. I'll fill any parts I missed tonight, sand tomorrow morning and spray my first coat up tomorrow. Second coat the next day and my trim is done. Perfect.

    2. YesMaam27577 | Feb 11, 2009 03:30am | #6

      When I've shot latex through my HVLP, I thin it about 1/3 -- and if I'm working outside, I thin with denatured alcohol. It helps the drying time, enough that even if a second coat is needed (due to thinning) it's a non-issue.

      Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.

      1. User avater
        PeterJ | Feb 11, 2009 07:15pm | #7

        The alcohol is an interesting idea, you do it at 33% also?

        That's some serious thinning, most latex reccomends a max of 10%. Ever experience any problems? I don't even know what they might be, but can imagine film strength is compromised somewhat.

          

        Everything will be okay in the end.  If it's not okay, it's not the end. 

        1. YesMaam27577 | Feb 12, 2009 11:45pm | #8

          >>"The alcohol is an interesting idea, you do it at 33% also?"Well, I actually never measure when I'm using latex, so maybe it's 10%, or maybe it's 40%.No, had no problems. Over the years, I've learned that the most important element of applying latex paint is that it must be applied -- somehow, anyhow. Just about every other aspect of the process (other than prep) seems to have negligible effect. Prior to the advent of latex, painting involved some skill. Alkyds needed to be 'flowed on' and 'brushed out'. Not so with latex -- slap it on, slather it on, spray it on, then let it dry. It's gonna show brush strokes anyway.I'm betting that I could paint barns using a pressure washer, if I could only get the latex into the water system.

          Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.

          1. danski0224 | Feb 13, 2009 03:52pm | #10

            I'm betting that I could paint barns using a pressure washer, if I could only get the latex into the water system.

            Use the hose designed to pick up the soap concentrate...

            That problem was easy :)

          2. rasher | Feb 13, 2009 10:09pm | #11

            I just noticed on the new bottle of Floetrol I bought today that they say you can add up to one quart per gallon (1:4) of latex paint when used with spray equipment. My new can of BM Satin Impervo does not specify maximum acceptable thinning.
            In my limited experience, thinned too much and it's hard to keep control of sags and runs. Thinned too little and the paint spits and sprayout is inconsistent. Once you've got your mix tweaked and spraying out right, though, it goes super fast.I've got the #4 (slightly larger) spray set being delivered today, so we'll see how much less thinning I can get by with on the Impervo.

          3. fatboy2 | Feb 14, 2009 03:00am | #12

            I use alcohol, also, but for a different reason. When I thinned latex to spray with HVLP using water, the added water took so long to flash that I couldn't control drips and runs on vertical surfaces. When I began using alcohol it flashes so fast (at least at 8000ft in Colorado) that I have little difficulty. I only have a 1.4mm tip, so it needs to be somewhat "fluid", so there is more alcohol, perhaps, than if I had a 2.0 tip.
            Stef

  4. Billy | Feb 13, 2009 04:13am | #9

    I have one of those Husky conversion guns, also from Gleem Paint in Mississippi.  I had to replace the regulator at one point, but that's it.

    I also got splattering when I used the BM Satin Impervo and I didn't like that too much.  It did even out OK.  The next time I'll thin it a little more.  I like the ddenatured alcohol idea from Yes Maam.

    Billy

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