All,
My wife wanted to buy new bedroom furniture for the daughter and I made a deal that I would re-paint the existing furniture if we used the money to buy me an HVLP sprayer instead. I’ve got to get this done quickly or the deals off, so I don’t have a lot of time to research. So, I need some advice. Here are my constraints.
First, I’m a hobbyist woodworker but also restoring an old house.
1) The deal with the wife includes re-finishing ~4 pieces of painted furniture plus a great deal of painted and stained interior trim and doors. So, whatever I get will have to have good results with latex and be safe to operate indoors. I would also use it to spray water-based poly on unpainted trim and stained raised panel doors
2) I also want the system to be applicable to my woodworking — water based poly or solvent based finishes sprayed outside. For instance I’m planning on building a painted built-in entertainment center.
3) I have no compressor now, but need one to run finish nailers (currently borrowing a pancake, but that deal is set to end soon). So, I’m up for a conversion gun if it makes the most sense. However, my (old) house is short of 20A circuits. So, if I go the compressor/conversion-gun route it needs to be with a compressor that will not constantly trip by breakers. I think this limits me to 5-6CFM. This is my preferred route if we can make it work, because I need the compressor anyway.
4) My budget is ~$500
So, I’m considering:
Option 1: ~15 A, 5-6 CFM, ~20-25 gal air compressor and a conversion type HVLP gun. How much waiting around will I have to do waiting for the compressor to catch-up? Will I be satisfied with the quality of the conversion gun and of the waiting at lower CFM? Any recommendations?
Option 2: Same a #1, except I just work with a high-pressure gun. I don’t think I’ll be spraying enough for material cost to be the issue. It will be more about the overspray mess inside the house. Any recommendations?
Option 3: A Campbell-Housfeld 2 stage system (model HV 2500 — Home Depot for about $300), and then buy my own pancake compressor for the nail guns with the remaining $200 in the budget. Will I be satisfied with the 2 stage while spraying latex?
Option 4: A Campbell-Housfeld 3 stage system (model HV 3000 — Grizzly for about $500). Will I be satisfied spraying latex. Is it worth the extra $200?
Again, my preferred option is #1, because I get think I get airpower I need for nailing along with the HVLP capability for painting. Just not sure if ~5-6 CFM will be enough to run the HVLP system and not sure how an HP system will be indoors.
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Cheers,
Eric
Replies
Wow, these get buried fast. Self bumping...
Edited 5/28/2006 7:46 am ET by Eric
I've heard several people comment that they've gotten excellent advice from Jeff Jewitt re: HVLP. YOu might want to check out this page:
http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/htdocs/asturo3.htm
and post in his forum. The holiday weekend may hinder fast responses though. Jeff responds personally quite frequently.
I have some concerns about Campbell Hausfeld as a brand per se but based on very skimpy info at this point. You might also try cross-posting at Breaktime, the construction guys' forum.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
You don't need much CFM to do nailing. I use a less than $100 C-H 2 gal 23 lb. portable for this and it keeps up fine. So as another option, consider just a low-end, portable compressor to run the nailers and a turbine-based HVLP that will run fine on <15A 120V.
Eric, unfortunately, there is no one solution to your needs. As to spraying latex paint, the cheap wagner airless sprayers do a good job - I have no idea what they cost or whether you can rent one. To spray clear finishes - you will want either a turbine based system - which range form $100 - 800 or so, or a compressor and a conversion gun. The conversion guns range from about $80 for an entry level up to $400 for a great gun. If your compressor puts out 5 cfm, you will want a fairly decent sized tank ( at least 20 gal ?) so that you can spray an entire side of a peice before you need to stop and let the compressor catch up. While it seems like one sprayer would handle latex and clear coats - they are totally different animals - in my opinion. Most clear coats are not much thicker than water. Latex paint is often the consistency of something much thicker - heavy cream to nearly mayonaise. If you think you will be spraying clear coats much in the future, would suggest using a brush or a roller for the paint , buy a cheap HYLP gun - jeff at homestead finishing, and the spray gun doctor at spraygun world both have entry guns in the $100 range and spend the rest of the money on a good compressor. That way if in the future you decide to upgrade your spray gun you will have a good compresor. Good Luck and strike while the iron is hot. Barry
I have sprayed oil based paint,not latex with a Porter Cable HVLP sprayer. $79.00 at Tyler Tools. I use a Quincy 20 gal compressor. This setup does an excellent job for less than $500.00. I imagine you can get a decent compressor for $350.00 or so.
I think you will get a better finish with oil based paint.
mike
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