Harbor Freight HVLP Spray Gun?

[Bruce Dorsi]

I know these have been discussed several times in the past, but for some reason the search feature failed to locate the old threads for me.

I know Sumner and several others have purchased and recommended these HVLP spray guns.

Has anyone used them for spraying lacquer with good results?

Which model # should I be considering?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[34ford]

Here you go Bruce. It's listed on Sumners page  



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/techinfo/HVLPspraygun.html

[Kctom]

I know these have been discussed several times in the past, but for some reason the search feature failed to locate the old threads for me.

I know Sumner and several others have purchased and recommended these HVLP spray guns.

Has anyone used them for spraying lacquer with good results?

Which model # should I be considering?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Guess you get what you pay for. I bought one and tossed it in the trash the first time i used it. Maybe i'm too pickey

[enjenjo]

I have  one I have been using for 4 years now, no problems. I have not used it for laquer, but it's great for urethanes or enamels.

[kb426]

I fight orange peel with it. If you don't mind sanding and buffing, the mechanics of the 40340 are fine. I believe that is the part number. The experts tell me that the lower cost guns will not atomize the paint as good as the higher priced ones. I've been repeatedly told that Sata is the best. If I keep painting, that's what I'm going to buy. I'm not a master but I've painted alot through the years. The change over to hvlp hasn't been difficult with the exception of more orange peel than I should have. May be incompetence on my part.

[WZ JUNK]

I know these have been discussed several times in the past, but for some reason the search feature failed to locate the old threads for me.

I know Sumner and several others have purchased and recommended these HVLP spray guns.

Has anyone used them for spraying lacquer with good results?

Which model # should I be considering?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Guess you get what you pay for. I bought one and tossed it in the trash the first time i used it. Maybe i'm too pickey

Funny how life goes.  One mans trash is another mans treasure.  I have over 20 spray guns and some of them are expensive ones.  The HVLP Harbor Freight paint gun is the only one I use.

[sirstude]

I have one of the Harbor Freight guns, great for primer.  The tip is a bit too big for clear.  My friend that has a body shop, has had every hvlp gun that is made, and still does his topcoat with a Sata gravity feed NON-hvlp gun.  He says they always have to "scuff and buff" with the hvlp types on the clear coat. Now in my case, since I have to sand everything anyway, it does not really matter much.

Doug

[EMSjunkie]

I got one for X-mas last year, took it out of the box,
looked at it, put it back in the box.

hope to use it soon, getting ready for paint  

I'll let you know.

Vance

[48builder]

I got one for X-mas last year, took it out of the box,
looked at it, put it back in the box.

hope to use it soon, getting ready for paint  



I bought mine several years ago on Sumners recomendation. I never even opened the box. It's still sitting on a shelf. I too hope to use it this year if all goes well.

[1FATGMC]

I have one of the Harbor Freight guns, great for primer.  The tip is a bit too big for clear.  My friend that has a body shop, has had every hvlp gun that is made, and still does his topcoat with a Sata gravity feed NON-hvlp gun.  He says they always have to "scuff and buff" with the hvlp types on the clear coat. Now in my case, since I have to sand everything anyway, it does not really matter much.

Doug

Hi Doug, which gun is it? The one we are talking about has a 1.4 tip and that seems pretty good.  I bought the larger tips for primer, but never use them.  I never mix the highbuild primer in the really highbuild option.

If a person wants a finish that is almost as good as a color sanded and a buffed one without as much work there is a trick a friend of mine showed me.  Put on 2-3 coats of clear.  Then block sand that flat with 400-600 grit wet.  That will go way faster than color sanding with the lighter weights of paper.  Then shoot one more coat of clear.  It will be really flat.   Try it sometime.

One thing I want to clear up is that the Harbor Freight gun is not a Sata, but it doesn't cost over $500 either.  I think it is as good as any gun you will find under $500 and way better than what we used 15 to 20 years ago no mater what price you paid for it.  Another good thing for the occasional painter like myself is that the Sata needs lots more air and puts out lots more paint.  Laying down paint faster is good for a production shop where the painter paints all the time and has really good gun control.  It can be a challenge to some of us that only paint occasionally.  The HF gun and others like it are a slower gun and are, I believe, a little more forgiving of bad gun control.

Still I think most of us will want to color sand and buff if we want a really nice paint job and then the orange peel is not a big thing, just more work.  With the newer hook-n-loop methods of sanding and using a "good" sander/buffer this can go pretty fast, but try sanding the clear more aggressively like I mentioned above and shooting one more coat of clear and yo will be surprised how good that looks.

c ya, Sum

[Glen]

This is gun finish, it had not been buffed or wet sanded yet.

I sprayed this with Epoxy primer, surfacer primer, base, flake w/ clear, then clear with my two $40 guns.

[purplepickup]

I really like my HF guns too.  When they discontinued the 38308 they had a clearance sale and I bought a second one because I liked the first one so much.  The more familiar you get with it, the better the paint jobs come out.  You get the "feel" for what's right for the type of paint you're spraying. The suggestions for settings on Sumner's website are real good too. One thing I like about it is the low air consumption (2.8-8.0 cfm).  That works well with my single stage compressor.  Since they don't sell that gun anymore, all this means nothing unless you want to make some comparisons to the guns they sell now.

I've never used either of the guns they have now.  The model 43430 uses 9.5-14.8 CFM but the 90977 only uses 5.91 CFM @ 29 PSI.  If I was looking for a budget gun, I'd be tempted to try one of the 90977's when they're on sale.  

The HF gun that I really like is the 46719 HVLP detail gun.  A lot of things I paint are small parts where I don't need a big spray pattern and this gun is really handy for stuff like motorcycle tanks, brackets, frames.  It's got a wide range of adjustment from very focused for a shot into a hard to get at corner or wide enough to cover larger areas.  It atomizes nice too.  I don't get any orange peel.

One bad thing about HF guns is that they have a plastic cup with a nut molded in where it attaches to the gun.  I don't always use a wrench to take the cup off and the plastic cracks around the nut like this.



I fixed it with a turned down piece of a 3/4" black pipe connector threaded onto the plastic.  I heated it a little to just barely melt the plastic as it threaded on.  It's cobbled but it works.


On the new cups that haven't cracked I just put a hose clamp on and they don't crack.


Somebody told me that a metal cup off a Sata will thread right on but I'm too cheap to get one.

Edit:  Wow, that's really nice Glen.  If you get the settings right, HF guns can really do some nice work.  Which gun did you use on that?

[Glen]

George, they now sell a steel cup for that gun.  I bought two of them.  I found the plastic difficult to clean after many uses.

[1FATGMC]

The HF gun that I really like is the 46719 HVLP detail gun.  A lot of things I paint are small parts where I don't need a big spray pattern and this gun is really handy for stuff like motorcycle tanks, brackets, frames.  It's got a wide range of adjustment from very focused for a shot into a hard to get at corner or wide enough to cover larger areas.  It atomizes nice too.  I don't get any orange peel.

That is good to know.  I recently bought one on sale for about $40 I think, but probably won't use it until I start painting the lakester parts.  I though it would be good for small parts and the frame and also later when I repaint 1FATGMC and need to do the flames.  I shot the flames on the teardrop with the big gun, but it would be easier to use the detail gun.

Glen do you have  a part number for the metal cups?  BTW great paint job.  I'm impressed   .

c ya, Sum

[EMSjunkie]

I'm impressed too  

the HVLP gun in question is the same one I have
the 430340 or whatever  :?
has the 1.4mm tip.

I'm getting stoked now  

hope my paint turns out half as good as Glens


Vance