Old HF paint gun help please

[Beck]

I have been using one of the old HF non HVLP paint guns for years. It worked great for a long time. A year or so ago I noticed it wasn't flowing as much paint. I didn't clean it I just added a few brass washers to the needle valve which opened it further. It worked but not like it used to. With my recent painting disaster on my project. I decided it was time to clean it up. I had to take the washers back out... There is just one problem since the cleanup. The paint will occasionally sputter coming out of the tip. I noticed while cleaning that there are bubbles coming up into the cup. I guess every once in a while a bubble goes through the tip. I had this thing all apart. If it came apart I took it apart. I think I have something just not sealed. There was a small seal on the trigger valve/spring assy. Does anyone know these guns enough to tell me where to look?
I hate to pitch it since I know it paints well. I do have a new in the box HVLP version of the gun. (just printed instructions from Sumners sight)  It has been in the cabinet for at least a year. It might be time to make the switch. If it saves paint it saves $$ right? Occasionally I take a spray gun to work for a little job. The old one would be a good gun to just let there so I wouldn't have to carry one around.
Thanks guys

[wayne petty]

i have not even opened the hf spray gun i bought a few years ago... but i was raised in a paint store and fixing spray guns was part of my dutys....

i would look at  where the fluid tip seals to the gun body.....   you are using a tool to remove it right.....

got a sharpie marker.   do the seal area and install the fluid tip ... see if it is seating...

the center threaded part where the needle lives .. is connected to the suction line up from the cup/// this is where i would think the leak may be at... or if it has a removable front section.. where the front section and the handle body meets...  ... can you post a side image of the spray gun...

some times the forward section is retained with the fan ajustment assy....

lets see a close up.... side ,   air cap... fluid needle....

once in a while there is a nick in the tapered seat on the fluid tip do to pliers being used...  or the end of the fluid tip got bent over when the gun got dropped with the air cap off.....

additional info...

there are 3 passages to the fluid tip..

fan air
main air
suction line to the paint cup...

the main air flows around the tiny tip and creates the suction to extract the paint when the needle is retracted...

the fan air forces the round spray into a fan pattern...

the suction area has the main needle and turns on and off the paint flow... and can limit the paint flow.....

[1FATGMC]

Tom are you sure that the vent on the top of the cup is not plugged.  I seem to remember mine acting like that once when the vent was plugged.  

I just took mine apart.  There is a bushing, maybe seal, that the tip goes through.  I see it is like a nut on the nozzle side.  I've never taken that out though.  On mine the needle tip is right flush with the front of the nozzle opening when the trigger is "not" pulled.

I'm close to wiring the lakester, but every time I look at all of those wires I go to something else.  I'll tell you what. You come out and get the wiring working and I'll give you my gun   .  I copied your wiring diagrams and sent them to another guy who runs a 750 in a lakester at b'ville (current record holder).  He liked them.  He is wiring pretty much the same as you, with a few other changes.

Let me know if you need pictures of the HF gun or anything.  One thing I really like about it is you can have it completly apart in a few seconds and that really helps to keep it clean.

Sum

[Beck]

The gun is at work now so I can't take photos. I will take the front apart again tomorrow and check the sealing surface. I may have the needle seat area scuffed. It has not been dropped but I used a drill bit as a file to make sure it "cleaned out". I don't think it is the needle seating on the tapered surface. Thinner bubbles in the cup when the trigger is pulled so the needle is off the seat. I expect it is the seal on the fluid tip to body seal. I hate to admit it but I put the body in a bead blaster to fine clean it. I may have destroyed it instead. The chrome on the body didn't survive long at all. Yea, call me a redneck. I love the bead blaster. I have destroyed things with it in the past. I blasted the brass on the body that the fluid tip seals on. I'll act like a German tomorrow and make sure the head is "gootentite" with the wrench and not the Chanel-Lock I used last time. Dumb redneck! (I used to be a redhead, but the hair fell out. Now the best I can be is a redneck)
I got the new one out tonight to look it over. I like purple.. The chrome is shot on the old one.. Hmmmmm.. You know what I'm think'in.

[Beck]

I gave up. I took it apart again today and couldn't find the problem. It sparys but just hickups every now and then. I will just let it at work for those little jobs I bring in that don't have to be perfect.
I'll pick up another spare 43430 when the are real cheap again. I see they are $40 in yesterdays flyer. With only $20 spent on the new gun it just isn't worth the time and paint to work on the old gun. I wanted to make the move to the HVLP anyway.

[1FATGMC]

I gave up. I took it apart again today and couldn't find the problem. It sparys but just hickups every now and then. I will just let it at work for those little jobs I bring in that don't have to be perfect.
I'll pick up another spare 43430 when the are real cheap again. I see they are $40 in yesterdays flyer. With only $20 spent on the new gun it just isn't worth the time and paint to work on the old gun. I wanted to make the move to the HVLP anyway.

I didn't notice before that the old gun was "non" HVLP.  You will like the HVLP, less paint to buy and less paint on everything in the shop.

They had the new ones on sale a couple months ago for $20.  I bought 2.  $40 is still a good deal for the gun. Now I need to get the other side of my shop cleaned out so I can actually paint something there.

c ya,

Sum

[purplepickup]

Keep an eye on the online price too.  Our HF will honor those prices and they are lower than the in-store sales many times.  The 43430 is 29.99 online right now. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=43430   Plus there's a 15% off coupon on the back page of the flyer that expires on 4/7 too.