LINDA BLOSSOM on sun 20 oct 96
Hello all,
Well after waiting way too long, I'm going to finally be set up to spray
with a good booth and an HVLP setup. I chose the booth from a
recommendation that someone on the list gave. The person gave the source,
brand name, and reasons for liking the booth. I don't remember who it was,
but it shows the value of this list. I bought the large Sugar Creek booth
from Axner with a squirrel cage motor. It is fiberglass and easy to clean.
It is also large enough to get a rimmed sink in and a pedestal. Two items
that do need to be sprayed rather than brushed.
As most of you know, the HVLP means that two to three times the glaze will
be on the piece instead of in the booth or the air. I bought my HVLP
sprayer from Whitney for 80 dollars plus another 28 for an optional 1.8 mm
tip. I'd like to spray as thick as possible since I single fire and the
less water the better. I know there are better and more expensive guns out
there but I had to make some choices and decided to spend more on the
booth. I also felt that glaze was so abrasive that maybe I should think
twice about putting it through an expensive gun. It's sinks, not cars. I
thought I might try some foam pipe insulation for the handle since they are
supposed to get hot. Anyone have any experience and troubleshooting on
this?
Now the air source. As I learned after reading a few posts and talking
with our auto paint store in town, A compressor of any size would not
work. As all of you using HVLP's know, it is because they cannot provide
continuous air at a given pressure for any length of time. I called my
friend Elizabeth Grajales who uses a Wagner HVLP in Brooklyn and asked what
she used. As luck would have it, hers was a complete setup. The vacuum
turbine was part of the setup. She also paid at least $500 for the whole
thing. Well I had that in the booth and the new oxyprobe, so I turned to
the Fine Woodworking article that Kirby and others had mentioned. I went
to a woodworker that I know well and asked him for help. I ordered the
motor that the author named by brand and part number. It's price is now
$73 plus shipping from Grainger in Syracuse. That is about 50 miles away
so I had it the next day. Anyway, Steve, the woodworker and I figured out
dimensions and studied the plans and the box is nearly done. The front
chamber of the box where the air comes in has to be tight - gaskets are
used to accomplish this and a cord and plug as well as toggle switch are
added. I found the hose at a marine store in town (there is a lake here,
I'm not on the ocean) and the fittings at a garden store. When it is all
done, I will have spent half of what the Wagner set up was. Now if I had
money laying around, I'd buy the Wagner, but there is a lot of equipment
that we need and well it's choices as we all know.
My final question. This box looks easy and is for a person with a good
setup. I knew it would be a nightmare for me to do the precise cutting,
routing, and fitting. I asked Steve if he would be interested in building
more of these, now that he had the hang of it, knowing that others might
like this alternative. He said he would consider it if five people wanted
it so that he could set up and do them faster. I haven't asked for a
price, but I am certain it would be surprising reasonable. All of the
materials are available here and the motors are nearby. If you are
interested, let me know. All this after we have tested mine out and are
sure this works like the author claims.
I'll let you all know how the inexpensive (I didn't say cheap) sprayer
works and the motor, too.
Linda Blossom
2366 Slaterville Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
blossom@lightlink.com
http://www.artscape.com
607-539-7912
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