Vince Pitelka on thu 26 jan 06
The "Critter" is a pretty low-budget unit. It does use ordinary mason jars,
but I don't like having all that breakable glass around the studio.
It is true that people on Clayart have reported good performance from the
Geil, but I wonder if anyone has really measured the transfer rate on that
unit. I do believe that Tom Coleman is an honorable person, and that Geil
Kilns is an honorable company, but they are advertising that spray unit as a
HVLP gun, and it is NOT a HVLP gun. One of my students just got one, and we
dismantled that adjustable valve on the inlet to find out if it is a
regulator or a simple valve. Having seen it in pieces, I can confirm that
it is just a volume valve, and does not regulate pressure. In other words,
when screwed further in, it lowers the volume but not the pressure, and
that's just the opposite of HVLP (high volume low pressure). The
instructions that came with the gun state that it works best on 30-50 PSI,
and that is the same pressure range used on most standard high-pressure
spray guns. Geil has obviously machined a new array of air holes around the
main glaze nozzle, and apparently that makes this unit work better with
glazes, but I really would like to know how they can justify calling this
unit a HVLP gun. The price is certainly very reasonable, and as I said,
people who use the unit seem to like it, but the whole point of a HVLP gun
is that it has a much higher transfer rate, putting more of the glaze on the
pot and wasting less of it on overspray. To my knowledge, that's not
possible with a gun that runs on 30 to 50 PSI.
Does anyone out there personally know Tom Coleman or Jim (is it Jim?) Geil?
If so, perhaps you could call one of them up and ask about this gun and
report back to us. I tried emailing them about it some time ago and got no
response.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
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