scholar
Established Member
I am a hobbyist/enthusiast, not a pro, but I like to have the right gear for the job. I have got into spraying as vastly preferable to hand painting or paint rolling.
I have a Fuji Q4 HVLP set up that I have used a lot. I have various accessories for it - the ones I use most are the 3M PPS mini cups that I use for small jobs and a 2.5l stainless steel pressure pot that I use for larger jobs.
I also have a Graco ST Max II 495 Airless sprayer - I have not used this much (as I am behind on decorating), but I have used it successfully for painting walls.
Technology has continued to move on and there seems to be a much wider acceptance of Air Assisted spraying (I know it is not that new). I am thinking about whether I should convert my Airless sprayer to use an Air Assisted spraygun.
So some key questions I am pondering on are:
- what do I need to convert to Air Assisted?
AA gun (see below)
Compressor (I have this)
Air cleaner and regulator
Air hose to gun
Fluid hose to gun (see below)
- re the gun, does anyone have experience and recommendations? I have been looking at the Graco G40 gun for starters; this comes in two versions, flat tip and RAC tip (not sure if the RAC tip would be interchangeable with the one on my existing Graco contractor style gun)
- re the fluid hose, the existing one on the Airless sprayer is 1/4” with a beefy pick up hose, all of which takes quite a volume of paint before you get to spray anything. The AA setups I have seen have 1/8” fluid hose, so presumably it would be better with one of these? Would I need to exchange the pick up assembly?
- if I do this, I could use the Graco in Airless or AAA mode, so would I still want to have the Fuji? (I think that the cleanup of the HVLP is much less hassle than for the Airless, so I imagine for small jobs, the HVLP would still be useful).
Any actual experience and insight would be much appreciated.
Cheers
I have a Fuji Q4 HVLP set up that I have used a lot. I have various accessories for it - the ones I use most are the 3M PPS mini cups that I use for small jobs and a 2.5l stainless steel pressure pot that I use for larger jobs.
I also have a Graco ST Max II 495 Airless sprayer - I have not used this much (as I am behind on decorating), but I have used it successfully for painting walls.
Technology has continued to move on and there seems to be a much wider acceptance of Air Assisted spraying (I know it is not that new). I am thinking about whether I should convert my Airless sprayer to use an Air Assisted spraygun.
So some key questions I am pondering on are:
- what do I need to convert to Air Assisted?
AA gun (see below)
Compressor (I have this)
Air cleaner and regulator
Air hose to gun
Fluid hose to gun (see below)
- re the gun, does anyone have experience and recommendations? I have been looking at the Graco G40 gun for starters; this comes in two versions, flat tip and RAC tip (not sure if the RAC tip would be interchangeable with the one on my existing Graco contractor style gun)
- re the fluid hose, the existing one on the Airless sprayer is 1/4” with a beefy pick up hose, all of which takes quite a volume of paint before you get to spray anything. The AA setups I have seen have 1/8” fluid hose, so presumably it would be better with one of these? Would I need to exchange the pick up assembly?
- if I do this, I could use the Graco in Airless or AAA mode, so would I still want to have the Fuji? (I think that the cleanup of the HVLP is much less hassle than for the Airless, so I imagine for small jobs, the HVLP would still be useful).
Any actual experience and insight would be much appreciated.
Cheers
