Any EU based suppliers of HVLP turbine units?

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Prizen

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Hi all

I live in the EU and with the recent event that shan’t be mentioned, Its no longer cost effective or in some cases no longer possible, to buy from the UK.

I’m looking for a good 5 stage HVLP turbine unit. One of the green Apollo’s or Fuji.

are there any good EU based HVLP spray equipment suppliers ? I have been searching these past couple of days and am coming up short.
Thanks
 
I had to repair my FUJi turbine and thanks to Sideways knowledge I discovered that there are very few manufacturers that produce the motors that are the heart of the HVLP turbine units. FUJi use I believe Ametek, and the actual turbine unit is basically one of their units with a mains switch and a connector to the allow the flexible hose to be connected.
7A9FE57A-7236-4A8E-AAD9-454C6E0EF560.png

It isn’t very hard to make a turnbine unit, and what’s far better, is that you can have a six stage unit for a fraction of the price of a 5 stage. The info is a few years out of date, so there may be a 7 stage by now! These are available from lots of places in the EU very cheaply……or at least they were. I did a thread on repairing my turbine unit on the forum.
FFF6BF86-136F-484D-ABA4-43D319E9826B.png

This is what a motor looks like, the canister at the bottom that contains the fans is just longer as you increase the stages.

0F7F9D07-A7CA-4485-9711-144E268D9DE0.jpeg

Here is what is actually instance a FUJi 4 stage.
1AFD5992-C2EB-40AC-942D-6D31BEF2271E.jpeg

The connectjng pipe just pushes into the outlet of the motor with an o ring seal. It also has a 2mm hole drilled it to allow air to escape when the gun trigger isn’t pulled
 
Thanks Deena, that’s very interesting, but I don’t think self build is the way for me
 
I bought an Apollo unit at a show once without having done any research and It was the worst purchase I ever made. Almost everything had an orange peel finish - the unit could simply not atomise the varnish..
I appreciate that every model is different but I would try a turbine unit before buying. I eventually moved on to high pressure air and haven't looked back. If you want a dedicated compressor for spraying the oil free units have fallen dramatically in price . Quality and longevity are another matter.
 
How about a Graco finish Pro HVLP ?
No first hand knowledge of them but Graco Inc. (originally Gray Company) from the USA have many distributors all over the EU.
I looked into the subject of vacuum cleaner turbines in the past and concluded that the best quality motors / turbines are made by Domel in Europe and used in the leading workshop extractors. An HVLP turbine is effectively just a vacuum cleaner turbine configured as a blower. The manufacturer Ametek lead on these offering blowers with the higher number of stages, therefore highest pressures. Ametek - a high volume maker of vacuum cleaner turbines moved a lot of their production to China with resulting reports of poor quality, but the multi stage turbines are more specialist and I believe that a lot of these were, maybe still are, made in Italy.
Vacuum cleaner turbines have a finite life and apart from changing the brushes, aren't designed to be repaired. They spin fast and when the bearings wear out, they are for most people, too difficult and uneconomical to repair.
Here's the thing. A top quality Domel turbine from say a Festool dust extractor, can be bought as a spare for about £70 if you identify the Domel part number.
An Ametek 5 stage blower will probably cost you £200 as a part. It's probably lesser quality and certainly isn't 3x as complex as a one or two stage Domel, but they don't sell anywhere near as many of them.
HVLP turbine makers, probably buy the turbine as a sub £100 part, stick it in a box which costs them £50 at most to produce and package and it finally sells for nearly £1000
As and when the turbine goes, Fuji, Graco and the like will charge you half to 2/3 the price of a new unit and just replace the £100 Ametek blower.
There's a huge amount of profit margin being made on these by some one(s). You should be aware of this when parting with your hard earned cash.
 
I bought an Apollo unit at a show once without having done any research and It was the worst purchase I ever made. Almost everything had an orange peel finish - the unit could simply not atomise the varnish..
I appreciate that every model is different but I would try a turbine unit before buying. I eventually moved on to high pressure air and haven't looked back. If you want a dedicated compressor for spraying the oil free units have fallen dramatically in price . Quality and longevity are another matter.

the past day of research is leading me away from turbine HVLP to airless or an AA airless system;
Either Wagner Superfinish 23 (diaphragm pump rather than piston)
Or Graco GXFF ( cheaper than the above and highly rated.

Or for some more ££ a Graco Mini Merkur, which would require a separate compressor.

Any thoughts on these?
 
Have you looked at LVLP? Very high transfer rate.

I haven’t deema, and keeping overspray to a minimum is important to me. Doesn’t appear to be much out there on it outside of car spraying
 
I bought a Fuji Q5 from Axminster a while back it gives superb results so I can recommend that and whilst the price from the Dutch site is about 12% higher than Axminsters you are probably going to have to pay import tax on the Axminster price as it's above €150 and whilst their advertised prices cover TVA I don't know if they cover import taxes could be worth an ask. Since Brexit I have kept my purchases below €150 so don't know.
 
Do more I read the more I am thinking of breaking the bank for an air assisted airless!!
 
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