Any users of AAA Spray setups?

[SeanJ]

Got myself an air assisted airless graco unit for a good price - couldn't resist, but with my 20 yrs HVLP (only) experience i'm not confident enough to get started with it yet. :? Anyone here have much experience of them?

I found some useful stuff on woodweb but any other poiinters would be useful. I'm feelling they are more suited to batch production or large job work? I'll be using my hvlp for the usual odd job stuff of course. When you clean/flush them is it possible to dunk the fluid-in pipe in a tin of gun cleaner and shoot the gun back into the same thinners tin - a flush through loop? - also would it pay to have seperate hoses for paint and clear finishes anyone?

Just looking for a few pointers from anyone with any experience guys.

Cheers. Sean

 

[SeanJ]

guess the AAA users are a bit thin on the ground then!

 

[Jake]

Try woodworkuk - there are several with AAA set-ups over there.

 

[RobinBHM]

They aren't suitable for small jobs since it takes about 3/4's of a litre to prime. They are fantastic for spraying joinery and will be able to handle Teknos or similar water based microporous paints without any need to thin the paint. Spraying pressures are generally 4 bar for the paint and 2 bar for the air, depending on the set up you have. We use an 1140 tip IE 11 thou x 40 degree fan.

Cleaning is easy however, take off spray tip, take the pipe out of the paint, put in a clean bucket of water and pump the paint back into the paint until it starts to become watery. Continue pumping through water until clean. If you want to rapidly clean the pump section only open the dump valve and pump around

We then put the tip back on the gun and pump water through the tip at high pressure to clean it as much as poss. if you keep the gun tip below the water line you won't get splashed!

There isn't any need to have separate hoses for paint and clear finishes as long as you flush thoroughly. If you turn the pressure to max and pump through, the water in the pipe will be agitates and help to scrub all paint off the walls of the pipe.

Don't forget to clean both large filter and small gun filter often.

I would keep the system for only water based or solvent -do not change from one to the other or you risk the water based turning to jelly and seizing.

It is possible to pump round gun cleaner to clean the pump but we rarely bother as we only use water based paints.

Be prepared to be shocked by the price of spares!

 

[SeanJ]

@Jake - thanks for that, that site is definitely more specific, nice one.

@ Robin - that was great info, esp how much the setup takes to prime and the cleaning routine. I spray quite a bit of AC and am loathed to mix up 2 or more litres just to final finish on a table top but short of cutting my hose down that's the reality i guess. I've not ventured into water based products, but i'd be stupid not to look now i can handle them better. thanks