Spray gun for finishing with polyutherane

[MarkvH]

G'day Guys, I'm looking for any advice on buying a spray gun to apply polyutherance? I have a duluxr airless and whilst it's been good enough for paint... not so good with finishes. I have a compressor so whether its airless or compressed I don't mind. Budget up to say $300 but want to keep it as cheap as possible whilst not compromising the outcome.

I'm researching here and there but hopefully someone might be able to save me some time and angst with a reccomendation.Cheers
Mark

[Alkahestic]

2.0mm Renegade (from Tradetools) spray gun. You can likely get equivalent generic guns from a tool store near you. I sprayed both waterbased paint and poly with it and it leaves a pretty decent finish. You will have to thin your finish if it is too thick. You'll know it's too thick when you can't get a fine even spray despite all the fiddling with the flow settings in the world and pumping up the PSI. I used Floetrol to thin the paint and distilled water for the poly. From memory, Cabot's water based poly didn't take much thinning to spray well.

You'll also need a decent air compressor or a very large tank unless your work piece is tiny. Spray guns are air hogs.

The drawers were sprayed with Porters Paints and Cabots waterbased poly. Any orange peel will be due to my rolling the primer coats on - the 2.0mm gun can do primer too, so I don't know what I was thinking.

drawer fronts.jpg

[MarkvH]

2.0mm Renegade (from Tradetools) spray gun. You can likely get equivalent generic guns from a tool store near you. I sprayed both waterbased paint and poly with it and it leaves a pretty decent finish. You will have to thin your finish if it is too thick. You'll know it's too thick when you can't get a fine even spray despite all the fiddling with the flow settings in the world and pumping up the PSI. I used Floetrol to thin the paint and distilled water for the poly. From memory, Cabot's water based poly didn't take much thinning to spray well.

You'll also need a decent air compressor or a very large tank unless your work piece is tiny. Spray guns are air hogs.

The drawers were sprayed with Porters Paints and Cabots waterbased poly. Any orange peel will be due to my rolling the primer coats on - the 2.0mm gun can do primer too, so I don't know what I was thinking.

That looks great. What you've described sounds good and a good price. A lot of people have mentioned the cheaper guns can work just as well as the more expensive ones... just with less features/options.

I'm now wondering if my compressor is going to be able to handle the gun. I have the Chicago Air Hush20

Screenshot 2022-10-30 193431.png

[MarkvH]

I primed and painted this using an airless Dulux spray gun. Mostly no issues. However, spraying poly was a disaster and thankfully I tested it on a different piece first. I ended up rolling the poly on this set.

I think the issue could have been that I didn't mix the poly properly... it was very blotchy. I also think the poly was coming out far too fast and with a huge spread. The 1 control dial on the Dulux is horrible as its just a spring dial and you can't adjust efficiently.

Bedroom Set.jpg

[Alkahestic]

That looks pretty good! Poly is 'easier' to shoot than house paints but needs a finer controlled spray, which as you surmise is likely the issue. The Renegade gun is very good value for money, there are some cheaper still but then you start gambling on the QC. Definitely don't need a pro gun. If your poly is quite runny, you might benefit from going for a smaller 1.6 or even 1.3 tip. As for your compressor, I'd do a test run with water on some cardboard about the size of your largest panel, if you can spray the whole panel without waiting long enough to lose your wet edge you should be fine. When sprayed, water based poly dries really fast, I did 4 coats in about 4 hours. There was no pilling on the sand paper between coats, so I'm sure the previous coat had dried sufficiently.

[MarkvH]

Thanks for the advice. I've ordered a LVLP spray gun (1.3mm nozzle) off ebay (similar price) so I'll see how that goes. Def concerned with how much CFM is required to use the HVHP guns considering my compressor has such a low output.

[ubeaut]

It's possible that your original Dulux gun may work if you use the viscosity flow cup that should come with an airless gun.

Wrong viscosity and it won't spray nicely (if at all) correct viscosity for the gun used should work like a charm even with the cheapest airless guns.

I've even used the old mason Jar type spray guns that used to come with the old barrel vacuum cleaners and worked on blow instead of suck. Had some brilliant finishes with them. But only if correct viscosity of lacquer, poly, shellac, etc was used. Did some terrible finishes before I found out about using a flow cup to get the correct viscosity/flow of the finish for the particular gun used with the particular finish.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil

[China]

I see you have already ordered a gun, I saw this and thought it may be interesting to any one who reads this thread, it is supposed to spray paint straight from the can
Wagner FLEXiO 4300 Multi-Purpose HVLP Paint Sprayer

[taz01]

What sprayers do people use for those without the space for a compressor?

I keep hearing about earlex online but since Wagner acquired them I can find anywhere in Oz that stocks them.

Fuji is also mentioned but they seem pretty pricey.

Sorry if this is going off topic.

Sent from my SM-S901E using Tapatalk

[MarkvH]

It's possible that your original Dulux gun may work if you use the viscosity flow cup that should come with an airless gun.

Wrong viscosity and it won't spray nicely (if at all) correct viscosity for the gun used should work like a charm even with the cheapest airless guns.

I've even used the old mason Jar type spray guns that used to come with the old barrel vacuum cleaners and worked on blow instead of suck. Had some brilliant finishes with them. But only if correct viscosity of lacquer, poly, shellac, etc was used. Did some terrible finishes before I found out about using a flow cup to get the correct viscosity/flow of the finish for the particular gun used with the particular finish.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil

I've been thinking about it a lot (what went wrong). I've watched others use the gun for spraying poly and they didn't have any issues. I don't think I stirred the poly enough before pouring it into the cup. I did strain it though.

I'm still waiting for my new spray gun to arrive but in the meantime I think I'll retest the airless gun (stirring the poly thoroughly first)

[MarkvH]

I see you have already ordered a gun, I saw this and thought it may be interesting to any one who reads this thread, it is supposed to spray paint straight from the can
Wagner FLEXiO 4300 Multi-Purpose HVLP Paint Sprayer

This looks really good and cost effective it works like advertised. If I hadn't already ordered something else I would do some more research on this. Maybe down the track...

[MarkvH]

What sprayers do people use for those without the space for a compressor?

I keep hearing about earlex online but since Wagner acquired them I can find anywhere in Oz that stocks them.

Fuji is also mentioned but they seem pretty pricey.

Sorry if this is going off topic.

Sent from my SM-S901E using Tapatalk

All good mate. The more recommendations the better.