I’ve been given a generous budget by my SO to purchase a powered finishing system. I build nice furniture but finishing has always been my biggest challenge. I currently own a first generation Fuji (likely a two stage turbine) which has worked all-right, but not great (so I am a little shy of giving them a second try, I know their guns have improved and are likely worth a second look). My uses for the next five or so years are for finishing furniture I build for the house (around four or five pieces a year) and interior painting (walls and ceilings). My future uses will be much more ambitious as most of what I buy now is with an eye toward going full time in furniture and kitchen cabinets once I retire with my pension. However, even then I don’t see more than two or three kitchen jobs and several custom pieces of furniture per year. So I will be going low to moderate use.
I would prefer for whatever I buy to be able to do a superb job at spraying lacquers, polyurethanes and vanishes (solvent or water base); stains, tints and contact cement. I would also like for it to be able to do a reasonable job with interior Latex paint (I’ll be happy with a roller quality finish). The only thing I have ruled out so far is compressor based systems due to overspray, waste issues and lack of easy portability.
I have looked at everything from HVLP Turbines systems (4 to 6 stage); Apollo 1225 Dual Turbine or 1050VR, Fuji Q4, Accuspray 240 series with #10 guns, Titan Capspray 115, ) as well as Air Assisted Airless (AAA); (CA technologiesCougar/Bobcat/compressor combination and Graco FinishPro 390.
If I have understood the technologies it would seem that the AAA would produce the best finish of the above choices with the widest array of materials; but the down side seems to be some safety issues such as skin contact, increased respiratory risks and larger amounts of solvent needed for cleaning.
The HVLP systems seem to be able to do everything I would want for furniture (although I am not clear they would be as good for a black lacquer glass finish) but the general comments I have read on spraying latex paint range from wonderful to terrible.
Any insights are welcome.
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For the last four years I've been using a Fuji Q4, and it's done everything pretty well -- primarily lacquer, shellac, and thinned latex paint. I've done a lot of kitchen cabinet refinishing using latex paint with excellent results, but I'd hesitate using an HVLP for wall and ceiling painting, mostly because it would be way too slow.
A lot of painters around here shoot cabinets using a dedicated airless with a 210 or 212 tip. I tried this once when my Fuji was down with a hose leak. I used my wife's housepainting airless, and it worked okay, except it was a little awkward with the long hose. Also, for this application, there's probably a better way to feed the paint than with the existing stinger (material pickup tube). I just didn't have enough time to experiment.
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