What’s wrong with my HVLP conversion gun
. . . or should I say with my regulator.
First, let me say that I am new to HVLP conversion guns, so perhaps I broke a cardinal rule.
My PSH1 arrived from Amazon on Saturday. I threaded the included regulator along with the necessary quick connect pieces. (no filter yet as they have yet to arrive) I wanted to set it up dry, just to get a sense for what it felt like. I was then going to run some water through it to work through the various controls, given the complete lack of any meaningful instructions with the kit.
With my compressor charged, I plugged in the gun. I watched the dial on the gun regulator go up to about 35 as I tried to turn down the pressure. then I heard a pop, and the handle on the regulator popped off. Bummer.
Was this a manufacturing defect in the regulator, or did I “break” a cardinal rule somehow by plugging the system up right out of the box??
I went to the BORG, and it seems like another heavier gun regulator runs around $12, so I would like to figure out if I am doing something wrong or if I had a defective regulator before I buy a new regulator and try it out again.
I’m a little leary of the gun now given that performance.
Thanks for your help.
Replies
Wow! Talk about an oh-s@#$!. Try sending an email to Jeff at Homestead Finishing Products - he seems to know everything about HVLP. He'll probably be able to sell you a replacement gun as well.
If that's Jeff Jewitt (pardon the sp) that wrote the finishing book for Tauton He would know. I just bought and finished the book. I acutuall think I understand about 10% of what he had in the book.
rhino, never heard of a regulator popping - I think it was defective. There is nothing wrong with hooking the regulator up in the manner you described. As far as setting up the gun, there are a number of different ways - one that I like is to first put in the finish, water won't help much cause the setting change based on viscosity - though you could use water to get a feel for how the different knobs work. First set the regulator at the gun to an intial setting - ( I checked around and saw one place said 45 psi - http://www.toolbarn.com/product/portercable/PSH1/ though that sounds high, as you will see, it doesn't really matter.) You want that setting on the regulator while you are pulling the trigger . Turn the cap so the horns are up and down ( the spray will be in a horizontal fan) Then holding the gun 6 - 8 inches from some cardboard pull the trigger till finish comes out - Turn the knob on the side of the gun while pulling the trigger and moving the gun till you see that the fan is the width you are going to use ( sometimes you want smaller widths for certain tasks and others times you want as wide as possible). Now you are going to set up the fuid then the air pressure. Pull the trigger for 1 second and release it - if all you got was some mist, turn the knob at the back of the gun out so that more fluid comes out then try spraying again. If you get a flood of finish that starts having runs, then turn the knob in. Once you have got that set so that you get a strong dose of finish ( if you are using water base, it should look slighlty milky white on the cardboard), but not too many runs for a 1 sec burst, start adjusting the air pressure- you want an even pattern of spray - slightly heavier in the middle and feathering out a little at the edges - but you don't want a football shape. I haven't used the Porter cable, but on my other guns, I am usually spraying anywhere from 15 psi to 25 psi. Keep turning down the air while you keep shooting one second bursts till you find the pattern is no good, then increase air pressure slightly till it improves. Then try on some scrap wood. the setting will change slightly as you ise different finishes and diff temps. Here is a web site that has a description of this procedure, unfortunately it doesn't give good pictures of the effects of the wrong air pressure http://www.hotrodders.com/kb/body-exterior/articles/spraygun.html
If you want to get technical, it helps to check the viscosity of the finish and then thin it, if necessary to make it easier to spray. Good luck and practice, practive practice - that is what they make the underside of tables for. Barry
Hey, thanks for the post about homestead. I had just finished Jef's book and was looking at HVLP. I have a compressor and did not know if I should get a conversion gun, or a whole system. He talked to me and found out my usage and reccomended a system well within my budget. It arrives next week. Thanks again. He is very knowledgable.
Rhino.
what was the pressure you were feeding the gun from the compressor? I hope you turned it down from 90 down to around 40-50psi. Usually set my compressor to 45psi then adjust my regulator at the gun. Haven't had any problems, but you may want to consider a different HVLP gun, my PSH1 sits on the shelf most of the time except for touch ups.
Well I called the PC customer service number today. It turns out the calls go to Devilbiss, presumably the gun maker.
In any event, the rep I spoke with had never heard of the problem before, and was going to send me a new gun regulator by UPS.
I will have to see if I have the same problem again. If so, it'll be going back to Amazon. If not, I'll start to do my spraying.
I've been looking at that gun, what kind of compressor do you use it with. I read one of the reviews that stated their compressor was grossly underpowered. I have one of the small pancake compressors: 135 psi, 2hp, 6 gallon.
I don't believe you can spray with a pancake compressor, the tank just isn't big enough. To have any luck at all with a HVLP spray gun you need a minimum of a 20 to 25 gallon tank and over 5 cfm at 90 psi. The more air available the easier it is to spray, you can always regulate down. Most guys that spray large objects (cars) will run an 80 gallon tank with 15 cfm at 90 psi.
Spraying seems to be too much like sawing, you need a different one for every circumstance. What works well for spraying the house doesn't work well for spraying a hope chest and that isn't ideal for even smaller more detailed work.
My wife purchased an old used HC 20 gallon oil unit for $50. I was hoping to buy a larger compressor, but she came home with this, so how could I complain?? The compressor claims to get 7.8 cfm at 40 psi, which should be enough for this gun.
I know I am at the lower end of capacity, but for my project (and my budget) this compressor was the best bang for the buck. I have the pancake compressor as well. It provides neither the volume of air nor the cfm needed for this gun to do any work. It's also noisy as hell.
My wife purchased an old used HC 20 gallon oil unit for $50.
That's called LOVE.Rennie
A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn't afterward. Frank Lloyd Wright
The regulator is bad. I set up my PC hvlp the same way you did and sprayed with water too. This gun works fine, my conventional gun is almost never used now.Don't worry about the pressure at the tank, the regulator,when they send you the new one will take care of it at the gun. I leave the tank pressure at 90 PSI and reduce the pressure at the gun.
mike
Here's an update from the crack crew who answered the phone.
A FedEx package arrived today from Dewalt Customer Service. I say to myself, no problem, DeWalt and PC are all part of the same company. I also think what great customer service.
Then I open the box.
Funny looking air pressure regulator I think - a two pronged plug with short distance of housing and then two wires with quick connects. I'm not quite sure how I ended up with with an electrical plug assembly as a replacement part for an HVLP spray gun, but I'm sure to find out tomorrow.
Great response from PC, just the wrong part. Bummer.
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