I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago about picking up an HVLP turbine unit at Harbor Freight. I picked the unit up for somewhere around $65 (normally $89.99 but had a 20% off coupon and I think it was on sale on top of that) and as far as I can tell it is the exact same unit that Rockler sells for $120+. (**NOTE As I am typing this, I see that the Rockler unit is on sale for $89.99).
Now I am no expert on spray systems or even spraying for that matter, but I was looking to get into spraying and learn without making a big investment until I figure out what I am doing. I originally planned to buy the $340 Earlex Spray Station Pro and I probably still will, but I wanted to get my feet wet and make sure that was the direction I wanted to go before making more of a commitment. In my book $65 is a very reasonable cost to get started and if the unit wasn’t all that great, I wouldn’t have wasted a ton of money.
So this past weekend I finally put some finish through the thing. I was very pleasantly surprised. It came with 3 needles and tips (1.0mm, 1.5mm and 1.8mm) and after determining that the water based lacquer I was spraying needed the smaller needle set, I was on my way to spraying my test pieces.
I divided a board into two parts. On one side I applied water based grain filler followed by wb stain, a seal coat of shellac and then the lacquer finish. On the other side, I applied wb stain followed by grain filler, more wb stain a shellac seal coat and then the wb lacquer finish. I completed the extra stain step on one side because I wasn’t sure about the grain filler filling the pores and not allowing the stain to penetrate. The test piece turned out great and the gun sprayed flawlessly (to my untrained eye) as long as you cut down on the fluid control adjustment. I have posted some pictures of the unit along with the test board for reference.
I have sprayed another test piece in which I simply went with water based grain filler to water based stain and then straight to water based lacquer. It turned out great as well and will most likely be my preferred method for the finish job I have ahead of me.
I can only speak from my limited experience, but this unit was a joy to use and I will use it often. As I said previously, I will still probably buy the Earlex in the future mainly because of the stainless steel parts (compared to brass and plastic on the HF unit), but this unit might delay my purchase and allow me to focus funds toward other things like nicely figured wood for awhile. Overall I say if you are new to spray finishing, you can’t go wrong with this unit (or the Rockler unit for that matter).
I recently had a chance to work with the rockler unit, spraying some tinted sealer on some cabinet drawers for a friend. I was pretty impressed with the spray quality from that little guy! And for the price you just can’t beat it. That being said, the cheap parts will eventually be a problem if its used a lot. In fact, the one I was using had a few parts falling off here and there, lol. But…..its still sprayed nicely.
I absolutely agree on the quality. I can see it falling apart if it is used a lot, but I think for some of us new to spraying it lowers the barrier for entry. I fully hope that I gain enough experience with this unit that I’ll be able to make an informed decision when I step up in a year or so. Thanks for the comment.