Conventional Spray Gun vs HVLP Turbine Paint Spray System

Z

Zippy

I am in the process of restoring a 1941 chevy 1/2t pickup. I want to do all the painting myself and have started looking at what equipment that is required. I currently have an air compressor but it is a small unit (5.6CFM) and is not large enough to support a conventional spray gun. In my research I found a HVLP Turbine Paint Spray System from tptools.com. Has anyone used this system and what are your thoughts. Looks like there are no moisture/oil issues with using this system and it can be used for other household painting projects.
 
it is heated air. we tried them in the 70's and they were more trouble than they were worth . i bought one tried it and gave the thing away .
 
The company i work for has an accuspray turbine sprayer pos for any fine finish...maybe ok for alkyd enamel in a industrial application. But in that situation i would use my airless and be done about four times as fast.

I think you are better off with good compressor and a quality spraygun . I would find a quality used spray gun with a couple different needle/nozzle combos. (Guys on here could help with recomendations..i use a walcom geo fx97 1.5/1.7 and an fx1.4 ) And a good compressor.
 
Zippy, turbine sprayers are a different breed. They have their place but the spray style compared to compressed air is different. If your willing to play with reducer temps and ratios a turbine could work but compressed air, if overspray and equipment is not limited, is a better choice for best look off the gun.
 
I have a turbine gun, used it a lot in my wood shop. I never shot auto paint with it though.
The one thing I did notice was lacquer or catalized lacquer needed retarted to flow out, the hot air made it very easy to shoot it to dry.
I would think using it with slooow reducer and auto paint would give a far superior product to the roll on the rustoleum process.
While neither is great, the turbine/urethane would be a far better result.
 
I've painted two airplanes with a Citation HVLP turbine unit and had awesome results. Now I've got a new set up with an Eastwood scroll compressor and an expensive DeVilbiss GTI Pro Lite gun. I've made every adjustment I know of and I can not get a nice spray with the primer. I'm wishing I didn't sell my turbine unit!
 
Recently got a 6 stage Titan capspray 115 primarily for waterbourne commercial acrylic paints. Mainly SW pro multi surface acrylic,& similar products. Getting ready to sample for low usage spi matt clear & other materials , but NOT why I got it. These are not advertised for car paint, though as good or better than units that are. Glad I got the biggest one, has both 4 & 6 stage output, no good for me on 4 stage. Local SW store manager sold to me for $1,200, they are $1650 up online.

Here's one thing about turbine units, yes they were crap in the 80's , what were cell phones like then compared to now? So don't be hardheaded & use the old stuff as an only reference. Older Titan phone tech referred to them as heater guns in the 80's when he first tried & dismissed them.

The newer generation 5& 6 stage units do have more power & have an intake side for heat dissipation. However, they do still put out heat compared issues to what you see from a compressor line, particularly one with a chilled drier setup. The first few feet of line from unit can get too hot to touch if that makes clear the downside.

On the upside, you won't have oil contamination from an old worn out piston compressor blowby. They do dissipate a bit of moisture from the heated air, BUT there are currently no water removal systems for hvlp turbine lines. However , where you place the unit sucking the air in can make a difference, such as inside near an ac unit or dehuimidifier as opposed to sitting outside. Should also be away from paint fumes to avoid filter clogging, obviously, though that tends to get overlooked according to techs.

Many hvlp units also pressurize container which can spray thicker liquid through smaller tips. Another plus. This type of setup also increases the transfer efficiencies and are used on some pneumatic sprayers, though hard to find good ones.

Other things can be done to lower heat to gun. Longer hose to unit strong enough to handle some pressure drop & remote 2 1/2 qt cups, which have a 5' leader hose & can be hung from your belt, according to Titan tech conversation. Both dissipate heat.

Well, so far with a few entry door , frame , & trim jobs done with waterbourne & new unit got the love/ hate thing with it right now. Mainly learning or re-learning curve stuff. First off more paint on product & less in the air, though more on my shoes. Finer finish than my $400 pneumatic Kremlin spray gun. More precise when spraying narrow items like door frames & trim, though better pneumatic guns would be close. Got a few more runs than usual on first 2 jobs, but again learning curve. Main problem IS from heat though. Kept having spray output reduced or stopped when spraying super thin or stopping even less than a minute (I get interrupted much more than car painters at work). Paint extenders helped, but I think now problem is drying up at actual gun tip. Phone tech says he'd always keep a rag with appropriate solvent on it nearby to wipe tip, so I hope this is the main issue with that. On the upside , on a good day, this waterbourne paint dries super quick when proper thickness, ready for handling in sometimes minutes. Other main downside is getting used to moving an industrial garden hose sized hose around, 5' leader hose isn't too bad though.
Noise is about that of a quiet vacuum cleaner, though I'm not near our noisy ass compressor anyway when painting. This is a main choice consideration for some.

I'll soon try out this thing with pre-cat lacquers & SPI matt on door & trim stuff, with retarder of course. Probably later will try with sectional car painting with SPI primers, single stage , & euro clears.

Bottom line here, for the occasional OR parts car painting, I think the latest greatest turbines are now worth considering, depending on individual situations, IF you're willing to be a little bit on your own with the learning curve of the heat issues. A worthwhile setup to me will cost approx $1500 and up for unit & only 1 gun. This would go a long ways toward a decent compressor & gun. For a large real automotive paint shop, HELL NO, not yet. Maybe several years from now that could start being a reality, particularly with things going waterbourne. These units would need to get larger and have more heat dissipation capabilities along with water filtration.

Carefully consider the up and downsides and remember that any tool is still just an extension of the individual users capabilities.
 
Last edited:
I bought a TP turbine in 2004 (with the old style gun that they ended up copying and sell with now)....Its not ideal for clears but Ive sprayed all my base with it for 14 years. Never had a mottle or stripe in a metallic. probably 20 cars and tons of small stuff. You can base a crew cab pickup 3 coats with 2 quarts. It has saved me thousands of dollars.
 
I am in the process of restoring a 1941 chevy 1/2t pickup. I want to do all the painting myself and have started looking at what equipment that is required. I currently have an air compressor but it is a small unit (5.6CFM) and is not large enough to support a conventional spray gun. In my research I found a HVLP Turbine Paint Spray System from tptools.com. Has anyone used this system and what are your thoughts. Looks like there are no moisture/oil issues with using this system and it can be used for other household painting projects.

See my post above, also forgot to mention this sprays SPI epoxy smooth as anything ever has. On a frame it uses half what a conventional gun would. As a sealer 1-1-25% its peel free.
 
A little over a month using my new turbine gun at work on doors & trim with commercial waterbourne paint & a couple more learning curve things to mention. Was a record hot month here when I got this & was having issues with gun slowing down & even stop spraying when stopping sometimes even for less than a minute. Turns out the tip itself needing to be wiped off frequently with damp rag was the issue & the cap adjustment for smaller fanspray hides the tip from plainview. Spraying into corners where you get more blowback of course makes this buildup worse.

Then getting more comfortable with the new setup as opposed to pneumatic another learning curve thing happened a few times. Plug the hose up & pull the trigger to spray & fluid drips out the tip. Turn the power switch on dummy.:rolleyes:

Have tried with precat lacquer & SPI matte clear with a little retarder, It did fine, less overspray, good finish. But spraying doors is more comparable to car parts or section spraying, not overall.
So I do see the latest greatest of these things being ok for car parts spraying, especially for a mobile repair business and the occasional small time overall paint job if properly taking into account adjusting for a little extra heat. For painting rookie, at least they wouldn't be relearning certain things.
Though the first few feet of air hose coming out my unit get too hot too touch the air coming out feels pretty comparable to that from pneumatic gun hooked to approx. 120 gal compressor.
 
Back
Top