Can you Spray Clears with a Turbine HVLP system?
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:10 pm
Hello all, this is my first post and it might be a little odd, and a bit long. To start with, just assume that I am a nube, though I do have some finishing experience, albeit not automotive.
I restore bicycles, and have done many complete soup to nuts restores in my small shop ( garage) - I underscore small. For this reason I use a turbine sprayer system ("TItan" - model number escapes me, but it's an older model, got it years ago, like early 90's) I use a small touch up gun, suction type. It was the only HVLP turbine gun I could find in the smaller size. I use the smaller gun due to the size of the projects I do -bikes are small and you need to get into the "triangle" area. I do like gravity feed guns, but actually the cup gets in the way of the top tube and chain stays when I spray. I know I will be asked, but I can't re- call the tip size, it's not too big and it's not too small. I spray in a mostly non controlled environment. ( garage with the doors open in temps 60 - 70 low humidity where I live.)
I get fairly consistent results with this modest set up, I use base coat, clear coat systems. I usually buy the economical stuff or systems that sell in a quart size again due to the small projects (Sherwin Williams automotive products).- again I am not doing cars, bike surfaces are pretty small. I know this stuff isn't highly regarded but for bikes it seems really good.
One issue, that I wonder if any professionals could shed some light on, is orange peel and heavy texture. I have done some brief research and it seems most pro's indicate that you cannot spray clears with a turbine system, siting that you will not get the material to atomize properly, resulting in orange peel. The primer and base coat appear to spay on without this issue but the clear will go on kind of frosty then will "model" on the surface in an orange peel fashion when it sits for a minute or 2. If I increase the material volume it will reduce this a bit but it's too heavy and it can run or sag on such a small surface. If I increase the air volume then it goes on kind of "dry" and frosty with over spray marks. If I increase material volume with higher air volume it's generally too much material for the surface all at once..
So not that it's a big deal but as a result I have to wet sand. it can be a PITA, I always need to wet sand with 1500 or 2k -3k then cut with compound and polishing. Again the surface is not large but bike geometry is small and complex near the joints so I have to polish by hand in those areas as my small polisher (griots 3inch) will not reach all the areas. My system gets the results I want but it's a lot of work after I spray. I was hoping to reduce this complication..
Is this generally the truth about clears and turbine sprayers? is there any product/gear combination for turbine systems that would work better? Or is the best thing to do is expand and get a compressor setup ( realistically can't do this) and pull out my traditional spray gun?
I can live with this, but just wondering if there is any alternative, maybe there are too many variables here to answer this entirely and I understand if that's the case, just thought I'd ask.
any incites or advice is appreciated..
I restore bicycles, and have done many complete soup to nuts restores in my small shop ( garage) - I underscore small. For this reason I use a turbine sprayer system ("TItan" - model number escapes me, but it's an older model, got it years ago, like early 90's) I use a small touch up gun, suction type. It was the only HVLP turbine gun I could find in the smaller size. I use the smaller gun due to the size of the projects I do -bikes are small and you need to get into the "triangle" area. I do like gravity feed guns, but actually the cup gets in the way of the top tube and chain stays when I spray. I know I will be asked, but I can't re- call the tip size, it's not too big and it's not too small. I spray in a mostly non controlled environment. ( garage with the doors open in temps 60 - 70 low humidity where I live.)
I get fairly consistent results with this modest set up, I use base coat, clear coat systems. I usually buy the economical stuff or systems that sell in a quart size again due to the small projects (Sherwin Williams automotive products).- again I am not doing cars, bike surfaces are pretty small. I know this stuff isn't highly regarded but for bikes it seems really good.
One issue, that I wonder if any professionals could shed some light on, is orange peel and heavy texture. I have done some brief research and it seems most pro's indicate that you cannot spray clears with a turbine system, siting that you will not get the material to atomize properly, resulting in orange peel. The primer and base coat appear to spay on without this issue but the clear will go on kind of frosty then will "model" on the surface in an orange peel fashion when it sits for a minute or 2. If I increase the material volume it will reduce this a bit but it's too heavy and it can run or sag on such a small surface. If I increase the air volume then it goes on kind of "dry" and frosty with over spray marks. If I increase material volume with higher air volume it's generally too much material for the surface all at once..
So not that it's a big deal but as a result I have to wet sand. it can be a PITA, I always need to wet sand with 1500 or 2k -3k then cut with compound and polishing. Again the surface is not large but bike geometry is small and complex near the joints so I have to polish by hand in those areas as my small polisher (griots 3inch) will not reach all the areas. My system gets the results I want but it's a lot of work after I spray. I was hoping to reduce this complication..
Is this generally the truth about clears and turbine sprayers? is there any product/gear combination for turbine systems that would work better? Or is the best thing to do is expand and get a compressor setup ( realistically can't do this) and pull out my traditional spray gun?
I can live with this, but just wondering if there is any alternative, maybe there are too many variables here to answer this entirely and I understand if that's the case, just thought I'd ask.
any incites or advice is appreciated..