HVLP spraying

[colinc]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone has any advice to offer on HVLP spray systems. I have never used one but am thinking about diving in. The main reason is that myself and a couple of friends have been rebuilding and fabric covering a wooden aircraft wing and it’s time to paint it. We will be using traditional coloured dope. So far we have brush painted the first coats which is necessary to get it to encapsulate the threads in the fabric. All this has been done in a big farm shed which serves as hanger for several aircraft. Am worried that whatever we use doesn’t put so much overspray into the atmosphere that we get it on vehicles and aircraft in the hanger. We could of course do it outside.

Does anyone with experience of HVLP have any advice?

Regards,

Colin

 

[wallace]

I use HVLP for spraying my machines via my cheap sip compressor. I use a pressure of around 2Opsi. The viscosity of the paint is a big thing, theres lots of tutorials on youtube You can always practice with water to get spray patterns correct.

 

[Old.bodger]

With some experience of both HVLP and conventional spray gear, I would say.....be very careful if there is other high value gear in the same ‘shed’. No matter how good you are, no matter how careful, there is always some ‘drop out’ either in the form of overspray which is still ‘tacky’ or a dry coloured dust. You might get this reduced with the formation of a well sealed polythene ‘tent’ but there will still be a risk.
What are you going to do about the flash risk from the dope? How are you protecting your lungs? Both good questions!
On balance........whilst the spraying looks attractive.....I would stick to brushing.

 

[HappyHacker]

I have a cheap HVLP system and there is some overspray but as I normally spray with outdoors I can't say how much.

The essential is to practice using the paint you are going to use in order to get the the right viscosity for the equipment you are using and to learn the technique, it is not difficult but it is very easy to apply the paint too thickly and get runs or too thinly and not get the protection. I say this as someone who used a litre of cellulose paint to spray the front wing of a small car. While the extra thickness made no difference to the car the additional weight may make a difference to your plane. I should say it was metallic paint and a few of the coats were to try and match the colour to the rest of the car.

If you are going to do it inside I would suggest lots of dust sheets for everything nearby otherwise it may work out expensive.

 

[sammy.se]

I find that spraying is a bit of a false economy unless you have a dedicated spraying area.

You spend hours covering, masking, testing, cleaning, and about 10 mins actually spraying.

Unless you absolutely need a sprayed finish, I would reconsider.

I have an earlex hvlp sprayer, mid range. It's ok, but a complete faff as per my comment above.

What everyone said above is what you need to do: experiment with the viscosity, test your technique as well as the nozzle settings, don't forget to run your paint through a filter before using.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[colinc]

Hi all,

Thanks, the comments pretty much echo my concerns.

I think perhaps brush or roller is the pragmatic solution. Finding some of those resistant to the solvents is difficult.

Thanks,

Colin