What spray gun for dulux eggshell type finishes?

[oddsocks]

I have been asked by a neighbour to make (using MR MDF) a childrens' desk /corner/drawer unit arrangement and paint it using dulux eggshell. It's a large project to paint by hand and I want to get the best finish so am considering adding a better paint sprayer to my compressor airtools collection (I currently only have the very cheap fence panel type spray gun).

I've searched the various threads but haven't found the answer to my questions (but found lots of other useful info around the topic!).

Can anyone help me answer the following or give at least some guidance. I've got a sealey frame compressor, 2HP with a free air delivery of 5.2cfm. so am somewhat limited, and really want to spend in the £30 - £60 range on a gun.

Given that its MR MDF and I'll follow other threads guidance on primer coats (using dulux probably) denibbing and top coats (dulux eggshell)....

• What spray nozzle size is recommended for the dulux paints (looking at the sealey range as an example guns are supplied with 1.2- 2.2mm at least)?
  Can the same nozzle be used for both the primer and top coat?
  Gravity feed or suction cup for the gun?
  Any recommended products (given my 2HP and 5.2cfm FAD)
  Would I be better off spending the same money on a cheaper electric system such as earlex?

The trigger is this project but I will no doubt use it in the future so need to balance the one off cost v capability.

thanks

Dave

 

[oddsocks]

well no replies yet but I discovered that by searching the forum on the term 'earlex' I get quite a lot of threads that cover most of the topic - it seems that the most cost effective way is the deidcated HVLP unit rather than try and get my small compressor to cope (it can spray fence panels at a push!).

I've also posted a question to dulux re the needle size but i suspect it will be down to thinning the paint to suit the tool in use

 

[Mattty]

Hi Dave,

Spraying isn't my specialist subject so i can't be a great help. However i would highly recommend you look at Morrells wood finishes. They are mainly designed for spraying and they are fantastic for advice and information. Also they are very competatively priced.
http://www.morrells.co.uk/home.php

I don't think you'll find a regular gun to cope with your compressor output. Generally 3hp and 50l tank is the minimum requirement to maintain nozzle pressure.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[pinkyinboro]

i have the axminster spray gun i think its about £35
its great
but for eggshell you will be better using a roller
try going to a decent decorators place and getting johnsones eggshell
its great

 

[oddsocks]

Thanks Matty and Pinky for the suggestions - i'll folllow them up, but as you can see from the image below it needs to pink and the owner is going to pick the colour so needs a mix service.

After some more thread reading last night I came to the same conclusion that my compressor would be running most of the time so not ideal. I also emailed earlex (after reading more from the forum last night and seeing the wood whisperer test on the HV5000) explaining what I wanted to do and they responded today recommending their cheapest model - the HV1900 at about £50. Screwfix has this at £48 and it has 3 good user reviews.

This is the sketchup 7 image - this is my second design in sketchup (the first was an A frame for another relative's new shop). This diagram took about 5 hours to create ((i.e a total of 6 hours with sketchup from installing it) - 4 hours of that was with the eraser or browsing help files!. The drawer units and cupboard are all correctly made using components for the 18mm MDF and I installed the cutlinks ruby plugin so can export the full cutting list - it can be made in 3 full sheets with some spare. I did import into a trial version of cutlist but that is limited to 5 items (managed to get it all laid out by importing in stages), so I will revert to Optimik (used that many times before) with its ability to support 30 items free and similar results as I only need the board laynot not the other functionality.

Using sketchup allowed me to show my neighbour it, rotate it and change the size of the corner unit very quickly. The shorter elnght is actually wall to wall in the intended bedroom. The circles are the max footprint forthe swivel chairs they are buying (pink ones!)

As I make it I'll do WIP and post - will be some weeks before I expect to start though.

 

[RobertMP]

I guess you have seen my thread on spraying MDF for my kitchen rework. The Fuji HVLP gun had a 1.4 tip which did the job fine. I've done a fair bit of spraying in the past (albeit a long time ago) and once i was used to the kit I felt i could have been working quicker but was limited by the paint flow so I might have gone for a 1.8 if I had the choice.

The Fuji has a small pipe on the side of the guns main air connector that feeds air into the top of the spray gun cup to pressurise it and thereby assists the flow of the paint. That means the paint can be thicker (less thinned) than with a conventional suction gun which helps with getting a good coat. If the cup is not pressurised on the kit you are looking at you may have to thin the paint more and do more coats.

Oh and on the subject of sketchup... I've never looked at cut list programs. All I do is draw an 8 x 4 sheet somewhere on the drawing then copy all the panels to be cut to somewhere near the 8 x 4 and move them 1 at a time to lay on top of the full sheet. Then I just move them about to get the most economic use of the sheet or sheets.

 

[oddsocks]

Thanks Robert - yes I've seen your threads.

I used to use turbocad and do the same as you, but now with sketchup it is the click of a couple of buttons - but you do need to get the design built using components that reflect each panel you need to cut (e.g the drawer unit is drawn with 2 verticals that are 18mm thick - just doing a face frame diagram would not work as the plugin only works on components). So you end spending more time on creating the model but ess time getting the cut list accurately defined. I opted for that so that i didnt forget any of the components.

Even without the board layout programs the exported CSV is useful

Just realised gone slightly off the original thread topic! It seems there is no one answer, but a 'find out based on the capabilities of the selected spray system' approach is needed to get the balance of nozzle, viscosity and coverage