Compressor-less Painting?, Anyone know anything about Earlex 5000 or similar? Options

[pjf]

I'm still fooling around with rust on my 914 but eventually I'll be spraying stuff and was wondering if anyone has had any experience or knows anything about HVLP painting using one of the compressor-less guns like the Earlex 5000. Below is a link for it at the Eastwood site:

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=...temType=PRODUCT

I have a compressor but its not big enough to handle spraying and I thought a turbine specifically built for HVLP and a matching HLVP gun might be a good way to go. Eastwood is advertising it for car painting but its been hard to find any review on the Internet to guage how good this is going to be. I'd like to spray mostly primer but if I things are going well I may attempt to do the color and clear coats as as well.

Eastwood's price is $399.99 but it can be had for $100 less to give you an idea of the price.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[VaccaRabite]

Or, pay a little more and get a 60 gallon compressor that will have more uses then just painting.

I thought about this for quite a while myself, before deciding to buy the compressor. Unless you start painting lots of cars, the turbine will be a single use item - not really a cost savings. I am using air tools just about every time I go into the garage now. And, of course, even if you are painting lots of cars, you can do that with a compressor too. And don't forget all the painting prep that you have to do. If your compressor won't drive an HVLP gun, then it also won't drive the air board sanders and such that you will *need* when doing the paint prep. Sanders and grinders use a lot of air, and you will use a lot of sanders and grinders.

My 60 gallon compressor only cost about $200 more then the turbine system.
http://www.cpoworkshop.com/compressors/cplc7060v.html

When I bought mine, it only cost $5.00 to ship as well. No idea if you can get that today or not. I got mine last year. Amazon had it for sale a smidge cheaper, but wanted $125 to ship.

Zach

[Katmanken]

I've got a compressor and got darned tired of the water spitting issues that can result.

Bought a Wagoner Pro series HVLP gun and a turbine box for a screaming deal and I love it....

The turbine blows warm dry air which seems to help with the paint vaporization..

Unlike a HVLP gun, some of the air tools require a really big assed 220 compressor to run.

The turbines run on 110 volt, and you can take it anywhere....

Get a gun that lets you swap out needles and orifices so that you can spray different materials. I bought the automotive paint needles and orifices and another type that lets me spray latex paint if I thin it out.....

Imagine spraying a wall or baseboard with no taping... Just place a thin cardboard sheet at the juncture of the baseboard and wall, aim at the cardboard and wall, and pull the trigger. Perfect! Move the cardboad, and spray again..... Imagine how fast you can go along that baseboard.......

Ken

[pjf]

I'm also concerned about dry air for painting and with a compressor you have to get an air dryer not to mention the gun itself. I have heard that the turbines supply a warm air supply too which is supposed to help. The Earlex I'm looking at comes with 1.5 and 2 mm replaceable needles/nozzles. You mention baseboard painting, can you see this turbine and gun doing a car?

[736conver]

Dont screw around with the pansy air dryers they sell at home cheapo etc. Use a canister dryer like this.

dryer for air compressor

The auction is just for a replacement filter. I think the actually unit cost about $60
It basically pushes the air through a roll of paper like material that is the size of a toliet paper roll. I used to use it on my cnc plasma machine where water ruined consumables rather quick. Once this baby was hooked up air was nice and dry.

[Katmanken]

Don't see why it wouldn't with a 12 inch fan ofd spray and that list of useable materials. Can't speak for the brand but the turbine is a little smaller than mine.

Do an online search on the brand. Somebody may have a review.

Ken

[pjf]

I've tried looking on the Internet without much luck. All the reviews are for woodworking applications which doesn't help much. I guess it all comes down to whether or not it can handle the viscosity of the paint and can atomize it enough to go on well. I'm going to check in with Eastwood and see if I can get more info from them.

[pjf]

I found some good info on the Eastwood forum. I guess this thing is legit and can spray single stage urethane, epoxy primer, and high-build polyester primer surfacer. According to someone who uses it, it does reasonably well and with color sanding and buffing a very good finish can be had. The professional unit (I'd be getting the semi-pro for $300) does metalics and pearl finishes the best but if you make sure there is some stablizer additive added to the paint, metalics are OK with the semi-pro model. The gun works at ridiculously low pressure (4 to 7 psi) but the turbine puts out 60 - 90 cfm to make up for it. They say waterbourne paints work too. It looks like for the absolute best results you need a big compressor, a good air dryer, and a high-end gun but these units can do a more than adequate job. I'll probably try one for mostly primer work and if it can do the finish coats it will be a nice bonus.