Airless for polyfiber?

Has anyone successfully used an airless sprayer for polyfiber? I want to do some recovering where I don’t have air and I am not going to buy a turbine sprayer. It will be with a polytone top coat. Tim

Don't airless guns need air pressure?
I graduated from a Binks model 18 to a Graco turbine two months ago - made a dramatic difference! I could do a complete coat in half the time with more even pattern.

Even a single stage turbine will do a far better job than an airless sprayer (which uses electricity to spin a tiny turbine and produce air). Not that expensive and a much better job for something you expect to last for years. I used a single stage many years ago for a couple jobs with good results. I now am on my second 4 stage turbine (wore one out) , and it is far superior. You get what you pay for.

If you could borrow a portable pancake compressor you could use the type of gravity feed HVLP guns that use shop air turned down to 40psi. Work great and they're giving them away. They have very little overspray compared to an old suction gun.

Well my hope was to use a 10 gallon paint pot that has a stir function to keep the silver mixed then have the airless so I can just keep doing coats. Maybe I will have to experiment... and I cannot seem to get good clean dry air from my compressor...even with filters and desiccant dryer I get fish eyes so airless might solve a few problems for me. These are just ideas...trying to think things trough. Tim

astjp2 said:

Well my hope was to use a 10 gallon paint pot that has a stir function to keep the silver mixed then have the airless so I can just keep doing coats. Maybe I will have to experiment... and I cannot seem to get good clean dry air from my compressor...even with filters and desiccant dryer I get fish eyes so airless might solve a few problems for me. These are just ideas...trying to think things trough. Tim

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Depending on your set up, you may want to build a cooler/dryer for your compressor. I know copper is expensive, but running a half dozen or a dozen 8 foot lengths of copper tubing up and down the walls with elbows to connect them and putting the output of the compressor in to it and your supply line out of it (with a couple drain points) will do wonders to cool the air and cause the water to precipitate out of it. A lot cheaper than a commercial chiller, and much better air quality exiting the system.

dgapilot said:

Depending on your set up, you may want to build a cooler/dryer for your compressor. I know copper is expensive, but running a half dozen or a dozen 8 foot lengths of copper tubing up and down the walls with elbows to connect them and putting the output of the compressor in to it and your supply line out of it (with a couple drain points) will do wonders to cool the air and cause the water to precipitate out of it. A lot cheaper than a commercial chiller, and much better air quality exiting the system.

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What about using a receiver tank to trap the water? I also seem to have an oil issue...I have a nice big Ingersol 15T compressor that I rebuilt and I have a spare compressor that I can rebuild, it sucks that I know that I am having an air problem...

Things evened out for me when I started putting filters and regulators on every cheap gravity HVLP gun I have. Can't trust any amount of hose. Plus all the rest, black iron pipe system, drains, dryers.

Cheap and quick, Tim....just go buy a 50' 1/2" air hose, lay it on the ground and THEN start with the filters and stuff. You're wasting your time and money running any filter any sooner. A big tank could work too... pipe out from the top and pipe in at about half way. Give everything time to settle out.
I used to use my turbine on Stitts for years, especially on smaller parts. Sometimes you can find a used one pretty inexpensive!
John

Here's my cooler; first saw this set up here on SC about 4 years ago. It's a A/C condenser from a Chevy Tahoe. Cut the short line that runs from your compressor to your tank. Run copper from the compressor head to the top of the condenser. Out the bottom of the condenser, you can use air hose since the temp has dropped to about room temp. I run to a drain and a water trap than back into the compressor tank at the other end of the line I first cut. Air goes into my compressor tank nice and dry and cool. When it comes out of my compressor tank at the stock outlet, I run it into a second water separator, part of the regulator. Then, out to the gun with clean, dry air. It has worked flawlessly for three years now. Cost was $40 for the condenser from a junkyard and about $50vin copper and fittings from Ace Hardware. An hour or two of compressor running and I can drain off a couple ounces of water when the humidity in the shop is around 60%. On a side note, when my shop is cold in the winter and I am using a heater, the heat off the condenser nicely helps warm my spray area. I've got lots of pictures of the entire set up if interested.
Marty57

I’m interested. Show me more Do you run a fan behind the condenser?

A turbine HVLP works great on Polyfiber and Polytone.

I've had great results with aerothane,ranthane,superflite, and others too with my 4 stage turbine HVLP.

I used a Turbine HVLP on my recent rebuild. I'm far from a professional painter, but I thought it worked great. Nice even pattern. I had no orange peel, fish eye or any problems at all in painting polyfiber products. The only thing I didn't like about the unit I used was when you disconnected the gun from the hose, it wouldn't shut off the air supply, like a regular air hose fitting does, so I had to turn the power off first.........really wasn't a big deal once I got everything set up.

Bearhawk Builder, I'll attach more pictures. You can follow the blue arrows to see the flow. I don't use a fan but that's not a bad idea. There are smaller condensers where a fan would help. This one is pretty big so I haven't needed it. Here's more pictures. Let me know if you need more pictures or info.

Marty57

I finally bought an airless sprayer, I think I will look at the different tip options to make it equal to the 1.4-1.8 MM tip that polyfiber uses for the HVLP gun I have.