Conversion gun or earlex 5000

[Bob Hallowell]

I am getting ready to build a new kitchen for my house and want to spray them. I have only ever used rattle cans so all this is new to me. Fisrt what would be the best finish? I was thinking a waterbased poly.

Next I have been looking at the earlex 3000 and 5000. I can't find much on the 3000 but the 5000 is well received.

Or would I be better off buying a wagner Conversion gun or other brand(good opertunity to buy a bigger compressor).

Thanks,
Bob

[John Keeton]

bob, having gone through this decision process, and ending up with the Earlex 5000 while on sale at Woodcraft, I will be interested in the responses you get. I have not tried out the Earlex yet, but did finish up my portable, foldup spray booth this weekend.

[Scott Holmes]

Water-borne (WB) finishes are OK for the inside of the kitchen cabinets... I would not use it on the money side of the kitchen cabinets... (by the way... I am in the middle of finishing ~6000 sq. ft of Alder kitchen cabinets in a $3.5+ million dollar house (not mine).

WB will not do well in the hostile kitchen environment. Windex, 409, Tilex, many other cleaners can damage an acrylic finish. WB are acrylic EVEN the so called WB POLY it's usually less than 3% poly, 97%+ acrylic.

Ammonia will pit it. Plus it's not was waterproof as the oil based finishes.

As for the method of appling your finish; most methods will work, spraying is faster, not always better, especially if you aren't well practiced. Drips and runs can be an issue.

[Larry Edgerton]

Bob, go to www. autobodytoolmart. com , they have many specials on guns. It is an auto body supply, but they are the best/cheapest place to buy guns/parts.

I use gravity feed conversion guns exclusively. I find that Turbine driven HVLPs heat the air too much, and they are just inconvenient as well as too expensive. I would start out with a 1.7 tip for WB, but you may want a smaller tip for lacquer/thinner finishes.