Which gravity HVLP gun?

[Frank Martin]

I have Fuji turbine sprayer with standard gun and I am looking for a gravity HVLP gun for spraying cabinets already in place. Fuji's gravity gun has bad reviews due to reported leaks from the lid. What are some other options? I am OK spending up to $300 and looking for a good quality gun.

[Scott Holmes]

Check with Jeff Jewitt @ Homestead Finishing. He will ask the right questions and give you the recomendation from his line up of guns.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've been using a Fuji gravity-feed HVLP gun (9600GXPC) with my Accuspray turbine for about a year now. It works well, and I haven't had any problems with leaks around the lid. I shoot waterbornes.

[Frank Martin]

Jamie, I was all setup to order the Fuji gravity gun until I saw some bad reviews on Amazon. Your experience suggests I should not be worried. I will be shooting waterbornes with it as well. What size aircap and needle are you using for waterbornes?


I've been using a Fuji gravity-feed HVLP gun (9600GXPC) with my Accuspray turbine for about a year now. It works well, and I haven't had any problems with leaks around the lid. I shoot waterbornes.

[Jamie Buxton]

Jamie, I was all setup to order the Fuji gravity gun until I saw some bad reviews on Amazon. Your experience suggests I should not be worried. I will be shooting waterbornes with it as well. What size aircap and needle are you using for waterbornes?

I don't remember off the top of my head. I'll check when I go to the shop today. I bought it from Homestead Finishing. If there were options, I followed their advice.

[Frank Martin]

Jamie, sounds great. Look forward to hearing what size aircap you have. I will then call Homestead to order.


I don't remember off the top of my head. I'll check when I go to the shop today. I bought it from Homestead Finishing. If there were options, I followed their advice.

[Jamie Buxton]

The aircap in my gun is marked 4H. I found no marking on the needle. Dunno if that means that in this gun only the aircap changes. At any rate, the gun's instruction book says that's the default cap, and that it is the recommended one for lacquers and varnishes and other thin finishes.

I had one hiccup with the gun. I bought it because I was a frustrated with the Accuspray gun I've been using for years. It has a pressure-feed can hanging below the gun, and I was whacking the can on the workpiece when I was trying to shoot inside things -- particularly inside drawers. The gravity-feed guns put the can of finish above the gun, so they should be less prone to whacking the workpiece. However, the Fuji's stock air connection is straight up into the bottom of the handle, so the hose was whacking things. Fuji offers a kit that brings the air connection into the back of the gun, which I thought would solve the problem. Unfortunately, that entrance turns out to bypass the trigger, so air blows through the gun all of the time. I didn't like that, so I found some parts to put a right-angle connection at the bottom of the handle, so the air line kinda runs up my fore-arm. That has cut down on the whacking problem.

[Jason Roehl]

For spraying cabinets in place, I would go for a remote pressure pot every time over a gravity or siphon gun. The gun will be lighter and more nimble, and you can hold it at any angle. Just my experience...

[Matt Meiser]

Or if you don't want to do a remote pot, check out the 3M PPS system which can also spray at any angle. I have one on my siphon fed system and am loving it.

[Jamie Buxton]

Or if you don't want to do a remote pot, check out the 3M PPS system which can also spray at any angle. I have one on my siphon fed system and am loving it.

How would the PPS system solve my issue of the siphon can whacking things? As far as I can tell, the PPS system replaces the gun's existing paint can, sitting in exactly the same position.

[Jamie Buxton]

For spraying cabinets in place, I would go for a remote pressure pot every time over a gravity or siphon gun. The gun will be lighter and more nimble, and you can hold it at any angle. Just my experience...

I've not used a remote pot, but it seems to me that there would be waste of in the hose each time you use the system. When you stop spraying, there's paint in the hose. Maybe you can get some to drain back into the pot, but some will still be in the hose. That has to be cleaned out, making a bunch of contaminated solvent, and losing that paint. That is, the remote pot is more useful for big jobs than small ones. If that's true, where's the crossover? Shooting a pint of paint? A quart? A gallon?

[Matt Meiser]

How would the PPS system solve my issue of the siphon can whacking things? As far as I can tell, the PPS system replaces the gun's existing paint can, sitting in exactly the same position.

I didn't see that part, but it solves the any angle part.

[Daniel Berlin]

How would the PPS system solve my issue of the siphon can whacking things? As far as I can tell, the PPS system replaces the gun's existing paint can, sitting in exactly the same position.
PPS has several sized cups, the smaller ones are unlikely to whack anything.
I can take pictures of the relative sizes if you want, but they are 6oz, 22oz, 29oz.

[Frank Martin]

Matt,

At this oing I am definitely not interested in remote pot system. I don't think I will do in-place finishing after this next one. However, I would like to find out about the 3M PPS system you mention. I checked online and saw the components, but would like to understand if there is a kit that comes with everthing needed to make it work with a gravity gun.

[Jason Roehl]

I've not used a remote pot, but it seems to me that there would be waste of in the hose each time you use the system. When you stop spraying, there's paint in the hose. Maybe you can get some to drain back into the pot, but some will still be in the hose. That has to be cleaned out, making a bunch of contaminated solvent, and losing that paint. That is, the remote pot is more useful for big jobs than small ones. If that's true, where's the crossover? Shooting a pint of paint? A quart? A gallon?

You can get a hose made to almost whatever length you want. Ten feet is often plenty long (so the pot is out of the way), though there are smaller 2-quart setups as well that you could hold and use a much shorter hose. Either way, you're talking about a couple ounces of paint at most. With a little care, you can salvage most of it. I mostly try to spray waterborne products, so the solvent isn't an issue--it goes down the drain. Two quarts of paint will usually cost about the same as a gallon, but for me, the decision to spray or not is often based on how much I have to mask off around the project versus the size of the project.

[ben searight]

The PPS system will work with Fuji's gravity gun. Homestead sells the gravity gun with everything you need and your choice of 2 sizes of PPS cups.

[Matt Meiser]

Here's Homestead's PPS page: http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/htdocs/3m_pps.htm I actually got mine at Rockler something like 2/3 off on clearance. I also found a deal on cups on Ebay. Normally though its pretty much the same price everywhere.

If you are spraying waterborne wood finishes, its easy enough to rinse the lids and cups for reuse at least a couple times. I think I threw my first one away after about 3 uses.

Being able to store finish in them is another great advantage--pull it out of the older cup, squeeze the air out and insert the provided plug.

[Jamie Buxton]

Jason --
Would it make any sense to carry the remote pot on your body -- maybe a sling over a shoulder? There would be one less hose on the floor to trip over, and a shorter hose to clean out.

[Jason Roehl]

Jason --
Would it make any sense to carry the remote pot on your body -- maybe a sling over a shoulder? There would be one less hose on the floor to trip over, and a shorter hose to clean out.

I believe such a setup is available. I think by default, the 2-quart remote pot setup comes with a handle, so you can carry it (so do the 2.5-gallon ones, but that's pretty heavy to hold while you're spraying. Even if a dedicated sling isn't available, I doubt it would be hard to rig something up.

[Jeff Jewitt]

Fuji has settled on a new seal which should solve the leaking issue. It's black or transparent colored. Earlier versions were white. If you have a white one order the 5 pack of replacement gaskets and you won't have any issues.

[Daniel Berlin]

Matt,

At this oing I am definitely not interested in remote pot system. I don't think I will do in-place finishing after this next one. However, I would like to find out about the 3M PPS system you mention. I checked online and saw the components, but would like to understand if there is a kit that comes with everthing needed to make it work with a gravity gun.


My recollection of PPS on FUJI is that it requires the pressurized cups, not the normal ones.

Fuji confirms this (but if you have an older gun, i don't know if this is still true)
"Important: The PPS Gravity Cups will not work with the Fuji HVLP Guns - so for our Gravity Gun, please use the cups and adaptors as shown below. Only pressurized cups can be used." From http://www.fujispray.com/technical.htm#3m_pps_system

The pressurized cups are a bit more. You would need the pressurized cup kit and the 3m pps adapter fuji specifies, which is purchased separately from the "kits" you find (which are cup + collar + lids + liners kits)

The liners/etc are all the same between the same size pps cups