HVLP: PC vs. HF

[Jeff Cord]

I'm sure there is a simple answer to this question.
A friend at work loaned me his HF HVLP sprayer to try out. He told me it did a good (enough) job and, after trying it out this weekend, I tend to agree.
(I was expecting it to lay down the paint a bit quicker but after passing over the same spot a number of times I got good coverage.)
I also know that you get what you pay for in quality.
However, after looking at the HF sprayer and the PC sprayer they look identical to the untrained eye (mine).
What is the true difference between these?
Are the parts really that much different from a quality standpoint?
Does the PC do a better job? faster? smooter? ???
I'm curious to know what the real difference is.
thanks,
Jeff
images/buttons/edit.gif (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=411909)

[Allen Bookout]

Jeff,

I do not have any experience with the HF sprayers so I may not have any information but I do know that we need to know what specific guns that you are talking about and what material that you are trying to spray. I'm not big on HF stuff so I may want to stay out of this. You do get what you pay for, especially with spray guns.

You may want to try a search as there was a thread about this subject a few days ago.

Allen

[Jeff Cord]

Does the fact that you need to know what I'm spraying mean that in some cases the HF is actually a better sprayer?
Or is it that, depending on what I'm spraying, there may be better choices than the PC?
Regardless, I'm more interested in a basic comparison between the guns.
Is the higher price gun really better given the fact that I would be spraying the same material?
Or are they really the same guns (same manufacturer) with different names on them?
thanks.

[Allen Bookout]

Jeff,

The reason that I ask what you are trying to spray is that if you are spraying anything thicker that the consistancy of lacquer/urethane then the HVLP gun may not be the best setup or that you need a different tip set and someone here would be able to help. I thought that might be the case since you mentioned that it was not putting out the quantity of paint that you had expected. Had nothing to do with the difference in the two brands.

I have four different brands of guns. PC, Astro, Sharp and Devilbiss so cannot comment on the HF guns. Here is a thread where some of the guys that have used HF guns have some comments.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=40624&highlight=spray

Good Luck!

Allen

[Steve Clardy]

I've got four pc guns, and 1 Grizzly $20.00 gun, which may or may not be the same gun as a HF gun.

The difference in quality is very noticeable.
The difference in spraying is very noticeable.

I use the Griz gun for spraying waterbase countertop glue only, which is what I bought it for.
But when I first purchased it, I tried it with lacquer just too see what it would do. I determined it was not a gun I wanted to be spraying finishes with.