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View Full Version : Question for Wagner Conversion Gun Owners


Bill VanderLaan
11-16-2006, 8:40 AM
Long time lurker. First time poster.

I want to buy a HVLP conversion gun. The Wagner seems to be pretty popular. However, I have a 2hp pancake compressor that provides a surpising amount of air at 40 psi. Therein, lies the question - given that the HVLP guns operate at under 20 psi, can I use the HVLP gun with a small compressor? I am not looking to do any production runs, so waiting for the compressor to "catch up" is not really a problem.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your time and effort.

Best-

BVL
John Hemenway
11-16-2006, 9:02 AM
I use my Wagner with a Porter-Cable pancake. It works fine but I am also not 'production'. One side of a kitchen door and it's ready for a short rest. This works fine for me because I'm moving the door and getting ready to spray the next.
Jim Becker
11-16-2006, 9:26 AM
It will likely work, but it's going to run constantly. (You'll always have better results with a larger compressor and tank) Be sure you have good moisture filtration in line with the gun.
Roger Hergenrader
11-16-2006, 2:33 PM
Bill:

Let me start my response by saying I have not done this but read where someone else did.

They added a larger capacity tank in series with their existing compressor and increased the pressure to 90psi. On the outlet of the 2nd tank they added a filter and pressure reducer and set it to the pressure they needed. In this manner they had more capacity (volume) and the compressor was more able to keep up with the demand.

Still, nothing beats a large system with ample capacity coming from the compressor without a lot of jury-rigging.

Roger
Jim Becker
11-16-2006, 5:17 PM
What Roger speaks about is a possiblity to help improve performance, but be aware that there is "some limit" on how much tank a small compressor can handle effectively. I believe there are 10 gallon 'auxiliary' tanks available...originally purposed as portable air supplies...that could be used for this purpose. I would consider this a stop-gap, rather than a long term solution, however. A good compressor is nice to have for the shop...something with a 20-30 gallon tank minimum and preferably oil-type for longer life and less noise.