Earlex 3000 opinion

[Gene Michael]

After reading several favorable comments on SMC about the Earlex 5000, I decided to try the 3000 model. It sells at Amazon for $139.99. The unit is largely plastic, but the needle and housing are brass. Only one problem was encountered. The needle was stuck and I couldn't trigger it at first. After it broke loose, the unit worked very well. Sprayed the first coat of poly on 4 sections of railing (22 feet total). I anticipated the balusters might prove tedious, but they were easy with the 3000. In the past, I've used a traditional DeVilbiss gun and have had problems with the poly drying too much between the tip of the gun and the wood surface. This resulted in a very roughy, sandpapery finish on several occasions. The 3000 had no such problems. Experienced no sags or runs, though the first coat was not super thin.

Setting up the railing sections beforehand and cleaning the gun took much longer than the spray job. During the cleaning, I found the reason for the needle sticking - there was a band of corrosion in the section that rides within the gland seal. Tomorrow, I'll find out how good their customer service is. At this point, I have no problem recommending the Earlex 3000. It performed very well.:D

[Gene Michael]

Called Earlex customer service today about the corroded needle. No questions, no problems. New one being sent. Wish all companies were this easy to deal with.:D

[Prashun Patel]

So, after a few months, how do you like this product? I'm considering it...

[Ken Casser]

I'll put in my .02. I purchased the Earlex Spray Station Pro (I think the 5000) several months ago to spray black gloss lacquer. It surpassed my expectations by a mile. I find it works flawlessly and is easy to clean. I'm very happy with it.

[Neal Clayton]

i bought the one with the metal gun (5000 i think?) based on recommendations from here too. been using it to spray shellac on moldings, doors, etc.

i haven't seen anything comparable for the price. completely happy with it.

the closet door in this thread was the first i sprayed with it, about 6 or 7 coats of garnet shellac over salvaged not-so-similar-grained heart pine...

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=964220&postcount=11

this was pre-buffing, so you can get an idea of the consistency of the finish from the glare shot.

[Ken Casser]

Neal,

Sorry to hijack this thread, but...

Presuming you didn't shoot 6 or 7 coats in one day, did you need to clean out the gun after each coat, or at the end of each day with the shellac? I've only used my gun on lacquer, and I found I could leave the lacquer in the gun for weeks and it would still spray wonderfully. I am wondering if that can also be done with shellac or varnish.

[Neal Clayton]

actually it all was shot in one day, since sprayed shellac dries past tackiness in about 7 or 8 minutes.

but i've never left anything in the gun so can't really say. i don't break it down completely and clean it after every use, in the case of the shellac just shoot a pint or so of clean alcohol through afterwards. at the moment i'm using waterlox as a seal coat and shellac as the finish coat so those are the only two things i'm spraying in it, haven't sprayed paint with it yet.

so far with it i've sprayed about 200 linear feet of molding, that door, a couple of transoms and windows, and haven't broken the gun down to clean it yet, just sprayed whatever solvent through it afterwards, and haven't had any issues yet.