Spray Finishing Experience/Question

[Mike Goetzke]

I have sprayed lacquer and poly with a HF 43430 conversion gun in the past with fairly good success. Not too long ago I found a used Titan 4-stage turbine system and bought it because my compressor was barely keeping up with my HF gun. I used the turbine and Target USL for the first time this weekend on a chest, dresser, and computer cabinet project. The finish results were professional looking but I have a few questions for the experts.

The turbine came with 5 tips and air caps. I actually went to the smallest tip and recommended cap. Even with this combo I still seemed to have too much air-flow resulting in too much over spray (at least more than my HF gun). I messed with the air control valve and I could get it to turn the air flow off completely but as soon at I turned it on the very slightest I would get an 8" fan at about 8" from the workpiece and at full air flow about a 12" fan. My HF gun could be tamed down to about half the fan width - again w/o as much over spray.

Is there something I am doing wrong or is there some type of maintenance/repair I can do to the gun?

Tip info:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Titan%20TS50P%20HVLP/th_tipchart.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Titan%20TS50P%20HVLP/?action=view&current=tipchart.jpg)



Thanks,

Mike

[Stephen Bunch]

That air control valve sounds a little touchy to me, although they never will give you a *really* precise control - I often rely on the fluid control knob in conjunction with nozzle position to get the fan patttern where i want

They're usually just a ball valve like used on garden hoses - try picking one up at a hardware store just to make sure that's not at fault.

Most often, I run my turbine system without the valve (I like the extra power when spraying heavier coatings), and overspray isn't that bad at all.

Beyond that, hopefully someone with experience with that particular brand of machine can/will pipe in.

[Mike Goetzke]

Maybe it's just getting used to a new system. If you look at the bottom of this page you can see my gun:

Titan Spray Gun (http://www.sprayequipment.co.uk/titantb.htm)