I pretty much exclusively spray oil based polyurethane on pieces sized around 1" square and 12-40" long, which I spray and hang vertically. I'm setting up in a new shop and the sales rep recommended trying the Fuji spray system with the gravity feed gun, rather than using cheap HVLP guns on compressed air as I've always done in the past. I'm getting better at spraying, but with my cheap $25 spray gun with 0.8mm air cap I'd still struggle to get consistent wet out/coverage without runs.. the atomisation pattern wasn't the best, nor am I the most experienced with spraying (having only been at it for about a year using HVLP.)

The sales rep suggested emailing Fuji to get the specific air cap size that would be correct for my application.

Any thoughts on buying the Fuji system vs a higher capacity compressor and a good quality (SATA?) spray gun?

I'm looking to achieve a glass finish with gloss urethane with less coats, currently it takes me up to 8 coats, minimum 6 coats to get full soak in and coverage on european beech which has been first treated with danish oil. The first 2 coats are usually just there to build the finish to full coverage, with the 3rd being the first I sand with 400 grit paper.

The rep said the mini-mite is the same as the much more expensive Q5 Platinum system, just without as much sound damping - so much louder. This isn't an issues at all for me.

With compressed air I'd be looking at an air dryer (just a big tube of desiccant) inline as I've had issues with water content in the spray previously, and that was in a location with far far lower humidity. Would I need the same for the Fuji system?

Cost isn't really an issue on this one, it's more about getting a perfect finish with less labour. The amount of sanding I do because I get a defect in my "last" coat is annoying.

I know much of this is attributable to the user, but I figure if I can rule out the equipment it will help haha. One of the reasons for varying finish with my last gun for example was the pattern adjustment knob was right where my thumb sits, and i'd inadvertently shift it a tiny bit with my thumb as I spray haha.