3M Accuspray gun/nozzle users - prepurchase question

[Wayne Lomman]

Out of curiosity, what are your 3 standard products?

Patrick, I use Interzinc 52, Interplus 1180 and Interthane 990 in the paint shop. That's for steel protection in offshore marine work (product on its way to Canada and USA as I write). In the woodworking shop it is even simpler - Wattyl Stylwood lacquer or Valspar 2K polyurethane. Wattyl dye and pigment stains when required. I am not a fan of any waterborne finishes available. This is not a problem for me because we simply don't have the air quality issues that plague the northern hemisphere and I have unlimited space for polishing under the sky with no-one to complain about it. Cheers

[John Kee]

Unfortunately we are stuck with the regulations that extremely high population densities generate with IMHO California being the main culprit. Regs put in place their, for better or worse affect both the USA and Canada.

[John TenEyck]

Mike, if you use the PPS system on a,normal gun cleanup is less than 5 minutes. Throw away the cup liner, soak the aircap and nozzle, and rinse out the fluid passages. It all takes 5 minutes max. I sometimes switch from shellac to BIN to WB paint, to clear coat in the same day, all with the same gun. Not ideal, but I'm cheap. Never had a contamination problem.

John

[Mike Dowell]

Mike, if you use the PPS system on a,normal gun cleanup is less than 5 minutes. Throw away the cup liner, soak the aircap and nozzle, and rinse out the fluid passages. It all takes 5 minutes max. I sometimes switch from shellac to BIN to WB paint, to clear coat in the same day, all with the same gun. Not ideal, but I'm cheap. Never had a contamination problem.

John

I might just do this. There are definitely mixed reviews on that inexpensive gun. I have a Qualspray RP gun I bout from Jeff JeWitt and I love the thing.

[Patrick Chase]

I might just do this. There are definitely mixed reviews on that inexpensive gun. I have a Qualspray RP gun I bout from Jeff JeWitt and I love the thing.

Jeff sells those "kitted" with PPS. If you need to retrofit it'a a #2 PPS adapter, same as Fuji's gravity guns.

[John TenEyck]

I might just do this. There are definitely mixed reviews on that inexpensive gun. I have a Qualspray RP gun I bout from Jeff JeWitt and I love the thing.

I use a Qualspray AM-6008 HVLP with the PPS system. Clean up should be just as easy with your gun. Cleaning the plastic cup shouldn't take more than a minute; but changing to the PPS system would make that task 0. I actually don't throw the liners away, I clean and reuse them, but I don't have to eat from what I sell.

If you like the gun you have I don't see a reason to change for the sake of trying to save time cleaning it. Shellac and lacquer are easily cleaned with just a little solvent, and soap and water with a little ammonia added for WB products. If it's taking more than 10 minutes, total, to be spraying something new something is wrong.

John

[Mike Dowell]

I use a Qualspray AM-6008 HVLP with the PPS system. Clean up should be just as easy with your gun. Cleaning the plastic cup shouldn't take more than a minute; but changing to the PPS system would make that task 0. I actually don't throw the liners away, I clean and reuse them, but I don't have to eat from what I sell.

If you like the gun you have I don't see a reason to change for the sake of trying to save time cleaning it. Shellac and lacquer are easily cleaned with just a little solvent, and soap and water with a little ammonia added for WB products. If it's taking more than 10 minutes, total, to be spraying something new something is wrong.

John

Well, I don't fully clean my gun after each use. For example, if I spray a table with NC lacquer, when I'm done for the day, I just run some LT through the cup and out the tip. After a while though - and I never know when- the little filter gets too much gunk or something gets too gummed up between the filter and the nozzle and boom - a crap spray comes out unexpectedly. Then, instead of spraying my table, I'm sitting there disassembling my gun for a fully, thorough cleaning and yes, that sometimes takes more than 10 minutes. Soaking the air cap in LT, etc. I think I'll just keep using this gun though, and maybe fit it for the PPS cups. That sounds like a reasonable compromise.

Further, I use lacquer, shellac and WB products(really excited to try my new Target Coatings stuff). Switching between those three on the fly seems cumbersome, but having more than one "nice sprayer" is too rich for my blood.

[Kevin Nathanson]

So I have three SATA guns in addition to the Accuspray. Cleaning those SATAs is easy if everything is still wet; rinse with appropriate solvent, etc. Once things start to dry though? Not a five minute job any more, especially with WB finishes that catalyze. They no longer dissolve in water—duh!—and then you are working with a wire brush and tiny steel probes to clear out the small holes in the air caps. Lacquer would be a lot easier to deal with, but I try not to shoot solvent-based finishes. Stuff like Kilz? Same issue; it dries SO fast that it can really gum up the works. Yes, you can add a retarder, but it seems stupid to me to end up with longer dry times and runs in your work just because you want to make the gun easier to clean! (Why all the guns? SATAs in 1.0, 1.1 and 1.3, hence not much redundancy, and for the guns I have, 1.4 is the max offered. Suffice it to say that Kilz and Latex paint do NOT spray well through 1.4...)

As far as the needles: One needle for multiple aircaps. The offset of the aircaps varies, with the larger ones being further forward of the needle than the smaller ones, and the needle is significantly more tapered than a typical single-orifice size needle. You really can't disassemble the gun without driving roll pins out of the plastic, so that is not considered 'normal' service.

K

[Patrick Chase]

As far as the needles: One needle for multiple aircaps. The offset of the aircaps varies, with the larger ones being further forward of the needle than the smaller ones, and the needle is significantly more tapered than a typical single-orifice size needle. You really can't disassemble the gun without driving roll pins out of the plastic, so that is not considered 'normal' service.

Thanks, that was what I was asking. That might leave the needle projecting into the atomization airstream with intermediate fluid settings (needle not fully retracted) in the largest caps, but I assume they've tested it and figured all of that out. There is precedent - For example Fuji shares needles between aircaps that are close together in size.

[Patrick Chase]

Well, I don't fully clean my gun after each use.

[snip]

Further, I use lacquer, shellac and WB products(really excited to try my new Target Coatings stuff). Switching between those three on the fly seems cumbersome, but having more than one "nice sprayer" is too rich for my blood.

You probably know this already, but: You don't have any realistic choice with the WB stuff. You have to thoroughly clean that before it cures. If not you will either be in for a long cleaning project as Kevin described or trash your gun outright. With nitro and shellac you can just soak your way out of trouble as you say.

As I think back to all of my marginal cleaning experiences, I'm suddenly very tempted by the Accuspray dispose-a-gun. The cost of the fluid heads is negligible compared to the finishes I use and the value of the time I spend.

One remark: Note that the Accuspray gun come in 2 variants, standard and "HGP". The "HGP" has a cup pressurization port (what John T calls "pressure assist"), which is a handy thing if you already have H/O-type PPS cups as I do. The HGP gun comes in a kit with 1.8 and 2.0 mm caps, but it's compatible with the smaller ones.

[John TenEyck]

Well, I don't fully clean my gun after each use. For example, if I spray a table with NC lacquer, when I'm done for the day, I just run some LT through the cup and out the tip. After a while though - and I never know when- the little filter gets too much gunk or something gets too gummed up between the filter and the nozzle and boom - a crap spray comes out unexpectedly. Then, instead of spraying my table, I'm sitting there disassembling my gun for a fully, thorough cleaning and yes, that sometimes takes more than 10 minutes. Soaking the air cap in LT, etc. I think I'll just keep using this gun though, and maybe fit it for the PPS cups. That sounds like a reasonable compromise.

Further, I use lacquer, shellac and WB products(really excited to try my new Target Coatings stuff). Switching between those three on the fly seems cumbersome, but having more than one "nice sprayer" is too rich for my blood.

Mike, no offense, but I think you are costing yourself more time by trying to avoid cleaning your gun between uses than it would take to do so. When finish is fresh it cleans out of the gun with just a little solvent. I'm not kidding, 5 to 10 minutes. And then your gun is clean and you know it will spray as you expect to the next time.

In any case, get rid of that little plastic filter under the cup; they are nothing but trouble. Throw it as far as you can and don't go look for it. Strain your finish as you put it into the cup, clean the gun at the end of the day, and then go have a beer.


John

[Mike Dowell]

Mike, no offense, but I think you are costing yourself more time by trying to avoid cleaning your gun between uses than it would take to do so. When finish is fresh it cleans out of the gun with just a little solvent. I'm not kidding, 5 to 10 minutes. And then your gun is clean and you know it will spray as you expect to the next time.

In any case, get rid of that little plastic filter under the cup; they are nothing but trouble. Throw it as far as you can and don't go look for it. Strain your finish as you put it into the cup, clean the gun at the end of the day, and then go have a beer.


John

hahaha - no offense taken John. I think you're completely right about basically being more proactive about cleaning. And actually, I didn't know about the WB stuff being a pain to clean up post-cure so that's a great fun-fact prior to spraying this stuff. Also what I didn't know was about the little filter screen being bad to use. When I consulted with Jeff JeWitt prior to purchasing, he was telling me to put it in upside down because it makes it easier to get out. I assumed because he told me this, it was a good idea to have in there but looking back, there have been many times that thing was clogged - so it has to go.

[Warren Lake]

I would not put the filter in upside down Id throw it away. Filter your material and the PPS has a filter in the lid anyway so its filtered twice. I have one accusrpay bought a long time ago, im no fan. The newer throw away air cap thing so where does that go landfill? Even the PPS when I mentioned it said thats alot of crap in land fills they said yeah and if I understood them right they are working on a new product maybe can be recycled. Cleaning gravity is fast and simple take the PPS off pour some reducer through into a container you reuse for other things and put your air cap and nozzle into a little jar with reducer and a lid. Either clean it then and blow it dry if you put it together wet some will stick. If i have goup in the very fine air holes ill use a maple tooth pick the round kind, they are very pointed and wont do damage using care. Dollar store has artist brushes that are white hair pretty firm bristle that work well on air caps.