Qualspray Troubleshooting

[Bill Adamsen]

I've been using the Qualspray AM6008 HVLP with 3M PPS for a couple of years now (since switching to waterborne CV) and it has proven wickedly reliable and easy to use. One of the key reasons for switching was to use the PPS which I had heard great things about (all true) and especially for the stainless needles and seats for waterborne finishes. In fact I was under the impression that it was all stainless. It is not.

Today I just couldn't figure it out. It was passing air and I just couldn't troubleshoot and I was losing my mind with a deadline in place. Switched back and forth between the 1.0 and 1.3 a half dozen times polishing, cleaning and lubing everything. Finally after looking at the diagram forever I deduced there had to be something wrong with the valve spring. Turns out that is not stainless. Hopefully this helps someone else with a similar issue. Fortunately had a spare and finished spraying the job.

Now I will remove, clean and dry after every spray.

AM6008_ValveSpring.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Bill, by "valve spring" do you mean the spring that pushes the needle against the nozzle? That's the only spring I'm aware of in that gun, which I also use almost exclusively. And, yes, I take that out after every use as part of the cleaning process.

I had some poor spraying results recently (Pulsing - drove me nuts trying to spray red toner on white wood!) and went around and around looking for the root of the problem. I finally found that the packing nut behind the trigger was completely loose and air was going where it wasn't supposed to. You can't really see that nut unless you pull the trigger forward and look behind it. Anyway, that's another thing to check.

John

[Bill Adamsen]

John:

It turns out there is a second spring. I didn't realize it until I looked at the rebuild kit wondering about the purpose of the second spring. A comparison with the parts sheet exposed my error. There were springs 13 and 17. I always removed 17 ... but had never removed 13. That was the issue. 13 was broken.

AM6800QParts.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Interesting. I wonder if my Wagner guns have something like that internal, too?

[John TenEyck]

I had no clue there was a second spring. Thanks very much for posting this.

John