hey guys welcome or welcome back my name is katie
i am the owner and artist behind salvaged by k scott if you're new here
and don't already know i make my living right here out of my
garage at home painting and restyling found and
thrifted furniture in this video i'm going to be sharing
with you guys how i do what i do which is spraying chalk style
paints and water-based top coats i get asked
about my spray gun a lot so i'm going to share with you
everything i can possibly think to tell you about my gravity fed hvlp
pneumatic spray gun i am by no means an expert on these tools i am just sharing
what i have learned and how i have run my business for the past four years
please also understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a brushed
or rolled finish i always advocate that you're
going to get the best finish possible using the tools that you feel
comfortable with each and every painter out there has their own style
preferences and tool preferences this is just mine
so this is what i use to spray all of my chalk style paints
and water-based top coats this is a gravity-fed
hvlp pneumatic spray gun let's break that down
gravity fed the paint goes in the top and uses gravity to feed the paint
down through the hopper and out through the gun
hdlp stands for high volume low pressure and pneumatic means that
this gun is powered by compressed air the exact model we're going to be
looking at today is this vapor brand hvlp pneumatic spray gun i picked this
up at princess auto for 64.99 canadian but
you can find these all over amazon and in all kinds of
hardware stores at varying price points to use this style of gun you're going to
need an air compressor and you're going to need a big air
compressor a small pancake style compressor is not going to
be able to produce enough air or hold enough air in the
tank to keep up with this type of gun the manufacturer
recommends at least a 30 gallon tank
if you don't already own a suitable air compressor
and aren't planning on using any other types of pneumatic tools
this might not be the right investment for your business
while the guns themselves are pretty inexpensive
a large tank air compressor can run hundreds or thousands of dollars
the only reason that i ended up using this style of sprayer for my
furniture business is because we already had a suitable
compressor in the garage and my husband even had an hvlp gun in
his tool stash that he wasn't using otherwise
i probably would have ended up using an electric version
so if a pneumatic setup is not going to be the right choice for your situation
i'm going to recommend a few different options that i see used over and over
again in our amazing furniture painting
community i can't speak to the pros and cons of any of these guns because i
don't have any experience with them personally
but i would recommend that you take some time to
research them on your own and figure out what might be the best choice for you
the most popular electric powered spray guns that i
see my furniture peers using most successfully
are the home rights super finish max
the wagner flexio 590
or one of the fuji spray pro turbine powered guns
i'm going to leave links to all of these guns in the description box below
so that you can take some time to do your own research and figure out if any
of these is the right investment for your business
let's go ahead and add some names to all of these parts
so out of the box your gun is going to look like this
it won't be wet i just washed mine out don't mind the water
so you have your main gun piece here that comes pretty much ready to go you
do need to add a connector so that you can clip on your
hose these are usually sold separately at the hardware store
and with all the air tools i like to wrap
a little bit of teflon tape or plumber's tape
around the thread before i add the connector on to make sure that i get
an airtight seal to put your gun together you're going to
take your nozzle piece this just threads right on
to the front of the gun and this is where you can adjust
your spray most guns will also come with a little nylon filter
this goes right in the top before you add your cup
the cup threads right on the top very easily just finger tight
once you've got your paint or top coat inside the cup
you add your lid this little air valve just make sure that
you're maintaining pressure in the cup as the
liquid moves down and that's it you're always going to get
an instruction manual read it there's lots of really valuable
information in here you'll also get a tool kit this is where
you'll find your filter there's also a wrench in here so that
you can break down the front of the gun and
remove the needle if you need to ever do a deep clean
i hardly ever do that so usually when my guns
stop working properly i just buy a new one you'll also get a little brush
to clean out any tight areas this gun happens to also come with a pressure
gauge that should be installed at the bottom
of the gun before this connector piece i use the pressure gauge attached to my
air compressor instead of attaching this extra piece
i find these get bulky get in my way and i drag them through my paint finish so
i skip these
make sure that you read the instruction manual that comes
with your tool it is going to give you all kinds of important
information safety information and good rules to follow
it's also a great reference guide for all of the pieces of your gun
and what they're called it tells you here exactly how to assemble
your gun it goes over the fan direction with great diagrams and also spray
pattern adjustments how to handle your gun the incorrect way
and the correct way to get the best finish possible
care and maintenance and cleaning there's also usually a great
troubleshooting guide that goes through all sorts of problems that you might run
into and how to correct them hang on to
this manual you won't regret it
always make sure that you're wearing proper personal protective equipment
when you're spraying you want to have a good quality
respirator some ear protection not for the sound of the gun but more
for the sound of the compressor and also safety glasses
i use these honeywell p100 filters on my mask
they filter both vapors and particulates alright let's head out to the garage and
check out the compressor situation
this is the setup that i use in the garage i lovingly refer to this
compressor as frank that's short for frankenstein it is a
totally custom unit that my husband built from
some other older compressors and some new pieces from the hardware store
i don't have a brand or model to share with you guys because there isn't one
i'm also not going to be able to tell you about all of the bells and whistles
gauges and attachments the only thing i've ever needed to know about this air
compressor is how to turn it on and how to connect my gun
if you're looking for more detailed guidance on those things i'll leave a
card above and a link in the description box for a
video by c jane drill that i found very informative and
helpful the contraption that i use to hold my gun
is another custom job by my husband but you can find
gun holders or gun stands on amazon as well
let's add some paint to this situation because
i use chalk and mineral based paints which are thicker by nature
i do thin all of my paints before i spray
but just a little i find that if i thin my paint with too much water
i'm more likely to get drips and sags in my finish
this is not at all a technical process for me
i usually add my paint to the hopper and then cover it with water
i mix my paint and water mixture right inside of the hopper
the proper way to go about this procedure is to mix your paint and water
thoroughly in a separate container and then use a strainer to add it into your
gun if i'm getting ready to spray a top coat
i do not thin it at all i always spray them
straight up
now i'm ready to attach my gun to my air hose
and start spraying
making adjustments to the nozzle is really easy if the nozzle is in a
horizontal position it will spray vertically
and vice versa this knob on the side of the gun
controls the spray pattern if it's all the way closed it will spray a small dot
if it's all the way open it will spray a long line
the knob at the back controls the amount of fluid that's coming out of your
gun again all the way closed no fluid will flow
all the way open you'll get a lot of fluid
when i'm spraying my thicker paints i usually dial everything back to a middle
setting now i can spray i like to overlap my
lines by about one third in every pass you want to also make sure
that you're keeping your gun an equal distance away from your piece
instead of rotating your wrist back and forth you want to keep your
wrist nice and straight and move the gun back and forth across the piece
if you apply too much paint at too high of a pressure
it's going to drip so while we watch this drip
i'm gonna fill you in on a couple of other little tips
if you've never used a sprayer before fill it up with water take it out to
your driveway or the sidewalk and play around with all of the adjustments
before you add paint get used to it get comfortable with it
and then you can go ahead and add some
color
and because i only use water-based products clean up is
super easy once i'm finished spraying my paint or top coat i
empty out the hopper and take my gun inside to the laundry sink
i usually go ahead and take everything apart before i turn the water on
i'm not sure what i was thinking here i think the filming process
threw me off i start by removing the lid i usually keep a scrub brush in the
laundry sink so that i can get into all of the threads of the lid
i'm also going to remove this little air valve at the top and make
sure that that is free of paint
next i'll unscrew the paint cup from the gun
and rinse that out as well
next up i'm going to unscrew the nozzle and make sure that all of the different
air holes are free of paint
and i find it much easier to rinse the paint out of the gun
if i just pop that nylon filter out of there
that gets a rinse and then all i do is run
my warm water through the body of the gun until it runs clear
once you've got clear water you're ready to switch to a top coat or a different
color of paint or you can just set it aside on a towel
to dry out until the next time you need to use it
i really hope that this video helps you decide if the gravity fed hvlp
pneumatic spray gun is the right fit for you and your furniture business
please make sure that you subscribe before you go
and i'll catch you guys next time