The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop turbine paint sprayer vs compressed air

I have read in the EASTWOOD CO catalog they favor a turbine spray gun to compressed air as it has zero moisture,much less over spray and uses heated air. Any comments on this type of spraying as I am thinking to invest in one of these.

A turbine HVLP paint spraying system has almost zero moisture.

You do not need a compressor.

The dry, heated air takes some getting used to. The paint dries and/or sets-up faster.

Over-spray is minimal, as in a compressed-air HVLP spray system.

I use an Accuspray 3-stage turbine HVLP system and it is great.

Thank you for your comments on the turbine.

I had a Lex-Aire Turbine Spray System for many years. Painted two aircraft and two cars with it over the years, as well as latex house paint and other items. It was very versatile, but ---- it did fine with the urethanes and bc/cc's of the 1980's, but I could never get a decent spray with modern PPG products. After buying a large compressor to handle my sandblasting needs and other air tools, I bought the Finishline HVLP Starter Kit from Eastwood and have had great results. Sold the Lex-Aire! The real problem with the Turbine is the heat. You MUST use slower reducers or retarders, otherwise you'll end up with an orange-peel mess. As I said, it worked great with the Imron and PPG NCT systems in the mid-80's, which is when I bought my turbine, but I had no luck with enamels, bc/cc, or urethanes from 2001-2005 when I sold it. For my money, a good HVLP gun with adequate compressor and professional quality air/moisture separater are the better option, and should cost less money.

Thanks for the input guy's. I never gave a thought to the heated airs effect on drying,thanks for mentioning that. I think I'll give this a litte more thought and time before I buy one. If I do I guess the eastwood units are the better ones out there. Thanks...Dave.

We adjusted for the turbine's warm air by using the paint manufacturer's recommendation for high-temperature (75-90 degree) reducer. This worked fine and the two-part, single-stage urethane paint (PPG DCC) applied nicely, and buffed out beautifully and easily.

I had never used a traditional spray system, so I had no problem holding the HVLP gun as close to the surface as is recommended. My friend, who had always used compressed-air standard-guns and HVLP-guns, had to get used to holding the HVLP turbine gun close to the surface (6"-8"). Until he got the distance right, his applications had significant orange-peeling.

Tim