Rockler HVLP Sprayer


Rex Edgar

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A few year back, I bought the Rockler HVLP sprayer. I have yet to use it. My hesitation comes from the lack of knowledge and experience in this finishing method. Can one use off the shelf finishes and what are the headaches as far as cleaning the equipment between sprays? The system that I have is all in one (no air compressor needed. Is there anyone here using this system and if so some guidance would be welcome....

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Obviously you need to learn it and be comfortable with it.

Suggest some General Finishes WB  poly (High Performance) to get you started.  Strain it into your cup, water for clean up, and very forgiving.  Spray just heavy enough until you see a milky blue haze and then let it cure for a couple hours.  Block sand lightly with 400 grit and give it another coat.  Build up coats until you reach the look you like.  Super simple to use and clean up!

I've never used the Rockler system, I started out on the Earlex and now use a Fuji unit.

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Super easy. You will wonder why you didn't do it sooner. You will want to spray waterbourne or solvent based finishes. If you shoot a solvent pre cat lacquer, you just need to run some lacquer thinner through the system when your done. If your spraying waterborne, you would use water. Do you have acces to any lacquer in your area? A sherwin williams maybe? Do you have access to the general finishes line of products? I shoot becker acroma intro lacquer. I've used the solvent and waterborne. Both are great. I hear Sherwin Williams has some good lacquer. If you can get some General finishes Endurovar, its also a great product. Its easy to use and looks great.

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

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Before you consider spraying, make sure you protect yourself.  Wear a respirator with both organic vapour cartridges and P!00 filters.  There is no exception - if you spray, you must wear appropriate respiratory gear.

I spray general finishes HP poly 95% of the time.  Great results, great product.  I also sprayed pre-cat lacquer for a short while.  It goes on wonderfully, and is CHEAP compared to the HP poly.  The reason I stopped was clean up and toxicity.  Pre-cat lacquer is highly toxic, and especially nasty.  It also requires lacquer thinner to clean up, which is equally as nasty.  You don't want to be dumping your used solvent down the drain.  It needs proper disposal, just like motor oil.

It does go on really nicely, and leaves a beautiful finish.  To me, the water based poly goes on almost as nicely, and is worth the trade off in cost for ease of clean up.

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I have one that I bought last year, I errantly thought I could spray some thinned out paint through it.  After I finished that project with brushes and rollers, I set the sprayer aside and haven't touched it since.  If it has the forum's seal of approval maybe I should give it another shot, too.  Following this.

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7 minutes ago, bleedinblue said:

I have one that I bought last year, I errantly thought I could spray some thinned out paint through it.  After I finished that project with brushes and rollers, I set the sprayer aside and haven't touched it since.  If it has the forum's seal of approval maybe I should give it another shot, too.  Following this.

None of the inexpensive HVLP units were designed to push thick finishes..  Send some quality WB finishes thru them and they tend to do well!

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Yeah, I knew better, but some of the reviews said "they" got it to work with paint.  Before baby girl gets mobile I need to build some new coffee and end tables to replace our current glass tables, that'll be a good opportunity to try some new finishing techniques.

 

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