Earlex 5500 Question

[Newfiestang50]

Hi, just found this forum and this is my first post......hopefully not my last.

I am fairly new to spray finishing and just took the plunge and bought an Earlex 5500 spray station after alot of research. The question I have is how long can you leave the gun without cleaning it. The reason i ask is that sometimes i am doing small projects using water based clear and I was hoping to put on several coats in one day if drying time allows. This as you know may be several hours. Is it ok to leave the gun in an uncleaned state for this long while waiting for a coat to dry. If not is there a trick or method that can be follow for this situation. I am hoping that I do not have to clean this gun after spraying only a few pieces of wood for small projects. If so i may have made a bad purchase for my needs at this time.

Thanks

[AceHoleInOne]

A few hours aren't going to hurt. However, when you put the gun down between drying coats. Take the air-cap off and soak in some denatured alcohol then a good scrub with an old tooth brush making sure the air-passages are clean. A quick wipe around the fluid nozzle and you should be fine.

Be advised, it's always a good Idea to clean your gun once daily.

[Morton]

What I typically do is spray the cleaner (in your case water) through the gun before leaving it to sit. That'll clean it out enough to not clog up over those couple of hours. I'll clean the gun entirely at the end of the day.

[Newfiestang50]

Thanks guys, that makes sense.