Buying a HVLP sprayer

About a week ago I shared my new baby.

My Graco Fine Finish HVLP spray gun.

(Love it!!!)

I did a TON of research before I made my final decision on which sprayer was right with me and I want to to share what I learned with you!

(Seriously, I think I did more research for this than I did for my thesis.)

 Do you research.

There are literally hundreds of different spray gun options. 99.9% of guns fall into one of two categories, airless or HVLP. This is a great place to start your research because once you decide with kind of sprayer you want you can eliminate the other. 

I chose HVLP for three main reasons. 

1. After a demo with the Graco Fine Finish (HVLP) and a Graco Proshot (airless) I felt like the HVLP was easier to handle and much easier to prep and clean. And I like easy. :)

2. I preferred the finish and control of the spray that the HVLP offered. A HVLP offers finer production and a airless offers higher production. The HVLP has knobs on the gun that allow me to control the pressure and out put of the gun which is a great feature for getting a fine finish. 

3. Because the HVLP produces a finer finish, I used way less paint to cover an equal surface area, which over time saves a lot of money. 

Decide what features are most important to you.

One of the most important features that I wanted was the ability to spray any material from the gun with NO thinning. I hate thinning paint. I feel like I always get it wrong. That's why I chose to get the 9.0. The increased motor size and power allows me to spray pretty much anything without thinning it. 

Buy from a store or a rep.

I looked into buying a gun from Ebay or buying all the components of the gun separately, but in the end I felt like the warranty and technical support I would get from buying from a store or rep out weighed the extra money I would spend by so doing. This is just my personal opinion, but I would rather spend $200 more and get a great support system than save the $200 and when I had a problem have no one to turn to. 

Ask a lot of questions. 

This goes with the point above. I met with a Graco rep twice, and it was so helpful to have a living breathing human to talk to and to show me how it worked. And remember there is no such thing as a stupid question. A sprayer is a huge investment, and just like you wouldn't buy a car without test driving it, you shouldn't purchase a sprayer without testing it. 

 Understand the responsibility that comes with with a spray gun.

Not to sound like your DIY mom, but a gun is a lot more time and effort to clean. More than I expected actually. And if you're going to pay for it, use it! (Wow I really do sound like a mom.)

Be realistic about your budget, but expect to get what you pay for it.  

That's pretty self-explanatory, and this is just my opinion, but spending $500 and not getting what you need, is a higher cost that spending $800 and getting exactly what you need/want. If you're going to spend $500 but rarely use it...then it's kind of a sunk cost. 

 I hope this info helps! 

I encourage you to do your own research and decide what's best for you. :)

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email!