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Turbine Sprayers and Stewart Paint Durability

Messydeer

Messydeer

Member
Hello!

I have read through many posts about HVLP painting. Sounds like going with a turbine would be the best way. I have no experience painting, unless you call rattle canning the interior with Zn Chromate painting.

I have heard good things about Stewart paints. Working with water based paint sounds like it would be much safer (no fresh air required). My main question about this method is durability. How long have people been putting on this paint? I'd hate to see the paint job turn bad in 5 or 10 years.

If I go with a solvent borne urethane paint, most of the turbine manufacturers seem to suggest a 4 stage system. People here say they have gotten good results with a Citation. Is that a 3- or 4-stage? Looks like there is about $400 price difference. Any difference in equipment for the Stewart system?

For practice, and to make my wife happy, I could paint the house. I assume I would learn much, but there's prolly differences in technique between latex and urethane paints.

Cheers,
Dan
 
The Stewart instructions say, "Use an HVLP non-turbine*** spray gun..." The asterisks are probably there for emphasis as they don't have any footnotes.

You can get their recommended gun, a Devilbiss Finishline 3 with a 1.3mm tip for about $130.
 
latex and hvlp

I looked into HVLP application of residential latex for painting walls and ceiling of a new garage last year.

What little I found stated that it wasn't going to be a time savings, by the time I diluted the latex down so that I could spray it with the HVLP.

Possible, but not worth it, so I did it the traditional way.
 
Thanks, guys :)

I noticed in the youtube video they used a non-turbine. There must be a difference in how they spray.

And it looks like I now know more about painting an airplane than a house. Figured you'd be able to use the same equipment, but guess not very easily.

Dan

PS: I'm guessing there are recommended psi and cfm parameters to be met according to the different type of paint. The paint wouldn't care if it was 2-stage vs 4-stage as long as it met these requirements, right?
 
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They used to say no turbine, but I just got some paint from them that included an instruction sheet that says it's OK with an extra length of hose (for cooling). Problem is, if you don't use the exact HVLP gun as shown in the videos you are on your own to figure out gun settings and troubleshoot problems. My Citation 3-stage worked great with Polyfiber but the Stewarts may require a 4-stage to get a really good finish; who knows.
 
That's interesting. I got paint from them last week that had the no turbine instruction that I quoted.

Best to call Stewart.
 
Stewart paint

The reason they don't recommend a turbine is because it warms the paint, reducing the pot life.
 
Plus the fact that the turbine is very pressure specific, I can't adjust my pressure. Most turbine guns use a bypass air delivery which means the air is always going through the gun regardless of the trigger. I had to increase the size of my cap to spray the thicker materials which requires more pressure than the turbine could provide for the color coats. The thinner clears worked OK. They have a place in the world but you will get the best results with a standard HVLP rig and a compressor that can deliver the correct amount of air flow and pressure.
 
Turbine with Stewart Paint Okay; Graco 4900?

Thanks for the responses, guys :)

I just got off the phone some minutes ago with a very nice lady at Stewart's. She said their own plane has had this paint for ~10 years and it's still flexible on their fabric. I believe she said there is a repeat customer who has been coming back for longer than that, putting paint on different airplanes since then, I think.

She said the only reason they say 'non-turbine' is so people will ask about turbines. It's just fine to use it with their paint, as long as the air is cool when it hits the tip, extra length of hose or cooling bath (like you guys said). That's great, cuz I would have major difficulty getting the recommended 13 CFM out of any combination of compressors I would have. I'd have to spend $500 or more on a new one (or repeated rentals for prolly cheaper but mucho moro hassle), then still have to tee them together. I've only got 110 in my shop.

I'm in Bellingham, WA so zipping over to Cashmere would take less than 3 hours. She said they'd be happy to get me started in the right direction with some OJT. That way I could get the hang of painting while calibrating my turbine gun.

So now I'm looking for a turbine HVLP. There are a couple used Graco 4900's on the market. This is a 4-stage 8 psi, 82 cfm. They sell these at aircraft spruce for $1300 and I could get the used units for $300-500.

How does this sound?

Cheers,
Dan
 
I would have major difficulty getting the recommended 13 CFM out of any combination of compressors I would have. I'd have to spend $500 or more on a new one (or repeated rentals for prolly cheaper but mucho moro hassle), then still have to tee them together. I've only got 110 in my shop.
Click to expand...

I'm in exactly teh same situation. I spoke with Doug from Stewart Systems today. He confirmed the need for an extra length of hose for cooling. He also said you want an absolute maximum of 1.3mm nozzle, 1.2 probably better.

I'd be very interested in hearing anybody wiht a specific product recommendation for a turbine system that would work well for Stewart Systems paint.
 
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