Customer Reviews

Fuji 3003 Q3 PRO Quiet 3-Stage HVLP Spray System

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I recently purchased a Fuji Q3 and it has certainly lived up to my expectations. As a professional painter I finish trim for new houses. I bought a Campbell-Hausfeld HVLP sprayer and it served me fine for small jobs. It was portable but incredibly loud and difficult to set a fine enough spray for varnish. Not so with the Fuji sprayer. I used it for 8 hours straight today and I couldn't be happier. It was easy to adjust the material and pattern and keep a fine enough particle spray to do an excellent job from door casing to full doors. The turbines are also so quiet that I could still hear the radio playing in the background with out having to turn it up. The gun is so light weight that even after a full day of spraying my hand and arm are not tired. I bought and fully recommend the 6 foot whip hose. When needing to manuver the gun into tight spaces or to follow the pattern on a six panel oak door it was nice that I didn't have to drag around the heavier hose. Over all this outfit is first rate and a joy to use. Fuji is to be commended for such a fine product.

I got the Fuji with the hopes of satisfying a large range of projects (and paint types). The Fuji's different nozzle sizes are very helpful for me. Lately, I have been refinishing a 33 foot boat. I have used thick exterior hull paints (epoxy) and thin interior finishes (varnish). It has taken some experimenting to get the right coverage. But, the more I use it the quicker I am able to dial into the right combo or air, value opening and nozzle size.
The compressor is amazingly quiet. My home vacuum is louder. Moving the compressor around (for the boat painting) was easy. It is light and can be set down on uneven ground. I do wish the power switch was a bit bigger or easier to hit. With gloves, mask and glasses on, I sometimes have to search for it while holding the sprayer level in my other hand. This too is getting easier with practice (ya, I know I could hang up the sprayer first, but when you are pushing to get something big painted without a crew, you give up some luxuries).
The spray unit seems to be well built. The spray trigger gives the same response every time which makes getting an even pattern only an operator issue.
Clean up is easy. Just about all surfaces are reachable with a rag so I haven't had too much buildup of crud in hard to reach places. The only 'trick' for my clean-up is getting the nozzle rebuilt with the spring pushing the locking-ball-washer out of alignment before you can screw the nozzle on. Just like the other elements, it is getting easier the more I do it.
I like my Fuji. I can't decide if the cost is good or just okay. But the turbine system is 100 times better than getting a bulky compressor, air tank, 220 volt electrical outlet and low portability pneumatic sprayer.

I justified the cost of this equipment on a commission for 1200 feet of solid cherry baseboard molding and chair rail. It sprayed six coats of various finishes flawlessly. Sanding sealer, alcohol dye, stain, sealing shellac and two coats of water based urethane went on without a hitch.

Since purchasing two months ago, I have also sprayed acrylic latex paint on victorian gingerbread and railings, deck preservative on railings, primers on custom made windows and other various finishes on cabinets. This machine does it all and the other reviews accurately cover the features I like, too.

Thought I would give some tips I've learned using it. Buy the whip hose and mini-cup set. I use one cup for oils, another for alcohol based shellacs and dyes and the last for water finishes. This prevents contamination of non-compatible finishes on the small pieces of furniture I make.

Clean the gun right after use. Lower the cup then squeeze the trigger to get liquid remaining in the gun to drain. Spray solvent through it until clear. Its that simple. Latex paint will build up on the nozzle and can be peeled off while in use but should get a complete cleaning afterward. I unscrew the nozzle and clean it in an ultrasonic cleaner. This is the only finish that seems to require this treatment.

The viscosity reccomendations and cup they provide are right on. Don't use old finish or, if you do, be sure to filter it through 190 micron filters from Home Depot or Lowes. I didn't and plugged the gun but cleared it by spraying solvent through it (got lucky).

For oil and waterbourne finishes leave the air valve on the hose open fully and adjust the amount of fluid at the gun. Alcohol based finishes use slightly less air but not much. If you don't mess around with the air flow you get the hang of the gun performance quickly. There is little overspray even with full air flow.

This gear has exceeded my expectations and the customer service is great. I called to double check on cleaning the gun because it seemed too simple. No "Your call is important", "Press 4", "Press 1" BS but a real live human!

Hope this helps. I am completely happy with this equipment.

I have always had my furniture professionally sprayed. To save some money, I decided to learn to do this myself. The Fuji rep was very helpful and gave me several suggestions. So far, I've only used it to spray latex paint on a cabinet I made, but it worked great. I'll mostly be using it for spraying lacquer or varnish. I have tinnitus, and am extremely pleased with how quiet the turbine is--no louder than my vacuum cleaner. My only problem is that I live in Indiana and won't be able to use it again until it warms up. I spray outside rather than in my shop. I did purchase the optional flexible whip hose. It makes it easier to manuver the sprayer in tight places. I love my new sprayer.

I own an older model Q3 system. I finally broke down and bought the large orifice needle setup from Fuji and this system sprays my laquer perfectly now. I'm a hobbiest cabinet maker and like spraying laquer. I bought the optional cap liner which allows me to angle the gun greatly while spraying without letting the laquer get into places in the gun that you don't want it. The customer support of Fuji spray equipment is the best I've dealt with. I give them two thumbs up. I love that this produces dry air as well. I live in Indiana and if it's warm enough to paint, their is humidity in the air. What a great investment.

I've owned my Fuji Q3 for about 3 years now. As a hobbyist woodworker, I don't use it everyday, though I've used it to spray Behlen's Rockhard Table Varnish (polyurethane which I reduce by 50%) on custom built cabinets for the kitchen, garage and laundry room. Works great, easy to use, especially with the optional flex whip hose. Recently, I disassembled the gun and soaked/cleaned the parts according to the owners manual (imagine that!), and that had an amazing effect on the quality of the spray pattern. Works just like new once again. I've never been disappointed with any aspect of this unit and heartily recommend it to anyone with similar needs.

I bought this for a small job I got building a book case and installing some oak doors. Although I have only used it to apply polyurathane. This sprayer saved me time and made me money. It is fairly quite and the hose can be somewhat difficult to work with. Overall this is a great product.

Let me start off by saying that I use to hate finishing more that anything. If you are like me you love to make things but dread the time and effort it takes to do the finishing of you hard work. There was always the thought that it would not look good when you put on the finish. Brush marks made me dread the final outcome. This is no longer an issue and believe it or not I look forward to doing the finish work now.

I purchased this system over a year ago and I must day that I am very pleased with it. I have never done spray finishing before and I was tired of brushing finishes. I did a great deal of research and bought the Q3. This machine is very quiet. You can stand next to it and carry on a conversation. The great thing about this machine is the power. I was able to spray Minwax Poly straight from the can after I filtered it.

One thing I found out about this system is that less is more. Three thin coats work much better than two heavy coats. After I worked this out the final product was amazing. The 6 kitchens that I have done have all come out great and my customers are very complimentary about the end product.

The price tag may seem high but when I factor in my labor it has paid for itself many times over. What use to take me 5 days can now be done in less than two.

My suggestion is that you order extra strainers for the can as well as feed tubes. Over time these will become very gummy and for the lost cost of replacement it is well worth it.

I highly recommend this system.

I purchased this unit 2 years ago with the future in mind. 2 weeks ago the future finally arrived. As with most hobbyist woodworkers, I too never looked forward to the finishing process. After much research and past experience with their products I settled on the FUJI brand. Using this sprayer was a dream. The stain and poly coats came out flawless. The learning curve was quick and simple. But on to the title topic.

After maybe 15 uses I started to hear a brief rattle come from the compressor. It came and went 3x's before it was constant. After shutting down and disconnecting the electric and hose, I inspected the unit and found metal shavings at the hose outlet. Further inspection revealed that a turbine blade had broken away from the shaft and ground up. I sent and email (on a Saturday) to FUJI direct, detailing the situation.

Their reply was damn near immediate. Their statement "Please also remember, we do not make the motor. It is made by Ametek-Lamb Electric. They do not warranty their motors, but we do warranty our product so we are happy to replace it. 99.99% last at least 10 years and get a lot more usage than yours so it's just bad luck."

Yes, I have had it for 2 YEARS prior to its 1st use, but FUJI has stood behind their name and product. They have shipped me a complete, new motor and turbine replacement along with simple instructions. For those of you with the older black unit, they also made note of a modification that they have done to the sound proofing foam which they also sent a diagram with instructions.

Does it get any better?