Customer Reviews

Fuji Industrial Spray Equipment HVLP Super High Volume Low Pressure Sprayer

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

 

 

About 6 months ago I purchased the Fuji Super HVLP system along with a lot of other equipment from Tool Crib, but the Fuji sat in its box until just recently, because I didn't want to have to bother learning a whole new way of spraying, or futz with new equipment until I learn it's quirks, -making all those first time mistakes, & messing things up because you're getting used to a new gun, -you know.

Well I had to do some refinishing this week and I decided "oh, what the heck, might as well give it a try." I'm sure glad I did. I have two other non-HVLP guns. I think I'll throw them away. This gun does everything they would do, and a whole lot better, and a whole lot more as well. And it was really easy to use - the manual gives you some simple exercises to familiarize yourself with the gun. If you've sprayed before with a regular gun, it's really not much different.

One of the main things that impressed me most about the Fuji was the range of control it gives you, anywhere from the lightest little mist for spot touch up, to full bore where you can really lay the paint on thick and fast. Overspray is practically non-existant. Because pretty much all the paint goes directly to the workpiece, you don't have to worry so much about masking things as you would with a conventional gun. It was really neat to have the lacquer go exactly where you put it and nowhere else. Because of this capability it is possible to use the Fuji as both regular and touch up gun.

The last HVLP gun I tried some years ago had an orange peel problem that we never could resolve, and kind of soured me on HVLP for awhile. Not the Fuji, however. It will put the lacquer on nice and smooth, and as wet as you want, without the "cottage cheese texture." Incidentally, retarder helps (just buy the type of thinner that's got it premixed in.)

The Fuji has pretty much all the same functional controls as a regular gun. Horizontal and vertical spray patterns are selected by turning the nose (air horn) just like a normal gun; a middle position gives you a circle pattern instead of an oval. Wider and narrower fan patterns are achieved by turning the ring that usually tightens the air cap on a normal gun, but which on the Fuji cranks the nozzle further in or out of the air horn. There is no air knob on the back of the gun, but there is a fluid control knob. It is pretty incredible how fine a spray the Fuji will give you by cranking down the fluid control knob. You can also vary the amount of air going into the gun: Fuji supplies an in-line valve between air hose and gun. This is a "bleeder type valve" -you can't shut the air totally off, as that might damage the turbine. But it does cut the air down to a very small fraction of wide open and can be used also to adjust the fan width and pressure. The pot, by the way, is pressure feed.

This is a bleeder type gun, which is the main thing that takes some getting used to. What this means is that there's air shooting through the nozzle all the time as long as the turbine is running, whether you've got the trigger pulled or not. Until you get accustomed to this you'll probably be blasting sawdust around the shop on your way to the paint booth, like I was.

If you have been using a conventional gun, and switch to the Fuji, you will probably be pleasantly surprised to find all that paint still left in the pot when you thought it was time to fill it up again. If you don't use HVLP, (like I discovered) you're wasting an awful lot of paint in overspray. (As much as 2/3rds of all you're spraying, from what I can tell)

This gun is a joy to use. If you buy it now it looks like you'll pay even less for it than I did 6 months ago. At either price, though, it's still a deal.

Recently I purchased the Fugi HVLP sprayer after seeing a show on washing and finishing furniture on the Television. I used my new sprayer to wash an old Armior I had purchased at a garadge sale. I was very pleased with the outcome. The flow of wash was great with very minimal overspray. The spray gun produces a soft easy to control spray. The stainless steal gun is a breeze to clean an the indexed nozzel makes it easy to control the amount of air and paint you are using. The Fugi made the work easy and my project looked like it had been done by a professional. Ill be out this weekend looking for more projects to refinish

I painted a camper shell, a mercedes, an antique truck,and a metal-sided house with the sprayer. this is the next best thing to an electrostatic sprayer costing thousands. Takes the place of a large compressor and has very little overspray. this is the best outfit I have ever used. going to paint a 2-story house this summer with it. A great tool.

I wish I would have bought this years ago. I refinish old furnure as a hobby and have always been unhappy with my final coatings, Urethane primarily. This has solved that problem.

The unit worked great right out of the box. After reading the easy to understand manual, you can assemble the parts and be painting in minutes. This unit works great and is very easy to use. The controls are all, conveniantly, at the spray gun.

I highly recommend the fuji and am glad I didn't buy a lesser model. If you spray paint a lot I would buy the quieter fuji, although it is quite a bit more money.

I do work on quitars as a hobby. I've looked for a way to spray lacquer without the blushing and other problems that come with compressed air sprayers (oil, dirt etc). Even a decent dryer system for a comressed air setup was about the same price as this system. With this I get warm clean air and after figuring out how to adjust the gun to my liking, the finish is a professional as any I've seen! I don't think I would consider it a "production" system. Especially if you are trying to lay down thick coats to save time. I had to thin my lacquer considerably and lay down very thin coats to get it right. (But then I'm using water based lacquer)...

Overall I'm very pleased with the Fujispray. I would have given it 4.5 stars if that option was available. I'm a nonprofessional DIYer. I bought the Super HVLP with the standard #3 nozzle. I upgraded to the #4 nozzle because I'm spraying latex paint primarily. So far I've used it on mouldings, drawer fronts, closet doors, a large cabinet, and wainscoting panels. Only a few gripes which I suspect happen with other brands too. The seal between the cup and lid isn't tight enough. Some paint leaked through the top and dripped down the side of the cup. This only happened when I was tilting the gun close to horizontal with a full load of paint in the cup. This can ruin your finish if it drips onto your workpiece like it did to me. You can quickly wipe it off but you end up with streaks. Also the paint readily dries on the spray tip/nozzle assembly. Even while continuously spraying with no breaks the paint built up enough to distort the spray pattern or clog the spray tip. The partially dried paint would also sometimes break free and land on your workpiece. I think this is because the air from the turbine is pretty hot so the paint dries real fast even as it is being sprayed. I suspect this is a problem with all HVLP sprayers not just Fujispray. I also didn't like the bleeder gun. The blast of air is pretty potent. It kept on blowing light pieces of trim off my stands. It occasionally blew off the paper (which was taped down) that I covered the surrounding areas with. However I don't consider this a knock against Fujispray. From my review it looks like a bleeder gun is the industry standard anyways. Other than that I think its a great product for the price. You have to practice a lot and experiment with the right amount of thinning and additives you mix with the paint but eventually you do get a nice smooth finish. It's simple to set up and operate. Cleaning is easy. Customer service is outstanding. Prompt/helpful replies to all questions/orders. They even answered questions on weekends. I also ordered the diaphram attachment. It's this plastic bowl like object that goes right under the lid. It's supposed to prevent paint from going up the inlet air hose. It does work well.

Just bought this a couple of weeks ago. It gives outstanding results and I can highly recommend it. BUT be prepared for serious volume... as in the loudest vaccume cleaner you've ever heard. If you're using this frequently or in a small space (or have a wife who gets upset with your tinkering :-), try the Fuji 3 which is supposed to be 50% quieter.