Customer Reviews

Porter-Cable PSH1 Gravity Feed Spray Gun

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had a body shop for twenty years. When I closed the shop the HVLP designs were in their infancy. The problem was that you could not get a nice job on metallics with such a heavy volume at low pressures. My needs have changed, because the shop is closed, and now I do my own wood refinishing. Clear coat finishes do not require misting levels of application, but with the new technology that is in this spray gun, misting a fine spray is done perfectly, as well as being capable of spraying a full fan of a lot of material.
What I want to comment the most about is the quality of the craftsmanship of this Porter Cable unit, at such a reasonable price. I was super pleased to remove the spray head, and see that it was turned internally out of brass. Mating that to a stainless steel nozzle and needle, smacked of quality.
I have neighbors, and I can not create clouds of overspray if I want to shoot a project. So this gun is just what the doctor ordered. Finishing with a brush is very time consuming, and doesn't yield the kind of finish that is attainable with a spray gun. I would prefer to spray build several coats over time, let them set up, then fine sand, and spray on final coats, then do a brush and sand on every coat. Breakthrough sanding is a problem even when you are using clear only finishes, and is especially troublesome when using a stained surface. Spraying rules.
When the unit arrived, I was immediately impressed with the polished chrome outer surfaces. You know the kind of surface that you have come to expect on Snap On wrenches. They also protect the gun with a thin coat of mineral oil. It really smacks quality. Makes you want to do fine work.
They provide a chart that explains how much air that you need. Simply put, if you are using a very small portable tank, you better have a pump that puts out 9 or 10 SCFM at 90PSI. If you have a 60 gallon tank, their is greater flexibility.
The plastic tank that sits over the gun for gravity feed has a steel threaded fitting on the bottom of it, so you do not have to worry about plastic threads wearing out. The gravity feed enables the gun to work at lower pressures, since the material does not have to be drawn up out of a hanging cup. (Sorry for mentioning the obvious)
Technically this gun is manufactured in Taiwan, and consequently the labor savings translates to a super competitive price. It doesn't show in the gun. This tool is superbly well built. Their isn't anything cheap about it.
Don't forget to clean it well, and the instruction manual calls for a light coating of mineral oil around key components. I am sure it will give many years of reliable use. It is definitely a 5 star deal.

I own a small home improvement/remodeling company and use this gun frequently to spray trim work. The Fit/Finish is excellent and it does a super job spraying. I had previously used an automotive style spray gun, it wasted ALOT of finish due to it's high pressure output and lack of adjustability. This new gun really does the trick for me and I wish that I had it along time ago. One trick I learned that works well...Oil-based polyurethane sprays well through almost any size and type of fluid tip, but because it dries slowly, it has a tendency to sag and run on vertical surfaces. To avoid that, I cut the polyurethane about 25% with acetone instead of mineral spirits, then spray a very light mist onto the wood and let it dry for about 10 minutes, (This gives the acetone time to evaporate and will leave a slightly thickened tacky film on the wood) I then go back and spray a very thin wet coat and let it dry overnight. The dried mist coat really helps the wet coat hang without sagging. Three or four coats of either water-based or oil-based polyurethane is usually enough for a medium-wear surface. With either type, sand between coats only if you need to for smoothness or if you've waited more than three days to apply another coat.

I just recently purchased the PSH1 and I must say it was a great buy. I had been using a traditional HVLP system that operated on 5psi. This gun has a recommended operating pressure of 43psi. My compressor recharged far less than I expected, very little overspray and I actually used less material than the old HVLP system. Many adjustments can be made including, pattern size, material flow, air volume and air pressure. Bonus features, easy to clean and the material filter which is optional to use. For those not used to a gravity feed, don't worry you will soon be impressed.

I have very little experience with spraying finishes--mostly frustrating. Previously I had used a small detail gun, a [low priced] 1Qt. gun and a Wagner airless. Found all to be fussy to set up and inconsistant in use (and the standard air sprayers waste finish due to their high pressure output). The PC arrived & I am so impressed with its quality. As mentioned in the previous review this gun is made of 1st rate materials. I was pleased to see 2 air outlets in each of the aircap horns which helps produce a nice fan pattern. Besides the small hole in the center of the cap that the needle tip protrudes through there are several very tiny holes surrounding it to aid in atomization.
Not obvious in the listing is that this gun comes with a nice regulator & gauge that fit on the gun. Another nice touch for the money.
My only gripe is the gun comes with just one nozzle (1.5mm), Amazon and others don't list other sizes. From PC's service center thay cost[more money] for each size set. That's outrageous and is the only thing keeping me from giving the gun a 5 star rating

I bought this gun several weeks ago to paint some cabinets that we just purchased. Interior latex (water based) white paint is the finish that we had decided to use for the cabinets. After opening the can I figured that I would need to thin the paint with Floetrol to make it easier to spray, at first it was a huge pain. It took forever to paint, the gun would clog, and there was no uniform spray. The gun comes with a 1.5 mm tip and I figured that it was too small and purchased a 2.00 mm tip. It sprayed a little better but it was still slow spraying on and it would clog after about 15 minutes of use. After reading the review about having to clean it all the time I was about ready to deep six the gun, instead I went to the internet to do some reading. I read that it was recommended (from several gun manufacturers, surprisingly not Porter Cable) that you thin the latex paint with 20-40% water (against the paint manufacturer's instructions, I thinned it with 20% water) as well with mixing in Floetrol. Eureka!!!! It was like a different gun!!!! Not only did it spray significantly better it never clogged again. I highly recommend this gun, but if you are spraying thick paint like latex do your research and thin it!

I bought this sprayer to spray outdoor latex paint, when renovating the interior of my garages. It worked well, but not in the way I'd hoped. I bought the unit because of the square footage to be painted (with 3-4 coats). I wanted it to be faster and less work than using a roller. These were things that this sprayer will not give you. You can slap the paint on with a Wagner battery powered roller much faster than this. But, it's not all bad news, I got benefits I'd never considered.
First, the finish. It's gorgeous. The walls look like an enamelled hard shell. The appearance of this finish is like nothing you can ever obtain with a roller or a brush.
Second, cleanliness. I was all geared up with drop-cloths and masked woodwork. I took all the pains - but that wasn't necessary. This was extremely clean. The spray was accurate and sprayed only the places I intended. There was no sign of contaminating the floor.
Third,the perfect solution to a rough problem. The framing of the garage doors is done in unfinished timber. It's extremely rough and splintery. There are angled corner-pieces that box in some strange small shapes (only visible when the doors are up). And of course, all these rough surfaces trap masses of dust and filth. I used a blower (repeatedly) to clean out these areas. The sprayer worked brilliantly. I can't imagine how else I would have done that. These surfaces would have destroyed all kinds of brushes or rollers. Using the sprayer, I have been able to put a seal and finish on this timber without having to go to a lot of work of sanding and smoothing - the timber was -really- rough stuff. For this rough and not so clean surface, the sprayer was the perfect solution.
In other reviews here on Amazon, you are warned to buy the 2 mm nozzle for latex paint (as I did). That's a must. Diluting with water helps a lot, but I never succeeded in getting the sprayer to paint this outdoor grade latex with ease. That was always a trial. But the finish is phenomenal beyond description!

I hate to paint so I decided to try a sprayer. I'm glad I purchased this gun because it saved me hours of labor if I painted the walls with brush & roller. I sprayed one coat of KILZ latex primer and 2 coats of latex house paint. I thinned both with 10% water. I sprayed treated plywood, OSB, and pine board. Easy to control spray and it didn't create fog inside the patio. I like the fact I could spray into the tight corners where a brush can't reach. Finish was nice and the gun is easy to clean. I used it with my Makita MAC 2400 air compressor. It worked pretty well but a compressor with a larger air tank would be better but my unit kept up with the work. It didn't seem to work well on the ceiling but walls == perfectly. My next task is to stain the deck and I think the gun will work fine pointing downward VS upward. It could be operator error because I am new to spraying paint. Don't forget to buy a nozzle that will work with heavy latex paint because it come with a small nozzle meant for stains.

I was amazed at the ease and workability of this spray gun. The adjustment's are really fine tuned for spraying. I was used to a high pressure gun that really fogged up the shop. This gun has very little overspray that ends up in the air. And the difference in material use is great. I used almost half of the same material when spraying with this gun. I would buy it again in a heart beat. Steve, Steve's Woodworking

We are redoing our kitchen on the cheap, and decided to repaint our cabinets. After applying TSP and liquid sandpaper to the doors, we put on the water based primer using the 2.2mm Nozzle. Went on very smooth, and the gun has very little overspray. After primer, put on 3 coats of Behr latex paint (also using the 2.2mm nozzle). I didn't even need to thin the paint. It went on so well, I couldn't believe I hadn't found this earlier in life. Make sure to wear a chemical mask for painting purposes. We painted everything in our garage, and used drop cloths where we were painting.

To address some main points:
1) I went straight to using the 2.2mm nozzle as other reviewers suggested. I did not have to thin any of my latex paint. If you live in New England (like I do), keep your paint indoors until ready to use, so it doesn't get cold and thicken up. I used my pancake compressor for the coat of primer on 20 cabinet doors and a few drawers. It takes a long time doing it this way, b/c the compressor is only 6 gallons, and has to run constantly. If you just have a few pieces to spray, you will be fine. But I would recommend using a larger compressor for big jobs.

2) This was my 1st time using a HVLP gun, so I didn't know how to properly clean it (wear glasses/gloves, as paint thinner burns). What I did was this. After you finish spraying, and remove the plastic cup's screw top, then unscrew the whole cup from the gun. Dispose of any paint left in the cup. Be sure to clean the cup's top, and remove the air valve at the top and clean paint from it too. Otherwise, if the air valve gets clogged, it will not let out much, if any paint (happened to me). When you are cleaning the cup, clean the threads too by using some q-tips or a rolled up paper towel.

3) Fill up a disposable plastic container half way with a cleaner (I used paint thinner). Disassemble the front sprayer, and then the nozzle behind it. Clean as much paint off of these with paper towels and q-tips, then place them in the paint thinner and scrub with an old toothbrush, or the pipe cleaner that came with the gun. Now that those are clean, remove them from the paint thinner, and move onto the gun.

4) Now, you should just have the needle exposed on the gun. Set the gun to around 50psi of pressure at the control valve, and spray the excess paint into paper towels. Disconnect the gun from the compressor hose. Remove the needle by unscrewing the back, being careful not to loose the spring. Simply take out the needle, and clean it along with the inside of the gun, in paint thinner. I found the hardest part to be cleaning the paint in the very back of the brass chamber. Use a combination of the pipe cleaner, toothbrush and some q-tips to get it clean.

5) Now that its all clean, reassemble so that it is ready for the next use. Cleanup takes about 20 minutes once you get used to it. The gun is great, and the finish it put out looks like it came from a factory. I did roller my cabinet bases, as I didn't feel like masking off my whole kitchen to spray the bases.... Hope this summary helps those of you on the fence about this HVLP gun.

This is the best HVLP spray gun that I have ever used for fine finishing. I bought it about a month ago for a job to paint 2000 lf of interior trim and door jambs with oil base paint. Result is very satisfactory and I saved lots of time. I have another 3 stage HVLP paid about $600.00 with extra different sizes of nozzles from Amazon 3 years ago. I had used 2 times only. Then I have never used it anymore. Because it is very hard to adjust the size of fan. It is either too narrow or too wide.

Before I decided to buy this, I was afraid of buying another trash that gives you only headache and messes up job.
I used it with 20 gallon air compressor. After 10 minutes practice over the brown paper hanging on the garage wall, I could make a beautiful job.It is very easy to adjust and control the size of fan. This is one of the best tools for Pros for living.