Thanks Max. I am a general contractor that specializes in
repair/remodel and maintenance. I do a fair amount of just about
anything but electrical and HVAC.

I install doors for a local lumberyard, and many times I wind up
finishing them. I also refinish a lot of metal and wood doors, and I
am playing around with a lot of the newer super finishes that are out
there to add to my tool box.

In an effort to cut down on my overspray, I have used an HVLP pressure
gun. It cut down the overspray a lot. A huge difference. I bought a
knockoff one of the newer lower CFM requirement guns to test it out and
I liked it.

That is until I tried a real, turbine powered HVLP setup. These units
can be tailored to have almost no overspray at all. The first one I
tried was the top line Turbinaire, and it was nice. I don't have
concerns that some have for the machine, and it seems that all that buy
them love them. My concern was that it was one loud machine. I will
also be refinishing (kitchen cabinets) in people's homes, so the less
noise the better.

Accuspray it too expensive, and the gun does not have metal airways or
paintways inside it. They are Delrin, which in fact may be better than
metal. But on the other hand, they sell an upgrade gun that touts the
fact it has real metal ways inside it. The noise level is the same as
the Turbinaire, which is no wonder since they use the same exact
turbine. I didn't like the fact all accessories are expensive, and
that some seem to think that the repair end of things is too slow.
That could be a matter of opinion, so I will go back to the plastic gun
(which Jeff Jewitt was not enthusastic about, but told me was "it was
fine") and the higher purchase price and higher accesories. But then
no one has ever said anything bad about the performance of their
Accuspray.

So that brings us to Fuji. I am looking at the Q4, and their new gun.
The upside is that when you have a question or concern, you can talk to
the owner. I have done this twice now to make sure you actually do it
more than once. They sell the machines through a system of dealers,
and one Ohio guy is a prince, and a couple of his customers told me
that he will overnight parts to you if you need them. The owner in
Canada told me he could not overnight, but he could do 2 days if need
be.

The turbine (although it is the same as the previous two) has different
baffles and some other kind of business inside it, so it is
substantially quieter than the others. All accessories are really
reasonable. And the machine is a little less $$ to begin with,
especially since most dealers ship for free.

The air hose can be put on the bottom or top as you need. And what I
really liked about the new gun is the fact that you can disconnect the
cup from the bottom, flip the housing around, and you can make it a
gravity feed gun. The aluminum cup is $54 buck for a 20 oz cup and you
are in business. I like this feature because I spray horizontal and
vertical projects, and the conversion is literally about 2 1/2 minutes
from cup to gravity. That really sounds great to me as I like both
designs for different applications, but don't want to buy two guns.

So why don't I have the Fuji now?

I read the article in Wood magazine that covered most of the major HVLP
machines, and they didn't like the gun as well. Even though they use
it in their pictures to show the patterns a gun shoots, They felt
like it wouldn't shoot a pattern less than 5" in width. (I am thinking
2" rails and stiles here.)

I called 3 different Fuji dealers, and called the Paul Smith, the
owner. They denied that statement as completely false. I mean they
were adamant. I talked live to a refinisher that told me that just
like the other guns, when you got the gun closer to the work the
pattern was smaller. He confirmed to me that to shoot a pattern that
was about 1", he had to hold the gun at about 4 " away from the
surface. Then he told me that he had to do the same with his other
HVLP gun, too.

As it is, to have a contained, usable pattern of only 1", that 4" is
about where I am with my high pressure guns.

So, since you have no financial interest in this, can you shed some
specific light on this pattern business? Can you give me an idea of
how you like the machine besides that, and maybe an idea of what
materials you have sprayed with it?

Thanks a million.

Robert