I finally pull out the Apollo hvlp system I bought some time ago (the
kitchen's been delayed time and again) to try to varnish my porch
ceiling (obviously it's wood, ok). The floor pad thingie was not
really amenable to being used upside down. But,an unexpected
discovery - new hair style hold product - poly; so much firmer than
regular old hairspray.

Anyway, fortunately I decided to follow the suggestion to practice
w/water because as soon as I turned on the turbine, water started
spraying out the nozzle. I turned it off, closed the material valve
completely, tried again - with the same results.

I did change the conical doohickey (can't recall the terminology)
inside to a larger opening one (#4).

Anyway, is this thing broken or am I messing up?

Thanx
Renata

Renata wrote:
I finally pull out the Apollo hvlp system I bought some time ago (the
kitchen's been delayed time and again) to try to varnish my porch
ceiling (obviously it's wood, ok). The floor pad thingie was not
really amenable to being used upside down. But,an unexpected
discovery - new hair style hold product - poly; so much firmer than
regular old hairspray.

Anyway, fortunately I decided to follow the suggestion to practice
w/water because as soon as I turned on the turbine, water started
spraying out the nozzle. I turned it off, closed the material valve
completely, tried again - with the same results.

I did change the conical doohickey (can't recall the terminology)
inside to a larger opening one (#4).

Anyway, is this thing broken or am I messing up?

Thanx
Renata

I am not familiar with "The floor pad thingie" or a the "doohickey",
but I am fairly familiar with Apollo guns, and very familiar with HVLP
turbine guns.

To my knowledge, Apollo only makes and sells bleeder guns. So you will
have some air pressure pushing out around the front of the gun at all
times. You shouldn't think that is the same as any of the valves
(pressure or material) on the gun are open.

However, it does sound like one of two things are going on. First I
would check to see that the material control valve is clear of all
debris and is seating properly. I mean, pull it completely out and
inspect the needle and the seats completely. Regardless, flush them
out with a solvent that is copatible with your last coating you
sprayed. Remember that if you are switching between water based and
solvent coatings you can create problems that are difficult to undo. I
got the wrong solvent (thanks to the knothead coatings rep at Coronado)
for their 15 minute dry industrial enamel and it turned the enamel into
a cottage cheese inside my gun. 3 hours were lost taking the gun
completely apart and cleaning every last speck of that crap out of it.

Second, I would make sure you are not tilting back the gun to the point
where you are partially clogging or blocking one of the ports. Without
seeing how much water is coming out, it is hard to say what it could
be. However, I have heard that some of the older guns (from all HVLP
suppliers) did not have the little backflow check valves in the line to
prevent back flow. Unlike paints, enamels, or other coatings, water
could rock back into the gun if held at a severe angle and go into the
gun assembly.

Soo.... to diagnose this as the problem, keep your fingers off the
trigger, and turn on the pressure with the material control valve
closed. Does it spray water when the gun is level? Tilt it back like
you do when you spray and observe where the water comes out. Does it
come out of the center of the aircap? If either of these happen, it is
likely that the needle valve is dirty or maybe worn (not likely).
Clean completely as above to remove any foreign debris.

If it comes out of the horns on the aircap, you are getting some water
into the pressure line so that means some kind of backflow. Make sure
the pressure line on your gun is oriented properly for your
application. Put it in front since you are tilting the gun back
instead of in back as normal when you put on the cup.

Do not overfill the cup. If you are spraying at about 45 degrees to
your surface over head, Don't fill the cup more than half way. Do not
try to spray at 90 degrees to the overhead surface as the gun was no
designed for this application. There are plenty of guns made for this
type of application, but yours isn't one of them if it has a cup
attached to the gun.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it works out.

Robert

wrote:
I am not familiar with "The floor pad thingie" or a the "doohickey",

My wife and I refer to this strange language as "thinglish". After 15
years of mariage, I still don't understand her half the time. I make
her stop and re-ask the question in english before answering her
question.

brian

On 1 Nov 2006 10:53:37 -0800, wrote:

Thanx for the detailed reply!

Renata wrote:
I finally pull out the Apollo hvlp system I bought some time ago (the
kitchen's been delayed time and again) to try to varnish my porch
ceiling (obviously it's wood, ok). The floor pad thingie was not
really amenable to being used upside down. But,an unexpected
discovery - new hair style hold product - poly; so much firmer than
regular old hairspray.

Anyway, fortunately I decided to follow the suggestion to practice
w/water because as soon as I turned on the turbine, water started
spraying out the nozzle. I turned it off, closed the material valve
completely, tried again - with the same results.

I did change the conical doohickey (can't recall the terminology)
inside to a larger opening one (#4).

Anyway, is this thing broken or am I messing up?

Thanx
Renata

I am not familiar with "The floor pad thingie" or a the "doohickey",
but I am fairly familiar with Apollo guns, and very familiar with HVLP
turbine guns.

To my knowledge, Apollo only makes and sells bleeder guns. So you will
have some air pressure pushing out around the front of the gun at all
times. You shouldn't think that is the same as any of the valves
(pressure or material) on the gun are open.

I understand that air will be coming out at all times. This is not
air, but what's in the cup (water in this case).

Which one's the pressure valve?



However, it does sound like one of two things are going on. First I
would check to see that the material control valve is clear of all
debris and is seating properly. I mean, pull it completely out and
inspect the needle and the seats completely. Regardless, flush them
out with a solvent that is copatible with your last coating you
sprayed. Remember that if you are switching between water based and
solvent coatings you can create problems that are difficult to undo. I
got the wrong solvent (thanks to the knothead coatings rep at Coronado)
for their 15 minute dry industrial enamel and it turned the enamel into
a cottage cheese inside my gun. 3 hours were lost taking the gun
completely apart and cleaning every last speck of that crap out of it.


This gun is brand new and has never been used. I followed the
instructions which suggested practicing with water in the cup before
actually using a finish.


Second, I would make sure you are not tilting back the gun to the point
where you are partially clogging or blocking one of the ports. Without
seeing how much water is coming out, it is hard to say what it could
be. However, I have heard that some of the older guns (from all HVLP
suppliers) did not have the little backflow check valves in the line to
prevent back flow. Unlike paints, enamels, or other coatings, water
could rock back into the gun if held at a severe angle and go into the
gun assembly.

The gun was sitting flat on the concrete floor. Or, in my hand,
relatively upright.


Soo.... to diagnose this as the problem, keep your fingers off the
trigger, and turn on the pressure with the material control valve
closed. Does it spray water when the gun is level? Tilt it back like
you do when you spray and observe where the water comes out. Does it
come out of the center of the aircap? If either of these happen, it is
likely that the needle valve is dirty or maybe worn (not likely).
Clean completely as above to remove any foreign debris.

Trigger locks when the material valve is all the way closed.
Yes, it sprays when gun is level.
I think it came out the center, but I don't have it right now so I'll
have to double check.
All the stuff is new. Shouldn't have debris, but I'll take it apart
and check.

If it comes out of the horns on the aircap, you are getting some water
into the pressure line so that means some kind of backflow. Make sure
the pressure line on your gun is oriented properly for your
application. Put it in front since you are tilting the gun back
instead of in back as normal when you put on the cup.

Do not overfill the cup. If you are spraying at about 45 degrees to
your surface over head, Don't fill the cup more than half way. Do not
try to spray at 90 degrees to the overhead surface as the gun was no
designed for this application. There are plenty of guns made for this
type of application, but yours isn't one of them if it has a cup
attached to the gun.

Cup was half full or less. BTW, is there a trick to getting that
sucker (the cup) off? The lever is real tight and very hard to move.


Hope this helps. Let us know how it works out.

Thanx again for the detailed reply. But, I still need help (s'il vous
plait), though I will check for debris.

BTW, is Apollo tech support crappy? The tech support # leads to an
answering machine. No call back in 2 days. Maybe 'Jason' is on
vacation or something. Email has yielded nada in 2 days. I've never
experienced such slow response time.

Renata



Robert