HVLP or a compressor
Discussion
I've also read the PC articles on HVLP kits and they have rated them for a long time. They tend to use sets which are in the £100 region, which is very cheap for spray equipment, so in terms of bangs per buck it's well ahead of a compressor setup.
Practically speaking you can get a good finish with virtually any spray equipment, even aerosols if you plan accordingly and throw enough time & money at it. Heck I've known people spray using fridge compressors and vacuum cleaners so I have no doubt that you'd be able to spray a car with a £100-£150 HVLP kit. As I see it, the downsides are;
1. The kits are usually a turbine, matched spray gun and a relatively short length of large bore tubing. For a single panel it's no problem but to spray a car you'd need to carry the turbine with you. With a compressor you put whatever length tubing on you want and walk around the car.
2. Paint viscosity; With lower end kit you usually have to be careful on paint thinning. Whenever I've used cheaper kit I've ended up with thinner paint to get a decent spray pattern because there is little control on the gun and no spare capacity in the air supply. With a pro spraygun you can alter the nozzles (assuming your compressor can cope) and thus spray very thick spray fillers as well as thin topcoats, alter your spray pattern much more, etc. I use nozzles from 2.1 to 1.4 depending on what I'm spraying for example.
So are they a good idea ? Well, I've been tempted to get one for single panel use because the big advantage is that lower pressures mean less overspray and waste. If you were painting a car and prepared to do it in stages then I'd say it's a fair choice because a half-decent compressor set-up will be at least double the cost, and I think this is why PC push them so much - very DIY-able.
If you wanted to spray quickly, have the ability to spray any paint on the market or use a good class of spray gun or air tools, then it's a compressor set-up you need. And of course you can use HVLP with a compressor but it tends to be far more expensive than the turbine kits.
Practically speaking you can get a good finish with virtually any spray equipment, even aerosols if you plan accordingly and throw enough time & money at it. Heck I've known people spray using fridge compressors and vacuum cleaners so I have no doubt that you'd be able to spray a car with a £100-£150 HVLP kit. As I see it, the downsides are;
1. The kits are usually a turbine, matched spray gun and a relatively short length of large bore tubing. For a single panel it's no problem but to spray a car you'd need to carry the turbine with you. With a compressor you put whatever length tubing on you want and walk around the car.
2. Paint viscosity; With lower end kit you usually have to be careful on paint thinning. Whenever I've used cheaper kit I've ended up with thinner paint to get a decent spray pattern because there is little control on the gun and no spare capacity in the air supply. With a pro spraygun you can alter the nozzles (assuming your compressor can cope) and thus spray very thick spray fillers as well as thin topcoats, alter your spray pattern much more, etc. I use nozzles from 2.1 to 1.4 depending on what I'm spraying for example.
So are they a good idea ? Well, I've been tempted to get one for single panel use because the big advantage is that lower pressures mean less overspray and waste. If you were painting a car and prepared to do it in stages then I'd say it's a fair choice because a half-decent compressor set-up will be at least double the cost, and I think this is why PC push them so much - very DIY-able.
If you wanted to spray quickly, have the ability to spray any paint on the market or use a good class of spray gun or air tools, then it's a compressor set-up you need. And of course you can use HVLP with a compressor but it tends to be far more expensive than the turbine kits.
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