Do any of you bowyers use an HVLP sprayer to finish your bows or are there easier/better ways? Thanks
Brian

HLVP are some of the best but they are also very expensive if you buy those that come with their own turbine.  These sprayers with the turbine have very little to none overspary.  You can buy a HVLP spray gun and hook it to a regular compressor. I use that.  A good high end air brush like Iwata are also very good.

I have an 8 oz HVLP gravity feed detail gun.It works real good...They run around 90.00...bowdoc

How big of a compressor is needed?

They come with their own turbine. The one I have is a 4 stage.

Cup gun and a air compressor is cheaper but the HVLP will put a finer finish on. A Cheap but good HVLP will run you $500. A cheap but good compressor and cup gun will run you $200. For the price difference I would go with the cup gun and compressor. It will put on a very good finish. You would have to be real detail oreinted to tell the difference between the two.

Is there any one  web site more usefull than the others?  I did a google search but it turns up a lot of different guns and a flood of information. Thanks Rick

I used to have a Graco brand HVLP, it cost 1000 bucks, and was a good machine.  Sold it for various reasons.
I now use an automotive touch-up spray gun.  more overspray, but works well.  And for the money saved, you can buy more supplies, for YEARS.

I have a Graco4900. Cost about a thousand dollars.
I'm a professional painter and really don't have a good use for it. I have built some stick bows so I have played with the idea of keeping it. I am  really  playing with the idea of selling or trading it to buy a dream bow. Any opinions?
Brian

Sell it!! LOL

Its really over-kill for a "Few" bows. You could sell it and have enough to buy a bow and a cup gun!

By the way I am a Paint Contractor also.

Thanks Lewis
I'm thinking I could use my airless on my next bow.
Wanna buy it???
As soon as I sell it, I'll need it!
Brian

Wagner Capspray will run considerably less than the Graco. There are a few models. I have been spraying finishes for almost 30 years, I have used a lot of different equipment. I like the hvlp for portability & you can get a pretty nice finish if the coating you use is thinned properly, that is the number one key imo.

I also like the fact that the hvlp will not allow water & oil in your air supply like a compressor/cup gun setup will. The small hvlp does really work nice for small woodwork projects like bows. I have sprayed over 50 bows with mine(mostly catalyzed varnish) & the results were great.

You can sometimes find them used at Sherwin Williams stores, or they might have some discontinued models they like to blow out cheap, might be an option for you.

Try this:http://www.gleempaint.com/hvlp2600.html

Thanks but I dont need it either. i had bought one once for a job I thought I was gonna do and then decided to return it and use a cup gun. I think the airless would be too much unless you used a 207 Fine finish tip but even then you would have to turn the pressure way down and do quick fans. Actually it might work if you did all that. BUT you would lose alot of material in you hose. Thats what is so nice about the cup gun cause you have to only mix up a small amount to put in the cup. Imagine trying to spray one door with a gallon of two-part epoxy. Its not cheap and you just hardened a half gallon and you only really needed a half quart.

When I bought mine I got it at Sherwin Williams and It was a Spraytech. I got it for right around $500, it was a 2 stage turbine system.