Best spray gun for spraying furniture

A spray gun is the only tool that will give you a professional finish. It will give a really smooth finish whereas brushes and rollers always leave marks. There is a great variety and types of spray guns for spray painting jobs but the question is - what type of gun is most suitable for spraying furniture? Unlike spraying flat metal surfaces, wood present a very different character and not any spray gun will do the job properly. Keep in mind that wood is often sprayed with conventional household paints and water based paints are preferred because they are environmental friendly, but they are also thick and although it can usually be thinned with water about 10% it still remains thick substance.  

There are mainly two common types of spray guns used in finishing:

• Conventional (low volume/high pressure) spray guns work with compressed air and blast the finish onto the wood at 3 – 5.0 bar. The gun’s air consumption is 4 – 7 cubic feet per minute (cfm). A high pressure gun will generally give a smoother finish than a HVLP gun.

• HVLP (high volume/low pressure) spray guns work with either compressed air or turbine air and lay the finish onto the wood softly at 2.5 – 3.5 bars.  Air consumption is rated at 4 – 6 CFM. These guns create much less overspray.  

Conventional Spray Guns (LVHP)

Conventional spray guns have been used for a long time. They provide excellent control of the liquid material that reaches the surface.  But they have one serious drawback - they are only about 20 to 30 percent efficient.  This means that well over half of the material you're spraying is wasted - it goes into the air.

High Volume Low Pressure Spray Guns (HVLP)

 HVLP spray guns were developed more than 30 years ago but are only recently becoming popular.  HVLP guns can work with either compressed air or continuous air supplied by a turbine.  Either way, the result is a low pressure spray that creates very little overspray.  HVLP guns are 65 to 90 percent efficient, which means that most of the material you're spraying ends up on the wood.    There are two advantages to using a turbine over a compressor with an HVLP spray gun: 

• A turbine passes a high volume of air directly to the gun at about 4 psi.  A compressor generates much higher pressure at lower volume.  In order to raise the volume enough to operate the HVLP gun, the high-pressure air must be sent through a regulator.  This transforms the high pressure to high volume and low pressure.  It takes a large, expensive 3- to 5-horsepower compressor to adequately supply an HVLP gun, compared to a small, inexpensive turbine.

• Turbines warm and dry the air, which speeds curing and helps reduce blushing (a moisture-related, off-white color that appears as some finishes cure).  

The small DIY electric guns are becoming popular but if you want to get a professional finish, forget about them –I think it is just a waste of time and money. I would suggest that you buy a suitable compressor and a HVLP gun with a 1.8 or 2.0 mm nozzle. To do touch up work a smaller gun with a 1.0 mm nozzle will also be needed. To spray sealers and varnish, a 1.4 mm nozzle will do a good job. Spray Painting Tools can be bought on the internet.