# Spraying paint with Earlex 5000



## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

I know that most people say it's not a good idea but then others will chime in and say they sprayed paint through there earlex hvlp gun. My question is to those who have done it successfully. How much did you have to thin your paint and did you use flowtrol or what? Also for the Earlex 5000 users who've sprayed paint what tip did you use. The standard one or larger needle? Thanks guys


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

by 4 times what they say to thin vs. brush what in particular are you talking about. The paint shouldn't need to be thinned to brush. Sooo are you simply thinning the paint 4 times or what. Sorry for the newbie questions. Just trying to get my head around it.


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

Ah okay so which brand extender did you use and where you pick it up at? I know of flowtrol.


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

I also noticed that in the Earlex instructions it states something like 25-60sec to empty on the visco cup. Seems a little broad but I'm assuming they mena if the cup empties in anywhere from 25-60 seconds your good to go. Am I wrong on this?


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

sweet thanks. Hopefully spraying the paint on some utility cabinets i built will turn out better then brushing them.


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

So yesterday I got everything together for a little experiment. I am needing to kiltz the surface of the doors i made and so I began to process of viscosity testing and thinning with Floetrol. I took 1 quart or kiltz and added one visco cup full of floetrol to the mix testing the viscosity. Needless to say after 5 cupfulls i'm stopping. I was able to get it down to about 1 -1.5 minutes on emptying the visco cup but dare not go any more. It was late so I put a lid on it and will spray the mixture this afternoon to see how it works(on scrap of course. My prediction is it's going to work like junk!!! Floetrol says that their product doesn't dilute the paint but I can't see how it couldn't. We'll see though.


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

I've shot latex with about 4 parts paint, one part water (about 70 seconds) and the 2.0 tip and had good results. I haven't tried primer.


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

I think the problem is the kiltz is pretty thick stuff. Much thicker even then latex paint. We'll see though


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## aurora (Jun 30, 2009)

what type of paint are you spraying?

not sure if a set ratio is the way to thin paint, as temperature and humidity also effect the viscositiy. the same ratio you use on a hot day does not work on a cold humid day. because of this, many professional shops use a Zahn cup to measure the thinned mixture in number of seconds for the mixture to flow out of the cup. the paint and equipment manufacturers should have a specification of what the sprayed viscosity should be.

secondarily, the type of solvent used has a bearing on the dry time (or perhaps run time is a better description), with fast flash off solvents being used on cool days and slow flash off solvents used on hot days. the solvent is used to thing the paint mixture to a sprayable viscosity as measured in your Zahn cup. on a cool day you thin down your paint to the correct viscosity, but, ... need to use a fast solvent to flash off quickly because there is not the normal heat in the air to cause it to evaporate fast enough, ... and you will get runs. on hot days it works in reverse to keep you from loosing so much solvent to evaporation in the air while spaying that the surface looks like orange peel, and has no ability to flow out into a smooth surface.

trial and error method: put some cardboard sheets with the painted surface in the vertical. keep thinning paint in your gun until it just starts to spray. slowly add thinner until it flows out smoothly on the vertical panels. wait a few minutes to see if it runs on the vertical panels, if it doesn't, you got lucky and can paint with this mixture. if it does run, you know how much solvent to add to the paint for this particular temp day, you just need the solvent to evaporate from the surface faster. a professional autobody paint retailer can direct you to a faster solvent. generally paint thinner/mineral spirits are slow evaporating solvents.

hope it helps.


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## ducky911 (Oct 6, 2010)

Hi 
I just got the earlex 5000 and tryed thin sherman williams paint. One liter paint and 3.5 cup fulls to thin .35litters total .. Was within the 25 to 60 sec. Results ok just learning need to brush some runs 25 to 60 is very soopy stuff

bob


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## Maggiepic (Aug 26, 2010)

I have a Graco 4900 HVLP and have diluted some latex's with straight water until it sprays decent. Not something I do alot but for small jobs it works. Saves me from getting the airless out and all the cleaning afterwards. You really have to watch your pattern to avoid runs. Light coats with plenty of time in between. Have not tried to thin Kilz though, or any other latex primer for that matter. Start with your largest tip and work down from there. The larger tips will give you a pretty rough spray pattern. Size down and thin until you get the pattern your happy with.
Flotrol is designed for airless sprayers and for improved flow when brushing or rolling. It helps with airless's to get a smoother spray and helps lubricate the pump. I've never tried it for HVLP because it does not thin the paint, just makes it smoother and creamier.


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

I think anything at about 60 seconds will spray okay. As *aurora* points out, what happens afterward is another story.

The Earlex isn't intended for "heavy body" paints - not very many air or HVLP sprayers can handle them well. You might think about using an airless for the primer.

Because I love my Earlex, and hate cleaning up my airless, I usually use dewaxed shellac as a primer. It goes through the Earlex really easily and dries really fast. It blocks stains. It can be tinted (if you want a colored primer). It can be sanded easily. Almost any finish will stick to it.


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## treeman (Dec 15, 2008)

I just finished a project using latex paint over a Kilz primer using a small HVLP turbine. The combination I came up with for spraying is to thin the latex using water based poly (I bought the kind used for finishing floors). For my gun, it seemed like the ideal mix was about 2/3 paint and 1/3 poly. This sprayed and evened out nicely.

Another advantage to using the poly for thinner is that it "hardens" the latex making it act more like an enamel than a wall paint. Give it a try; I think you'll be happy with the results.


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

Well last night I tried out the thinned(or floetral laced) kiltz primer. I was using the standard 2.0 tip that comes with the gun and it sprayed okay. Just have to spray kinda slow as it doesn't spit a lot of paint but if you open up the needle the splatter gets a little to much. Anyway it looks very orange peely at first but then it evens out. What other posters have said about floetrol makes sense. It states on the bottle that it won't dilute or change the color of the paint which I wondered how was possible and now I know why.

Treeman I might try the water based poly idea you had this afternoon. Where did you purchase your water based poly from?


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## treeman (Dec 15, 2008)

juicegoose,

I think i purchased it at Lowes, but any water based poly should work.


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

So i ran some more tests with the Kilz primer last night. I sprayed a shelf quick for the wife and slowed down my speed allowing more paint to build up. The floetrol helped it all level out and even for primer it came out not bad. I'm gunna spray the paint finish today we'll see.


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## Maggiepic (Aug 26, 2010)

Good luck! Sounds like your getting it dialed in. Everyone seems to develop different techniques that work for them. Every brand gun will spray differently.
Adding the waterborne ploy is an interesting idea. May have to try that sometime. Usually I'm sraying heat registers, vents, etc. that have to match the surrounding surface so have to stick with the original paint. Gives them a much better finish than brushing or rolling.


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

So over the weekend I was able to spray the latex paint. It came out okay but not gass smooth like I would have liked. The gun seemed to atomize the paint okay but still spit soem paint around. I laid on the coat pretty thick in hopes that the floetrol would help level the surface which it did slightly but not enough. Needless to say before I hung the doors I ran some 400grit across the surface to kll the dustnumbs. Would I do it again maybe if I had somethign that I had to paint that was already put together but I think just rolling the paint on panels before assembly and letting the floetrol working it's magic would be a little better.


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## Maggiepic (Aug 26, 2010)

Maybe next time try some lacquer products. I use pigmented MagnaLac. Sherwin Williams also has some lacquer products. CAB Lac I believe it's called. Drys fast so reduces dust nibs and will spray 10 times easier than latex. I think this will get the finish your looking for.


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## orbit308 (May 30, 2009)

Check this out for spraying latex with hvlp. Has anyone tried this? Latex with poly?


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