Help, I have a weird ar*e spraying problem.......

[york33]

Help! I am confused and puzzled.

Right, I have a randomly occurring spray problem, which quite frankly is spoiling my spraying experience. Current gun is SATA 1000 RP, though this random problem did occur with my previous gun too, and if I swap back it is still occurring.

I'm using the 3M PPS disposable cups with Morrells waterborne, primer+topcoat.

It seems to happen in phases, I've only just got this gun, but for the first two weeks, absolutely fine, spanking, all good, spray as much as you like, etc.

When we enter a misbehaving phase, what happens is this..........we start spraying nicely, all is good, normal, etc. Say we start with a full cup, roughly 1/3rd down the paint flow starts slowing down, it then rapidly slows until pretty much nothing will come out. If you take off the air and either take the cup off, or pull the trigger upside down to let air in the cup, it will then resume normal spraying behaviour, until roughly 1/3 down the remaining paint. Confused yet? This is happening with primer and topcoat, new cups, old cups, filtered paint or not. Seemingly regardless of paint batch, etc. Not down to air in the cup, needing bleeding, etc.

It seems to last a random amount of time, a week or two, then at some point the problems will all just go away and we're back happy again. Seriously, wtf is going on? I don't understand, but it's seriously pi$$ing me off, help!

[promhandicam]

Get a priest round to perform an exorcism as I suspect you and/or your gun are possessed! Failing that, I've got a few African friends who will gladly slaughter a chicken and as long as you don't mind a bit of avian claret around your spray booth you should be fine. Hope this helps!

[york33]

Thanks Steve, that's got it sorted..............you git

[furynaturre]

I find this will happen, if you've accidentally blocked the breather in the cap, particularly as you are finding it after spraying for a while, paint sloshing around starts to fill the breather then all of a sudden gets gummed up to the point of causing the cup to pressurise, particularly prevalent if working almost upside down.

Not convinced it is that, but had to offer something other than Steve's voodoo!

[senior]

Try spraying whilst doing a headstand.........

[york33]

Try spraying whilst doing a headstand.........

I tried that, I even tried that with my pants down but still no luck..........

[york33]

I find this will happen, if you've accidentally blocked the breather in the cap, particularly as you are finding it after spraying for a while, paint sloshing around starts to fill the breather then all of a sudden gets gummed up to the point of causing the cup to pressurise, particularly prevalent if working almost upside down.

Not convinced it is that, but had to offer something other than Steve's voodoo!

Good theory, but there is no breather, so back to the voodoo...........

[Tomyjoiner]

This Happens when my breather gets blocked. Try askin ur paint rep?

[lynx]

Have you tried spraying with a normal cup, not the PPS system? You may find that your paint is too thick for the 3M system to work. Most adverts
I've seen have a really thinned down product inside for it to work.

I personally don't see the point in the 3M system unless you are spraying lot of very small batches that require quick colour changes (Car repairs etc).

[york33]

If it wasn't for it then working randomly then I would agree. On Wednesday it started behaving again and has been since, had about 10litres through it since and it's perfect, touch wood. I have wondered if it's the filter in the cup not flowing quick enough, it's 200 micron, but I don't know if that explains the randomness! Next time it starts being a git I will give it a go with the standard cup, or maybe I should chop the filter out to test that theory too.............

PPS works really well for me, minimal cleanup as you don't need to ever clean the cup and easy storage of colours.

On an unrelated note, I friggin hate F&B, that's the last time I ever agree to spray their stuff, seems to take two million years to dry.

[nickw]

There's no reason to use F&B. My supplier (Movac) are quite happy to supply matching colours in their standard products given just the F&B name. I imagine others would do the same.

[york33]

What's the finish like on the matched colours Nick? As the most common example, would anyone notice any difference in an item of furniture sprayed in it, versus the customers skirting, doors, etc?

I don't make a habit of using it, I've been tending to swerve it and supply primed ready for someone elses paintbrush It seemed like an easy option to just buy a tin and crack on, but...........mutter mutter, grumble!

I quite liked the end result to be fair, but seriously, it sat around for two weeks taking up space on the rack. Perhaps it was to teach me a lesson for not using their primer! Quite well heated space too.

[nickw]

Well you might notice a difference between sprayed and brushed, but then you would with any finish. Whether a customer would is another matter.

[york33]

Cheers Nick, it's got to be worth a go then, 'F&B Pointing' I think this last one was.

[Tomyjoiner]

I use morrels in f&b colours all the time and their match is good so is symphony coatings aswell. Imo.

[mailee]

I have used a lot of Morrells F&B Pointing in the past and it has been a pretty good match. As for your problem with the spray gun? not sure as it sounds like a breather is being clogged but being the PPS system that shouldn't make any difference.