The HF coupons and other thoughts

Shopping anywhere is hit and miss. Price vs quality vs need and may other factors are important to weigh in on in any decision. I have bought and use some HF tools with excellent results, and some with less than excellent results.

Phil

Larry
Lakeland FL must be plenty humid so You have a learning curve with sprayed dope to prevent blushing of top coats

Yes clean up can be a pain
Yes you will foul EVERY thing in a garage or shop with the over-spray.

I have three shops on my property and NO dedicated painting area. Air cleaning in any of my shops is too expensive and I don't want the over spray on tools, workbenches, cars, lawn equipment, motorcycles etc



I just finished a Murphy Bed kit using 3/4" redwood cabinet grade plywood. MY 20 OZ HF gun shot each piece three layers of MInWax Polycrylic gloss and it came of very well



So I simply set up a holding fixture or saw horses and plywood table top outside the shop and spray only if the wind is not into the shop. In my case that means unless it is raining I can usually do a small project any/every day until we get real cold. Some times I let them sun dry but mostly I have a LOT of trees and pollen. I make the work area it so I can move the set of wet parts inside to dry. Think 2'x3' heavy cardboard or plywood all the wet parts are on. Easy to move indoors



Clean up: I use some water based sanding sealers but they take a LONG time to dry in humid conditions. Obviously clean up is simple. Minwax or Ace brand polycrylic is not fuel proof as a top coat, but under many finishes it will keep fuel and oil out of the balsa. I use this mostly on foam wing combat planes

I only spray Sig dope and use only Sig thinner (big Bucks). It is always best to thin dopes with the recommended thinner blend.

You can experiment with cheaper thinner products. Ken Cook will tell you he has success with Dupont automotive paint thinners but I don't recall what dope he is using.

Relating to clean up you can use most lacquer thinners, MEK or Xylene whichever is cheaper at the Lowe's type stores

Even if it is an el-cheapo respirator not intended for the stuff you are spraying get a few of them..I am not talking the surgical face mask but a fitted over the nose and mouth type.  We are NOT in a paint booth spraying cars for hours at a time--- so ANY good cheap nose mouth one will keep you from breathing in the occasional wind shifted over spray/fumes



Wear eye protection
Wear latex gloves or the others if you are Latex intolerant
Get a LOT of clean rags and plan to throw them away

Takes time to figure it out but try to only mix enough paint for the immediate project. With dope I have good success with 50 50 mix for the HF air brushes and HVLP gravity guns

The  4oz Gravity HVLP guns were so cheap with coupons I got several of them and can change colors faster than I can mask off the area for the new color

I keep a #10 tin can (or plastic large coffee jug) 3/4 full of 50 50 xylene MEK used thinner. This stuff evaporates fast so I use tight plastic lids and then cover with saran wrap and rubber bands when not in use.

These large cans only get the thinner changed out once a year and they are where I first dump the disassembled* air gun parts to soak until I am ready for the put away until next use cleaning.

HF sells paint gun cleaning brushes and I got several sets they were so cheap

http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/paint/5-pc-airbrush-cleaning-brushes-68155.html

I wet a rag in MEK and start taking parts out of the soak thinner bath and wipe them down to dry. I do NOT disassemble the needle out of the gun body. I clean the front spray nozzle and poke the small brushes through each little hole. I assemble the gun, put about an oz of clean MEK in the hopper and spray it outside until empty. I take off the outer nozzle and put one drop of light oil in the tip of the needle and work it in and out a few times then put the nozzle back on and hang up the gun for next use

* Disassembled to me means the air regulator is removed and put aside. The front nozzle is removed. The hopper is removed and the filter is removed. Only nozzle, hopper, filter, and gun body go in the can to soak a minuet

I have a lot of luck with theses also usually on sale around $9

My take on HF items is that I buy most anything I need from there if it's an item I only seldom use.  If it's an item I will use everyday/every other day, I'll generally spring for a bigger name brand.  And of the electrical things I buy, they are things that I will be actively monitoring.  I won't buy night lights, battery float chargers, or the like that sit unattended.  I don't trust the stuff not to short out or overheat and catch fire if I'm away.  For big things like my HF welders and large generator, I do a lot of online research on non-HF boards to see what others' experiences are.  Before buying my generator, I read many, many reports from people in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy that said they ran theirs for weeks without issue while waiting for the power come back on.  It's all in the research. I sometimes buy the extended warranty, and sometime I don't on large items.  Several HF employees tell me to buy the warranty, then just before it expires to bring the item back and exchange it for a brand new item.  I myself haven't done it, but apparently the store employees recommend it.

The Cautious Mark

Since HF is across town I don't go over there much, but I'm very happy with my 16" scroll saw. I'd never used one before and it took a few jobs to get the hang of it, but it's been a blessing on my shoulder. One manual sawing job on model plane parts could put my right arm out of business for a week or three.

I was initially disappointed with my T-handle SAE/Metric ball end allen set. The ball ends were gone in short order, on the ones I use for 2-56 and 4-40 bolts, but I just hit the tip to the grinder, and 3 years later they are a little shorter but handy. And I keep a set of high quality common sizes in my flight box for head bolts and anything too tight or critical for the HF wrenches. And the metric side skips all the common modeling sizes. That's my only disappointment with it now.

Fred I'm glad you showed that Preval sprayer. I had forgotten about it, and may use it instead of re-monokoting my Oriental. I would have used a patchwork of old rolls, and probably ended up looking like a Guatemalan '64 Malibu.
Rusty

Thanks Fred for that lengthy response!! Very nice of you .... but unfortunately your pointing out all the issues I would have with setting up a spray gun system. LOLOL!! The clean up is the biggest bothersome thing. Of course I've painted planes before with Rustoleum .... and its been outside with squirrely winds and then blowing colored snot for a few days .... LOL ... my own fault, of course. But I'd have to stay outside because overspray in the garage will be a huge problem.

I have seen those small cans of 'disposable' spray systems ... never knew how good they were though.

Thank you so much again ... and it was nice to see your work shop!

Thanks Mark that was good for several belly laughs!