Official Luthiers Forum!

On another recent thread discussing tip size, Daniel Minard mentioned he had purchased the Asturo AOM-878WB spray gun kit. (thanks for the link Daniel) I'm in the market for a decent low CFM gun for finishing guitars and this one looks interesting for spraying sealer and WB finishes since I don't have a large compressor. FYI, I'll likely try the KTM-SV waterbased finish on my first.

Anyone care to share their thoughts on the AOM 878WB sold by Asturo? There have several options for various sized tip combinations. Do you use the 1.0mm tip like Daniel? What other sized tips do you use? The "Industrial Thin" tip set with the 0.8mm. 1.0mm, and 1.2mm tips like Daniel purchased sounds about right......but I have no experience. Here is a link to the kit:

http://www.spraygunworld.com/products/Asturo/MiniGun/Mini%20MasterCaseLarge.html

Another thing I'll mention. Jeff, at Homestead Finishing Products, says the QualSpray QS-125WB is the same gun as the AOM-878WB.....and they sell it a little cheaper both alone or as a kit. However, there are several options for 3 tip sets on the AOM kit and no 3 tip options for the Qualspray kit (comes with 0.9, 1.2, & 1.5mm tips). Here is the post on the Homestead forum where Jeff states the two guns are identical and made in Tiawan. Here is a link to the QS-125WB:

http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/htdocs/qualspray.htm#guns

I would appreciate your recommendations. I'm not a full time Luthier so I probably won't shell out the bucks like those who do this for a living. Is the AOM-878WB a decent bang for the buck gun or can you do as well for less money?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

The guys at ktm recommended a 2.2 mm tip with 45-55 pressure to me for the sv. Haven't yet been able to try it so I can't vouch either way.

Hey Darrell; I have used my little Asturo, successfully, for nitro & polyester. I have no experience with spraying waterborne finishes, so I can't comment on its suitability.
The 2.2mm & 45Lb. numbers mentioned above, sound like they are for a full sized siphon type gun. The gravity feed "HVLP" guns use much lower pressures.
If the viscosity is similar to nitro, the Asturo should work fine. The manufacturer recommends it (IIRC) for waterborne finishes.
Hopefully, someone with waterborne finish experience will jump in here.

Just so happens I've got that Asturo gun and have been spraying USL with it and it works fine. Keep in mind though that this is my first HVLP gun and the only thing I have to compare it to is an HP gun.

All that said, I suspect that this gun is not up to the quality of the SATAs etc. The reason I say this is that apparently a good finisher can do a nice burst with an HVLP. After a lot of playing around no matter what I did, I could not get the Asturo to atomize even close to what my cheapie HP gun could do. Attached is a test shots with the Asturo and one with the HP gun to compare to.

It very well may be that I just don't know how to set up an HVLP gun but looking at the tips of the higher dollar guns they typically have a lot more and smaller air holes around the outlet nozzle - whatever that means.

I'm not planning on upgrading because I've got an airbrush for bursting/fine work and the Asturo's off the gun finish is good enough for me. If I suddenly went to making a dozen or more instruments a year, I'd probably go for the better gun and try and get some spray gun setup lessons.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

I have the K1/SX Asturo and use it for Colortone water-based lacquer. It works fine with the 1.4mm tip. Also comes with 1.7 and 2mm tips. I will be trying it with nitro to do a sunburst soon. This gun is like a Ferrari compared to the old Badger 400 gun that I used in the past.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

To add to the tip size discussion above (for spraying KTM-SV), Rolfe Gerhardt uses a Walcom STM (older version of the current EGO) with a 1.2mm nozzle at 28-30 psi.

Oh, I used the wrong link above......that link is to Homestead Finishing where they sell the QS-125WB. Here is the link to the forum discussion where Jeff states the QS-125WB is the exact same gun as the AOM-878WB:

http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4695

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Well, just to throw in more appealing options, Walmec is offering the Walcom EGO Mini HVLP with 1.2mm tip (the same tip Rolf Gerhardt uses to spray KTM-SV) on Ebay for $204! The same gun is $323 at Homstead Finishing though it is unclear to me how many and what sized tips are included for that price. Per Jeff, at Homestead, this is the best made mini touch up gun they offer. The differences are tips for this gun are around $80 vs roughly $40 for the AOM-878WB. And the Walcom EGO requires 5-6 CFM @ 30-37 PSI where the AOM-878WB runs on 3-4CFM @ 29 PSI.......so you need more compressor to run it.

Here is the link for the Walcom EGO on E-Bay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170522532747&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

And here is the link to the Walcom EGO on Homestead Finishing:
http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/htdocs/walcom2.htm

A picture of the Walcom EGO:


And a picture of the AOM-878WB sold by Asturo:

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I have an Asturo Eco/S I use with 1.3MM tip for waterbased lacquers. I like the gun a lot, and it atomizes pretty well at low CFM's. Last week I did a burst on a Les Paul style electric, and it did a fine job atomizing the EM1000 I used as the color carrier. I'll include a picture, but note the top has not been clearcoated yet. You should also know that only the deepest red and black were sprayed. The yellows and brighter reds were applied by hand. It's a fine gun for waterbased lacquers.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Thanks for that suggestion Ken. I'll read up on that gun.

That burst looks great!

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Normally I'm not much of a burst fan but that looks really nice (even if it is one of those new-fangled electikery thangs)

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Yeah, me neither, but on a tele or a LP, it just seems right! Thanks...Taking me forever to get this guitar done!! The fluid flow on the Eco/S can be dialed down to just about zero, so the color for a burst can be built up very, very slowly. I really believe this to be a great gun.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com