My old spray rig finally quit on a big dining table job last week

I was finishing a 6 foot cherry table for a client in Tacoma, about 3 coats into a conversion varnish. The compressor motor just started making a horrible grinding noise and died. I had to scramble and rent a rig from the local supplier to finish the job, which cost me an extra $85 for the day. It got me thinking about how much more reliable my old gear used to be back in the day. Anyone have a good lead on a solid, basic HVLP setup that won't break the bank?

3 comments

3 Comments

lily_dixon271mo ago

Man, that grinding noise is the worst sound in the shop. My old orbital sander started smoking once right in the middle of a maple floor. Had to finish by hand with a block, felt like I was back in the stone age. Makes you miss when things just ran until you decided to replace them, doesn't it?

theaward19d ago

Bet @lily_dixon27 has heard that noise in her nightmares ever since. Hand sanding a whole maple floor after the sander kicks it? That's not a stone age throwback, that's straight up punishment. At least with the old stuff you knew where you stood, it would either chug along or just die quietly without all that smoke and drama first. Now I'm scared to even look at my tools wrong, feels like they're all just waiting for the perfect moment to self destruct. How many of us are running on borrowed time with a backup plan in the truck?

uma_baker991mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst timing, right in the middle of a finish. That rental cost is just salt in the wound. I totally get missing the old reliable gear. My first sprayer was this ancient turbine thing that weighed a ton, but it just would not die. Everything feels so much more fragile now. It's like you're always waiting for the next thing to break.