HISTORY
OF HVLP
Over
50 years ago it was common to receive
a set of accessories when buying a
vacuum cleaner for the home (Kirby
or Electrolux). One such accessory
was a small plastic spraygun with an
attached jar for paint.  One
end of the hose was attached to the
spraygun and the other to the ‘blower’ end
of the vacuum cleaner. Surprisingly,
if the paint was thinned enough, it
would spray quite well. Although the
system lacked power and sophistication
- HVLP was born. It showed that high
pressure was not necessary to spray
paint. Low pressure could work in exactly
the same way - with one major difference
- the lower velocity of the air resulted
in less overspray and less wasted paint.
True
HVLP originators such as Sicmo (Monaco)
and Apollo (England) built the first
professionally used low pressure
sprayguns. In fact, until the late
1980’s all other HVLP sprayguns
copied these early guns in every
respect. The Sicmo spraygun (under
different names) is still in use
today with no significant changes
in decades. Apollosprayers started
in England in 1966 and then later
in 1981, under John Darroch, became
the first HVLP spray equipment manufacturer
in North America. Apollo was instrumental
in demonstrating to SCAQMD, (South
Coast Air Quality Management District
- California) the greatly decreased
overspray/waste aspect of High
Volume/Low Pressure systems.
Sicmo was also the first maker of a
true HVLP conversion spraygun. Patented
in 1971 by its inventor Mr. Farnsteiner,
this spraygun was, and still is, the
most air-efficient conversion spraygun.
Unlike all other conversion sprayguns
on the market today, the Sicmo does
not rely solely on ‘restriction’ to
lower pressure. In addition to restriction,
the Sicmo uses a unique air-entraining
venturi to actually increase the volume
of air passing through the gun. When
broken down, the venturi mechanism
itself comprises over 20 different
parts - this could be considered by
some to be a drawback to the device. Currently there are many Taiwanese copies of Sicmo HVLP spray guns on the market.
Fuji Spray was also one of the original makers
having started manufacturing HVLP turbine
systems back in 1986.
A few HVLP makers have disappeared
over the years. Some of these names
include Sprayfine, Amspray, Capspray,
Titan, Croix and even Sicmo, mentioned
above. Amspray, Capspray and Titan
are now associated with Wagner. Croix
is a part of Graco. |
