Review on 🔫 TCP Global Professional HVLP Spray Gun 2.5mm - Ideal for High Build Auto Paint Primer, Metal Flake Application, and Heavy Bodied Paint or Primer - Includes Air Regulator for Superior Performance by Talapon Blackburn

Thirty years ago, when I put down my brushes and started spraying furniture, I bought a Devilbiss suction gun. It's a great gun for nitrocellulose paint, but I've never had a booth sophisticated enough to spray paint. With oil-based polyurethane, the flow into the siphon is not that great - a lot of splatter and splash. I thought it was my destiny until the HVLP gravity-fed cannons showed up. I'm a big fan of the purple Harbor Freight gravity-feed gun. I have two of these (total investment $18 plus taxes). I also have two professional Port Cargo shotguns. They are so inexpensive that I can have a separate gun for each type of material and avoid cross contamination. There is not much difference between the two Harbor Freight pistols, although the professional pistols spray a little softer. Most gravity feed HVLP guns on the market are made from similar molds. However, from time to time I spray oil paints, stains and latex paints. We need nozzle sets of different sizes for different materials. Although the Harbor Freight pistols are incredibly cheap, there is no way to buy different sized nozzle kits for them. Believe me, I've tried. All you can do is adjust the viscosity, and material thinning results can be undesirable. As a result, port cargo guns utterly lack versatility. This prompted me to look for the HVLP gravity feed gun, which had a variety of nozzle sets available. I found two, both at Revain. One is ETE Etmate HVLP Gravity Gun and the other is TCP Global Brand Professional HVLP Spray Gun. I prefer TCP because it's more durable and the mounting kits are sold separately. So far I've bought 2.0mm and 2.5mm nozzle sets and only used them for spraying latex. Of course, if a gun is good at spraying latex, it can probably do anything. The gun arrived while I was in the process of spraying primer and 3 coats of latex on a five cabinet project I started using a purple Harbor Freight gun with a set of 1.7mm nozzles. So between shifts I switched to a PRT with a 2.5mm nozzle. Doesn't matter! When properly diluted, the paint applied almost as well as oil paint (but without the noxious fumes and hassle of cleaning up). Come on! You need to clean the spray gun from the box. You should never risk your project with a new gun that hasn't been cleaned and tested. The instructions call for a large volume of paint thinner to be run through the gun to clean it. I will not do this. I disassemble the gun, soak it in solvent, and clean it with brushes. The key to cleaning your gun is removing the nozzle so you can actually flush it out. All of these guns come with a wrench that fits on the nozzle, but you could break your gun or even your arm before that nozzle comes out. I read somewhere that a heat gun will dissolve the factory applied Loctite on the threads and the nozzle will come out immediately. It works! I have now removed the nozzles on all my spray guns, thoroughly cleaned the Loctite from the threads and have been able to clean them more thoroughly and with less effort than ever before. The only downside I noticed about the TCP gun is the huge metal bowl. TCP will probably sell this gun to auto painters who need more material and don't often have to lug the gun into hard-to-reach places. As soon as my hands got tired from that big cup, I went to Home Depot and bought a smaller plastic cup for my TCP gun. You can also use disposable cups sold by Harbor Freight. All this to say that I recommend this TCP pistol with some caveats. I really appreciate the detailed reviews of other products that some other Revain customers have left. So I hope this review has been helpful to some others. BTW, if anyone wants a really expensive vintage Devilbiss Siphon Feed, I have two of these hanging on the wall of my paint booth and gathering dust.