Spent $450 on a 'professional' spray booth filter system that nearly ruined a client's mahogany table

I got a new inline filter setup for my HVLP sprayer, thinking it would give a cleaner finish. The filters were cheap and collapsed under pressure, sending a fine mist of old finish particles and dust over the whole wet coat. I had to strip and sand the entire top again, adding a full day of work. Has anyone found a truly reliable filter brand that won't fall apart?

3 comments

3 Comments

paulw6318d ago

Been there, ruined a table with that exact mess. Those cheap paper filters are junk. You need the pleated polyester ones, they hold up under pressure and actually catch the gunk. I switched to the Graco branded ones years ago and never had a collapse.

blair62618d agoMost Upvoted

Always thought the paper ones were fine, but @paulw63 is right about the pleated ones holding up way better.

kelly.daniel1d ago

Honestly those pleated ones can clog up way too fast if you're working with thicker stuff. Paper filters are cheap enough to just swap out constantly without worrying about it. Had a polyester one split on me once and it made a way bigger mess than any paper failure. Sometimes the simple disposable option just works better for messy jobs.