Critter Spray Products 22032 118SG Siphon Gun

Customer Reviews

Great little surprise! Cheap, effective and easy to use and clean

2007-10-14
I read all the raving reviews, and figured how wrong could it be? I already have a pancake compressor so the only expense would be the $40.00 from Amazon. The Critter is great. After playing a little bit with diluting some latex based primer with water, I sprayed away on various wood trim I was replacing outside on the house (mostly looking for an excuse to try it). Smooth, even painting after just a few minutes of fiddling with the pressure and the nozzle thing on the spray gun. Very well focused delivery and virtually no over spray. Cleaned up in no time, and then followed with the actual paint over the primed pieces. Also latex, also eye-balled dilution with some water. Only problem was the nozzle clogged up a little bit. Had to keep an eye on it for build up. (It was fairly warm that day, but I worked in the shade). Great piece of inexpensive highly functional equipment! Air usage must be very low because the 6 gallon pancake compressor didn't cycle on/off very much at all.

Fine Mist for Detailed Work

2007-09-30
This is a wonderful sprayer. I've used it to paint doors, an armoire, a dresser and a couple of tables. It puts on a smooth finish using latex paints if you thin the paint first. I cut mine by 25% with water. Keep a wet rag handy to wipe off any dried paint buildup from the paint supply tube tip. Build-up will reduce the amount of paint flow. I had my compressor set to 40 psi. Splattering is reduced by starting the spray away from the piece to be painted and then moving onto the painting surface. It doesn't splatter much if you thin the paint first. Splatter are clumps of paint sprayed out of the sprayer usually upon first pulling of the trigger. That's why you should first aim away from the work piece and then move onto it. I keep a small fine nap roller nearby to roll out the splatter if any should occur. Cleanup is a breeze. You can store paint in the jar. Just put a little layer of water on the top of the paint in the jar to keep it fresh, then put a lid on the jar. You can also put it in the refridgerator to store it for a little while. The one gasket that comes with it will eventually wear out. You can make another one easily out of cardboad, thick paper, or thin rubber. Don't expect to production paint or do really large jobs, but for small jobs it's great.

Awesome

2007-07-21
Best gun on the market for small to medium jobs. I use it for furniture and produces professional results. Better and cleaner than using brushes or rags.

Great for artists and "makers"

2007-06-29
So happy with this product. Most of the complaints come from users who don't understand painting techniques, or dont bother to think about the process.
thicker paints have to be thinned slightly (duh) and old, globby paint will not work well in a siphon system (double duh). Its elementary that siphoning paint with air requires a certain viscosity to be sprayed. another issue is you cannot spray 'down' - and that's due to a little thing called gravity.
keep the viscosity thin, hold the sprayer level and it works fantastic. Built well!

idiot proof

2007-05-13
I have used several spray guns with different levels of success. This is the best by far. It is easy to use. It puts product on in an acceptable level. It is very easy to clean. I love a tool that is simple but works well. This is one of those tools.

great product, even for a novice

2008-06-15
I do a lot of home repair/improvement and generally learn as I go. I have done a lot of things the long/hard way and try, as finances allow, to get the right tools to help with jobs. Tools that can do more than one thing are easier to justify and the critter was the right combination of price, promise (good reviews for similar projects to mine), and amount of potential future use. Two doors and many feet of baseboard trim later, I am delighted with this purchase! When the tool arrived, I filled the bottle with water first and tried it out just to amaze myself with the physics of air guns. That gave me a chance to experiment with adjusting the nozzle, etc. Once I moved to paint and a piece of extra masonite, I was able to quickly adjust things "just right" for my doors. I am using Kilz3 latex paint, which is extra thick--thicker than standard latex paint. My recipe was 1 cup paint, 1/4 cup flotrol, and about 1/3 cup cold water. I mixed this and strained it (good advice) and went to town. Side one of the two doors went well, but I wasn't 100 percent satisfied. Side two of both doors was better. My working distince was about 8 inches and moving in small circles and overlapping, coverage eventually was good. My biggest problem was keeping the working distance the same--move a little closer and the paint was a little thicker and dried more glossy than when I was further away. The finish was smooth! I ended up using a 6 inch sponge roller 1 inch in diameter with a light coat of thinned paint to even out the shiny vs dull parts, which was mostly on the first sides of the door. The next day I moved to baseboard trim, and It went fantastic. I painted about 50 feet of board in 5 minutes. The finish is exceptional and it dried much quicker than doing it by brush. Having already installed several hundred feet of trim, and painting it all by hand, I wish I would have sprung for this earlier. The bottom line is that this tool is just like a tree -- the best time to plant one is 20 years ago and the best time to buy this tool is before you begin the project you are thinking you can handle with a brush.

The Criter sprayer

2008-05-25
The critter is a great product. I have 4 of them. Easy to use, easy to clean. Handy to keep glazes/paints/etc in mason jars. Down side is if you are spraying a material that might have some abrasive components, it wears out the brass pick-up nozzle. You may order a stainless steel nozzle if you can get the company that makes the critter (not easy to do).
Overall a great product!

Why did I wait so long to buy?

2008-02-09
I've been looking at this for over a year and made my purchase.Works great and saves me so much time finishing my projects.Very much needed,wish I hadn't waited so long to purchase.

Critter Sprayer

2007-11-21
I ordered this sprayer for a quick way to finish several jewelry boxes. The critter worked great after a little practice spraying water and adjusting air pressures. The critter sprayed shellac very even with no runs. Clean up was very easy. Very satisfied and boxes look great.

Like a big airbrush

2007-11-19
This spray gun works just like a large version of an inexpensive air brush. The airstream blows over the top of a tube immersed in your finishing liquid (paint, varnish, etc.). The air flow over the tube causes a drop in air pressure at the top of the tube, drawing the liquid up the tube and into the airstream. I have used it for varnish and lacquer. It works. It will spray paint, etc. right out of the box, but creating an optimal spray pattern requires some adjustments. My observation is that it takes a lot of trial and error to get the right combination of air pressure (set by the compressor and regulator) and liquid flow (sort of adjusted by twisting the threaded brass nozzle at the top of the tube to place the orifice higher into the airstream). A third adjustment of the process available to Critter users is viscosity of the spray liquid, which can be altered by adding appropriate thinner. I am satisfied that it is easy to maintain and clean. I have the impression that there is a lot of spray "bounce" but I am comparing the transfer of the spray material to a professional Kremlin gun, which costs thousands of dollars. I had to replace the sealing ring between the mason jar and the spray head almost immediately, but I cut one out of synthetic rubber very easily and it works fine.