# CAT AAA problems



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

Here is a link to the CAT AAA sprayer and the noise it was making while spraying. Does anyone know if this is right? I do not think it should sound like a .22 being fired.

The AAA will not get rid of tails in the patter no matter how much I crank the air or the fluid pressure. I will need to spend some more time with it before I am certain it is not operator error, but I have my doubts. I have a feeling a customer service call is on the way to CAT.


----------



## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

What kind of material are you shooting?


----------



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

A wb clear finish. 2073 from Nanochem. CAT will be called today.


----------



## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

No idea Dean, other than it doesn't sound good.


----------



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

Well, the noise seems to be from maxing out the fluid pressure and is fine. It is the release of pressure at the bottom of the stroke. I talked to the tech and tried everything he suggested, but no luck in losing the tails at all. Tried the same finishes through the 395 finish pro with zero problems at all. It seems to be an issues with the air not doing it's job to do the final break up of the fluid, but tore apart the gun and everything seems fine and no obstructions. Air is coming from the air cap. I am now wondering if the regulator is bad and not letting enough air through.

The cat does much better a maintaining lower fluid pressure than the Graco. I think the grace needs at least 1000 psi to maintain steady pressure. The cat seems to do great with lower pressure. I have a feeling that the grace only relies slightly on air to do it's job while the cat relies more on both equally. Assuming I ever get it to actually pattern correctly.


----------



## Shoreline (Feb 7, 2011)

What tip are you using dean? What is your fluid to air ratio.


----------



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

611 tip, which came with it. I have tried every air and fluid setting possible so far with no luck.


----------



## Shoreline (Feb 7, 2011)

Mine came with a .409 which the rep said was a good over all tip. Spraying wb lacquer at a little over 500 fluid and 27-30 air. Even spraying the heavier primer I only had to increase a small amount. The pump didn't seem to struggle at all.


----------



## Shoreline (Feb 7, 2011)

Do you have the double atomizing tip for wb?


----------



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

I have not ordered the wb specific tips yet. I did find a dried glob of finish where the air hose connects to the bottom of the gun, but still have tails. I wonder if there is another clog where the air passage turns 90 degrees towards the tip. That would be the only spot I cannot visually check. Still more work to do.

I did try thinning some, but I really prefer to not thin finishes unless there is no other option.


----------



## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Dean do you think maybe its from the previous finishes that were shot through it? One drawback I see is maybe only using it for certain materials. Or using a new hose for each type?


----------



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

I may have to order the new tips, new hose, and air cap. It seems to move plenty of fluid and does not clog the tip at all so I was thinking the hose and fluid passage should be fine, but who knows. As long as the pump is good, it should all work out. I want to try a couple more things before I commit to dropping a lot of $ that may not fix it.


----------



## Ramsey (Jan 15, 2011)

DeanV said:


> I may have to order the new tips, new hose, and air cap. It seems to move plenty of fluid and does not clog the tip at all so I was thinking the hose and fluid passage should be fine, but who knows. As long as the pump is good, it should all work out. I want to try a couple more things before I commit to dropping a lot of $ that may not fix it.


Dean it sure seems like a tip issue to me. I've done my share of spraying and trails are usually a sigh of tip or pressure. I would say the tip in it is for laquers and the waterborne definitely is a different consistency . Did u change the lower suction hose? If I'm not mistaken I think that was the only thing that ha to be done to shoot the waterborne material correct? Cus the other requirements were done o it. Pressure or tip my friend that would be my guess. I doubt it's the small obstruction. That's just finicky. The gun should a been pretty clean but it has sat for a couple years with thinner in it so it's possible the thinner broke all the crap in the lines and gun free or even deteriated something to obstruct it. Cv was the last product run through it so it could have had residual that slowly broke loose. The 22 sound. Lol. R u sure that sound ur hearing isn't exaggerated ? Lol. Haha. Yes at the bottom of the stroke it popped but I don't quite remember it b n that loud lol. Feel free to call or text any time.


----------



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

It sounds like the fluid never needs to be as high as I set it on these pumps. Since I was getting strong tails, I increased the pressure to try to get them to almost disappear, the was going to use the air to finish the atomization. This is how the Graco finish pro AAA recommends dialing in. For an airless, you tend to go up in size on tips when getting tailS, but the pump puts out a good amount of material with this tip already, even at lower pressures, so I am not sure a larger tip is what I want. The tech did not think it was a tip or intake tube issue, although I do plan on getting those still at some point just to be safe. My guts tells me it is an obstruction somewhere. 

The pattern is symetrical on both sides, so to me that rules out a bad tip.

Plenty of fluid, so it should not be a fluid passage clog.

Air was always coming out of the cap, but once I pulled the clog out of the bottom of the gun, there was no change in the pattern or very little, so either there is another clog in the air passage or that is not the problem. Maybe the air regulator box is bad. I have a pressure pot that always acts up when it sits for a while because the regulators do not like sitting and not being used, they do not hold pressure when taken out of storage.

I think it will be something simple when I find it, maybe even just tip size. Seems like the 611 would work though, especially just to get it dialed in.


----------



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

Well, I had a little better luck with a thinner wb today. Tried Valspar Zenith today and it did better. But, my luck mechanical things came back to bite me. I took everything apart to make sure everything was clean and must of not put the needle in straight and broke it (it has a hollow needle!). 

Just for the record, Ramsey did just fine with the gun and the sale. There was some dried up finish in the air passage that I think contributed to my problems, but I am thinking the biggest problem is that the wb's I am using are thicker and the setup is more for thinner products. I think it takes more dialing in than the graco 395 finish pro plus the wb"s could be trickier than solvent borne with this type of setup.


----------



## JoseyWales (Jan 8, 2011)

DeanV said:


> Well, I had a little better luck with a thinner wb today. Tried Valspar Zenith today and it did better. Bit, my luck mechanical things came back to bite me. I took everything apart to make sure everything was clean and must of not put the needle in straight and broke it (it has a hollow needle!).
> 
> Just for the record, Ramsey did just fine with the gun and the sale. There was some dried up finish in the air passage that I think contributed to my problems, but I am thinking the biggest problem is that the wb's I am using are thicker and the setup is more for thinner products. I think it takes more dialing in than the graco 395 finish pro plus the wb"s could be trickier than solvent borne wight this type of setup.


That's why I never use my 4 stage HVLP,it's very hard to dial it in with WB products...You need to thin it down so much while using a HVLP that there is a tendancy for WB's to run after spraying it.


----------

