Graco has launched PerformAA, a new line of manual and automatic applicators.
The manufacturer of fluid handling equipment Graco Inc.
has developed PerformAATM air assist (AA) and airless spray guns, two new lines of manual and automatic applicators that deliver excellent performance with material-specific air caps and other features that are seldom found in AA guns commonly used in wood, metal and general industrial finishing.
Air caps that are geometrically designed for general finishing, wood lacquer, low viscosity, high viscosity, quick drying, top coat, and waterborne applications are all suitable for both manual and automatic PerformAA models.
“For a high-quality finish, one air cap does not fit all. To produce consistent atomization and a clean pattern when spraying certain materials, it's important to have air caps designed for them,” stated Wendy Hartley, global product manager for manual finishing equipment for Graco’s Industrial Products Division.
With a weight of 460 grams, PerformAA 15, 50 and Airless are the lightest manual AA spray guns
available on the market. In addition, they allow minimum fatigue and muscle stress with an ultra-light trigger pull and ergonomic handle. The cartridge-style components reduce maintenance downtime.
These characteristics ensure that operators of PerformAA Auto can set and quickly repeat exact air cap orientation, which is especially important in flat-line finishing automation. To further help saving time when air caps are cleaned or the guns are serviced, the company has also fabricated the Graco Gauge air cap alignment tool.
“We observed people out in the field using protractors and levels to try to get air caps back to that same angle that they had originally. To assist in this, we created the Graco Gauge and added angle marks into the fluid housing on all PerformAA Auto guns,” added Bill Heuer, global product manager for automatic finishing equipment at Graco’s Industrial Products Division.