DeKups paint cup system - review

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Brian Evans
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Location: Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia

DeKups paint cup system - review

Post by Brian Evans »

As part of my recent saga of getting finish to spray I bought a new professional paint gun - Devilbliss SRi Pro. It's considered a small gun, but it worked fine for the guitar size object and I'm sure I will get better with it. Anyway, it came with a system of disposable paint cups that I thought was quite cool, having not enjoyed cleaning metal cups with spirits after every spray session. I liked it enough to write up a review.

The cups are more than just plastic instead of metal, the system is actually quite cool. The first thing I noticed is that the cup is designed to be loaded upside down - the disposable cup (which is quite flimsy) sits in an outer cup and you just pour or decant your finish directly into the cup. It comes with a pretty good measuring system to calculate ratios and you are supposed to mix your finish directly in the cup if you want to. For those who want to filter after mixing (me, for example) it comes with three different mesh size filters which automatically filter the finish as it comes out of the cup and into the gun, so filtering is all of a sudden both totally easy and fully automatic. The cup, inside its holder and with its filter installed, gets a lid and then is locked into place with a cover. There is a plug for the outlet, and when plugged the cup is totally airtight and sealed, so you can use it to store finish. If the finish is non catalyzed or pre-catalyzed, it will store in there for a long time - next day is no problem for WB pre-cat finish.

Now you have your cup filled with finish, upside down on your bench. You pull the plug and the gun locks into the cover with a simple twisting motion. Now the reason the inner cup is so flimsy comes into play. The system is totally sealed and air (and finish) tight. You can turn the whole gun upside down during spraying and it not only won't leak, if it's momentary it won't stop spraying. The flimsy cup collapses as the finish is used, maintaining the seal and letting the finish flow freely. When you are done, you simply invert the gun again, pull the trigger to break the vacuum and any finish left in the gun flows back into the cup, which un-collapses, you unclip the gun from the cup and put the plug back in, and your finish is stored in a sealed air tight container. You can then strip the gun (with the cup system off) and clean normally as you would do between sessions. When you are done, you can decant the unused finish and do with it as you want to, and the cups clean up easy with water, and you can reuse them several times at least. The filter (which is about 2" in diameter) is easily cleaned and ready to reuse as well.

I liked this system a lot. It comes in three sizes, I have the small 9 oz. cup size, which holds enough to spray two coats of WB on my guitar anyway, and there are 24 oz and 32 oz sizes. All the sizes clip into the same adaptor on the gun, so you can choose the size for the job. You can have multiple color mixes in different cups and swap in about 30 seconds. There is a cleaning bottle that clips in place of the cup so that you can push water or thinner through the gun without taking it apart. I like that you can mix in the cup, store finish overnight in the cup, big washable filter right in the cup, sealed so no drips, no vent hole to clog. Downside is obviously you have to buy cups from time to time, if you decide to not wash them.

System: http://www.tcpglobal.com/Spray-Gun-Equipment/DeKups/

Brian
Steven Smith
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Re: DeKups paint cup system - review

Post by Steven Smith »

I discovered the 3M PPS system several years ago and it is very similar. Great time saver and, in my opinion, worth every penny.
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Barry Daniels
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Location: The Woodlands, Texas

Re: DeKups paint cup system - review

Post by Barry Daniels »

I also use 3M PPS and highly recommend it.
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David King
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Re: DeKups paint cup system - review

Post by David King »

IS the 3M system universal while the DeCups is only for Devilbliss?
Brian Evans
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Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:26 am
Location: Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia

Re: DeKups paint cup system - review

Post by Brian Evans »

The Dekups system has adaptors that let you use them on virtually any gravity feed (cup above the gun) gun. http://www.autorefinishdevilbiss.com/pr ... 5-overview I think that functionally the two systems are about identical, although not compatible with each other.

Brian
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Barry Daniels
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Re: DeKups paint cup system - review

Post by Barry Daniels »

3M has the adapters also. The 3M system has been around for about 10 years so they sort of invented the idea.
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David King
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Re: DeKups paint cup system - review

Post by David King »

Thanks.
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