# Looking for help to build a texture rig



## bfd_ast

I am looking to build a texture rig. Nothing huge but big enough to do a good size house. Any ideas on what to get? Has anyone done it before? I just dont know were to begin!!!


----------



## rhardman

bfd_ast said:


> I am looking to build a texture rig. Nothing huge but big enough to do a good size house. Any ideas on what to get? Has anyone done it before? I just dont know were to begin!!!


To build one, if you don't already know what you want, you are probably better off to purchase a used one and rebuild it. We went through this a while back on another thread and the questioner found a very inexpensive rig on craigslist (I believe). It's fun to do the design, but unless you want to pay more than you need to, I would suggest buying one that someone else doesn't need any more. Building anything new will take a few revisions before you get it perfect.

If you do decide to purchase one, check them out as a couple of the mfrs have gone out of business.

_In my opinion..._

_(I would say stay away from those cheap plastic hopper/diaphram pump set ups. Others probably disagree but in my opinion, it's better to have too much power than not enough.)_


----------



## 2buckcanuck

was talking to our spray guy about your rig your making,he had alot of ???????????????????????????? about WINTER set up.no one wants to do interior trade work standing out side in a Canadian winter so ?????????????????????


----------



## bfd_ast

1st off I have looked for used ones but no one around here has that type of set up. They use hoppers. 2nd we dont have that cold of winters. It gets cold but not that bad. I was just wondering I have some ideas but just wanted to see if some one else had done this before.


----------



## bfd_ast

Sorry wasnt trying to sound pissy!


----------



## 2buckcanuck

no ,I was stealing your thread,, sorry,there stuff on here about what your looking for,lot of searching and reading under texture threads,or wait till some of the spray guys log in....they can direct u to good thread


----------



## Mudslinger

....


----------



## Tim0282

My experience has been that the diaphragm pumps serge up and down so much. Makes the texture inconsistent. (Graco, AplaTech, and all those that run on similar design)
It is hard to beat a Kodiak...... unitl this other guy gets his in the market.... then you will want to buy his....:yes:


----------



## rhardman

Tim0282 said:


> My experience has been that the diaphragm pumps serge up and down so much. Makes the texture inconsistent. (Graco, AplaTech, and all those that run on similar design)
> It is hard to beat a Kodiak...... unitl this other guy gets his in the market.... then you will want to buy his....:yes:


There are accessories that the pump mfrs know about that would reduce the material fluctuation but would add cost to their systems so they don't want to do it. Trying to adapt a pump (to drywall) that was made for painting will only be as successful as their engineer one day saying, "We've put enough time into it, that's good enough." 

If a guy already has the Apla Tech or similar diaphragm pump which kicks out relatively low pressures, he can go to ebay and buy a pulsation dampener and "T" it out of the pump before the hose. By playing with the air pressure, much of the pulsing effect can be eliminated*(Apla, you should already supply this with your pumps). For the Graco (Titans...etc) pistons, the pressures are so high, the dampener cost would be near $1000.00 (I did the research).







The Rotor/Stator pumps are the best for drywall (today) and well proven but IMO too heavy, too costly, take too long to repair and don't supply pressure high enough to do any real magic. :jester:

We'll have to see what that other guy comes up with...
Unfortunately, without seeing what he actually has yet, it's difficult to know if he's really got what he says he has...or is totally "full of it."

I've heard votes on both sides. 


*Go with the largest port diameter possible.


----------



## kyle112

I run a Desco 200 gal.spray rig down here in fl. These hydraulic pumps are pretty much bullet proof. I have a friend that bought a 300 gal. for $2500.00 . One pump alone is$ 1800.00. There is alot of deals down here in Florida, it mite be worth the trip instead of building one.o


----------



## JustMe

Tim0282 said:


> My experience has been that the diaphragm pumps serge up and down so much. Makes the texture inconsistent. (Graco, AplaTech, and all those that run on similar design)


My experience with this:

Surge from diaphragm pumps can come from what's called 'slippage' - not as much positive displacement in the diaphragms as, say, piston type pumps.

With diaphragm pumps, the more diaphragms your pump has, the smoother the delivery can be.


----------



## Tim0282

I have noticed on the Apla Tech pump one side will slow down and sometimes quit. Surge might be the wrong word. Inconsistent is more like it. As you are spraying it gets slow. So I would put my hand down in the tank and put my finger in the hole to see which one was being lazy and just give it a push. It would usually take off and would be good for a while. Changed the pump a couple times. Of course it only sticks when you have just filled the tank. Always nice to have mud clear to your elbow.


----------



## JustMe

I'm not familiar with the pump, Tim. What are you pushing on - a sticking intake valve?


----------



## Tim0282

Yes.


----------



## JustMe

So you've had a sticking valve problem with all the pumps you changed out? Is this a common problem with their system?


----------



## Tim0282

I believe so. I gave up on it and moved on to a Kodiak. Rotor Stator pump.


----------



## silverstilts

What Tim is referring to is known as the little ball (check ball) usually when your pump runs empty it will suck some air into the pump. Before remixing shut the air supply off to the pump push the balls down to allow the air to escape then after mixing turn the air back on. Simple. Yes these pumps can develop an air lock which is no big deal unless you forget to burp it before mixing otherwise especially if you have short arms you will have mud up to your arm pit. I learned if I forget to burp the pump I will just use my mixing paddle upside down to push down the balls unless you have a filter screen down on the bottom ... but I must say the check ball system is way better than the duck valves that graco has used on some of their pumps. Been known in a pinch how to fix those with just some black electricians tape. If a check ball starts to leak the seat where the ball comes into contact with and ball has to be replaced which is no big deal unless it is full but you should always have a spare set. But still the best pump for consistency would be the rotor stator pump. They all will give you some sort of grief... Just is the matter of what you want to put up with.


----------



## Tim0282

Agree with you, Silverstilts. Have had a lot less trouble with the rotor stator pump. It seemed on the other one, it always quit one side when it was full or close to it. Changed the ball a few times. Just didn't like how it was up and down in texture flow. And the guys that sold it to (the guys that made it) were very little help. (VERY) I know I repeated...  Life goes on and I really didn't expect them to care too much. They already got what they wanted from me---->> money. :blink:


----------



## rhardman

kyle112 said:


> I run a Desco 200 gal.spray rig down here in fl. These hydraulic pumps are pretty much bullet proof. I have a friend that bought a 300 gal. for $2500.00 . One pump alone is$ 1800.00. There is alot of deals down here in Florida, it mite be worth the trip instead of building one.o


Do you find pulsation issues with the Desco pump? 
Good points? Bad points?


----------



## kyle112

No the Desco hydraulic piston pump is pretty smooth, it has a serg sepresser at the outlet that is really effective. It is very smooth and being hydraulic it is also very controlable. Fairly simple ball and seat style and very strong. I have tested there limits with about 400 ft of hose pumping up 13 story and she did it with out incident.


----------



## Mudslinger

....


----------



## rhardman

Mudslinger said:


> 13 storys with 400ft that's really impressive. Any idea what kind of pressure those pumps can build? Was that with 3/4" hose, or did you run some 1" off the pump?


Great questions.

I contacted Desco and the sales guy said that they build 150 psi which if not careful, will blow hoses.

That doesn't make sense to me and 150 psi doesn't seem remotely possible to push 400 ft. With the hydraulics the potential is 10 times that but if the sales guy is correct, their dumbing it down. He also said there were surging issues at the pump but the hose expands and contracts to take care of it. He didn't mention a suppressor.

(Not disputing the contractor on the street, rather looking for his input :thumbsup


----------



## Mudslinger

....


----------



## kyle112

I run 3/4 in goodyear 300 psi hoses reduced to 5/8 in for the last 50 ft. All together l have about 250 ft of hose on my rig right now. It will definitely blow the hose if you let it build to much pressure. I had taken my big rig down to Desco a couple years back for service and they where surprised at the 400 + ft of hose. The owner asked me how much was on there, he couldn't believe the cups would hold to that pressure. I have been spraying with Desco rigs for about 20 years, so I'm pretty comfortable with them. With that much hose you can not leave your mix to thick.


----------



## Mudslinger

....


----------



## rhardman

Mudslinger said:


> If you look on their web site it looks like they have a black surge suppressor on the front of the pump.


Yea, they sure do. It's ugly but with a 3 inch diameter and what looks like a 10-12 inch stroke, that thing is a slow cycling* monster. What does it average, around 7 cycles a minute under full spray?









The 300 lb Goodyear hose, is probably getting a 4:1 safety factor before burst. So I would imagine Kyle's pushing way more than the 150 psi the salesman told me. 

Good job!

*Better for longer life.:thumbup:


----------



## The_Texture_Guy

kyle112 said:


> I run a Desco 200 gal.spray rig down here in fl. These hydraulic pumps are pretty much bullet proof. I have a friend that bought a 300 gal. for $2500.00 . One pump alone is$ 1800.00. There is alot of deals down here in Florida, it mite be worth the trip instead of building one.o




Lol, mine break alot. but i know how to fix them. my cups go out, the balls go out, the springs on occasion. It did great the first year i had it though. 

Tons of deals here i agree.

You technically can't spray in anything under 40 degrees. mud just dosent dry right unless you are doing orange peel and even then.....

good luck with building one. id just buy a great used one. 
Mine is the only purple rig in fl btw!


----------



## The_Texture_Guy

rhardman said:


> Yea, they sure do. It's ugly but with a 3 inch diameter and what looks like a 10-12 inch stroke, that thing is a slow cycling* monster. What does it average, around 7 cycles a minute under full spray?
> 
> View attachment 434
> 
> 
> The 300 lb Goodyear hose, is probably getting a 4:1 safety factor before burst. So I would imagine Kyle's pushing way more than the 150 psi the salesman told me.
> 
> Good job!
> 
> *Better for longer life.:thumbup:


that looks like a great rig. those pumps are actually i think around 18 inches for a stroke. that 3" pump will do some damage i can tell you that. Its what we use to spray popcorn. We use more than 300 psi hose i can tell you that. I am not sure what i have on my rig but 300 psi is nothing.


----------



## Michigan11

The_Texture_Guy said:


> Lol, mine break alot. but i know how to fix them. my cups go out, the balls go out, the springs on occasion. It did great the first year i had it though.
> 
> Tons of deals here i agree.
> 
> You technically can't spray in anything under 40 degrees. mud just dosent dry right unless you are doing orange peel and even then.....
> 
> good luck with building one. id just buy a great used one.
> *Mine is the only purple rig in fl btw*!


Interesting, got any pics of that machine and it's hardware?


----------



## wallman

bfd_ast said:


> I am looking to build a texture rig. Nothing huge but big enough to do a good size house. Any ideas on what to get? Has anyone done it before? I just dont know were to begin!!!


If you want a good spray rig that is portable and sprays like a big rig check out a machine from Pressurized Texnology, i have one and it is the best.. there web site is http://texturespraymachine.com/ top notch stuff fuul production and for repairs...


----------



## Captain Drywall

A few years ago i sold my old beat up Spray King 200 for 5 grand. Now I just bought a spray force 150 for $500, great engine and compressor. It really runs good. I found it in truckee ca. You can not build one for less. There was another right up the road for $500. when your checking craigs list be sure to change cities, rigs are not that common. right now super cheap.


----------



## Mudslinger

....


----------



## Justa Hick

*unloading spray machines*

i will be unloading two or three spray rigs.

140 split tank, rough shape

300 split tank, needs better engine, leaks oil. steel tank. no hose US spray or spray force, i forget at the moment. parked running but leaked oil out engine, should replace 16hp or new gaskets parts are avalible from Al's tool, mn.

us spray stainless, in process of total rebuild, 300 split tank

machines have 2l3 and 2l4 pumps. used to push 3oo foot hoses all the time. first 100 ft 1 inch then 3/4 inch out to gun.


----------

