Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Best Spray gun for commercial use , spraying chocolate mounds


spennie

Recommended Posts

I have come to the conclusion that my Iwata Eclipse is not really ideal as our demand increases for our chocolates . Also working with the Easter egg moulds  has been somewhat frustrating spraying with a O.5 needle . It’s time to move on with a set up that can cover more of the moulds . Please any suggestions would be greatly appreciated 

 

kind 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 of my favorite chocolatiers use paint guns by Grizzly but really any professional HVLP gun will work.  I am partial to one with metal canisters rather than plastic for ease of cleaning and sanitation.

Edited to add that several well known chocolatiers also use Grex airbrushes.  I think @Jim D. has experience with those.  

Edited by Bentley (log)
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed I have a Grex airbrush. You can read my review of it on this page. I have to say, however, that I don't use it as much as I used to. It is still the best airbrush I have used, and for doing gradients, it is still my first choice. But I came to feel that the amount of time I spent reheating the cocoa butter was too annoying. When my sales increased recently, I took the leap (which in that thread to which I linked I said I would never take) and purchased a Fuji sprayer. I haven't yet written a review of it, but many others who use it have said lots. Actually I would suggest you read through that thread, where you will find much discussion of the tools for decorating molds.

 

About the Fuji, I will say at this point, after having used it for nine months, that I am sold on it. It is so quick and stays warm for so long that, even with smaller numbers of molds, it makes spraying them much easier. I keep it warm in a dehydrator, and it is ready to go. It is quite rare that I ever have to stop and give it a thorough reheating with a heat gun. It also does splattering beautifully (which few if any airbrushes can do and some regular HVLP guns can but many cannot). Yes, the Fuji is expensive, but most chocolatiers underestimate how their business will eventually grow and how expensive it is in the long run to keep upgrading from one airbrush system to another (I am now the proud possessor of four airbrushes, one inexpensive HVLP mini-gun, and two compresssors, plus untold cables, connectors, moisture traps, etc.+). And the Fuji isn't as expensive as it first seems because it includes the compressor as part of the package.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Bentley said:

2 of my favorite chocolatiers use paint guns by Grizzly but really any professional HVLP gun will work.  I am partial to one with metal canisters rather than plastic for ease of cleaning and sanitation.

Edited to add that several well known chocolatiers also use Grex airbrushes.  I think @Jim D. has experience with those.  

 

Thank you for you reply . I looked at the Grex but it seems the biggest needle you can get is 0.7 not much bigger than I already have . I really do not have any idea about the HVLP guns . The canisters look large to me . Especially to keep the cocoa butter in temper 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Jim D. said:

Indeed I have a Grex airbrush. You can read my review of it on this page. I have to say, however, that I don't use it as much as I used to. It is still the best airbrush I have used, and for doing gradients, it is still my first choice. But I came to feel that the amount of time I spent reheating the cocoa butter was too annoying. When my sales increased recently, I took the leap (which in that thread to which I linked I said I would never take) and purchased a Fuji sprayer. I haven't yet written a review of it, but many others who use it have said lots. Actually I would suggest you read through that thread, where you will find much discussion of the tools for decorating molds.

 

About the Fuji, I will say at this point, after having used it for nine months, that I am sold on it. It is so quick and stays warm for so long that, even with smaller numbers of molds, it makes spraying them much easier. I keep it warm in a dehydrator, and it is ready to go. It is quite rare that I ever have to stop and give it a thorough reheating with a heat gun. It also does splattering beautifully (which few if any airbrushes can do and some regular HVLP guns can but many cannot). Yes, the Fuji is expensive, but most chocolatiers underestimate how their business will eventually grow and how expensive it is in the long run to keep upgrading from one airbrush system to another (I am now the proud possessor of four airbrushes, one inexpensive HVLP mini-gun, and two compresssors, plus untold cables, connectors, moisture traps, etc.+). And the Fuji isn't as expensive as it first seems because it includes the compressor as part of the package.

Thank you for your response Jim . I am at th3 end of my tether now with the current set up . I shall look through the threads . I have looked at the Fuji Spray set ups . Could I ask what would you recommend out of the seies in terms of the whole set up  with th3 chocolates 

kind regrds 

Spencer 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the recommendation of @Kerry Beal, I got the Platinum Q4. There are also a few extras that make spraying more tolerable.

There is a special small cup that works quite well. I would be glad to tell you what else I bought besides the system itself and the needle that works the best, etc.

 

As far as regular HVLP guns go, you want to look for a mini-spray gun; they will have small spray cups that are tall and thin, thus requiring less cocoa butter. The same is true of the special cup for the Fuji..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spencer - call Jim or anyone actually, at Fuji and chat with them (1-800-650-0930). We have had him put together a chocolate package that consists of the T75 gravity feed with the 3 ounce cup, the 0.8mm cap, the whip hose, a Q4 turbine and a remote.

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, spennie said:

Thank you for you reply . I looked at the Grex but it seems the biggest needle you can get is 0.7 not much bigger than I already have . I really do not have any idea about the HVLP guns . The canisters look large to me . Especially to keep the cocoa butter in temper 

Grizzly makes a mini gun, which has a smaller cup. 

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-Mini-HVLP-Spray-Gun-Stainless-Steel-Cup/H7670

I have used it and it works very well and does splattering nicely.  I've never used the Fuji, but as you can tell, it gets great reviews.  If cost doesn't matter, go for it - but the grizzly is $40.  Pair it with a good 2-3 HP compressor and you'll still be under $300.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I currently use the cheap 4oz spray gun from Harbor Freight ($14) along with a California Air Tools 4610AC compressor (very quiet and reliable).

 

I usually spray several complete molds at a time, or more if I’m doing partial coverage, before giving it a blast from the heat gun. I have the cup at ⅓ to ½ full.

 

My speed is limited by needing to stop and clean the overspray from each form using paper/shop towels while it’s still wet. I need to find/make some sort of clamp to hold the edges of the towel in place so I can rub the mold one handed without putting down the sprayer (and without tearing the towel).

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put a Silpat under the towels, and they stay in place much better (idea from Kirsten Tibballs of Savour School). Kerry Beal had an idea I'm going to try of using a warming tray to keep shop towels warm to enable cleaning off cocoa butter more quickly, although that would not solve your problem of not putting down the airbrush. The warming tray does, however, provide more time to do the cleaning.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, jbates said:

I currently use the cheap 4oz spray gun from Harbor Freight ($14) along with a California Air Tools 4610AC compressor (very quiet and reliable).

 

 

I have that same gun, but I have not used it a couple of years.  Do you keep several spray guns on hand in case you are doing several backing colors?  I am pretty sure I was never shown the "proper" way to clean them when finished with them at the end of the day.  What do you do in order to clean them and keep them unclogged?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Jim D. said:

I put a Silpat under the towels, and they stay in place much better (idea from Kirsten Tibballs of Savour School). Kerry Beal had an idea I'm going to try of using a warming tray to keep shop towels warm to enable cleaning off cocoa butter more quickly, although that would not solve your problem of not putting down the airbrush. The warming tray does, however, provide more time to do the cleaning.

Good idea, thanks!

 

I could try to combine both ideas by putting the Silpat on the warming tray and the towel on top of that (and maybe hold them together with a couple of binder clips if it drags/crumples too much). Then I could slide the mold over it one-handed without too much pressure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a HVLP gun with a 0.8mm nozzle, basically a cheap version of an iwata HVLP, if I had a larger compressor I would have no issues spraying whole moulds at once.

With my current Iwata smartjet pro I can only spray maybe a line of cavities at a time and they'll need to be sprayed a second time to achieve full coverage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Merry Berry said:

 

I have that same gun, but I have not used it a couple of years.  Do you keep several spray guns on hand in case you are doing several backing colors?  I am pretty sure I was never shown the "proper" way to clean them when finished with them at the end of the day.  What do you do in order to clean them and keep them unclogged?

I have two, but I might get a third later. I just got a melter for keeping everything warm so I’ll keep the alternates in there.

 

For each gun I pour any extra CB back into the bottle, and run through whatever is left that is in the pipe onto a random samples mold until it draws air from the cup. Then I use paper towel to get rid of as much CB as I can from the outer surfaces and inside the cup and lid. If I’ve still got more colors to do then the mostly-clean one will go back in the melter to keep warm and swap to a fresh one.

 

Once I’m done for the day I plug the gun back into the air, run the whole thing under hot water and spray the colored CB/water mix into the sink to clean out the CB path. Then I usually disassemble the pattern head to wipe that out, dry the whole thing with more paper towel. I usually don’t bother disconnecting the cup.

 

When I pour in fresh CB into a gun I spray a little onto paper towel to ensure that any of the old color (or drops of water from the cleaning) that stuck around doesn’t make it onto my target piece.

Edited by jbates (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, jbates said:

I have two, but I might get a third later. I just got a melter for keeping everything warm so I’ll keep the alternates in there.

 

For each gun I pour any extra CB back into the bottle, and run through whatever is left that is in the pipe onto a random samples mold until it draws air from the cup. Then I use paper towel to get rid of as much CB as I can from the outer surfaces and inside the cup and lid. If I’ve still got more colors to do then the mostly-clean one will go back in the melter to keep warm and swap to a fresh one.

 

Once I’m done for the day I plug the gun back into the air, run the whole thing under hot water and spray the colored CB/water mix into the sink to clean out the CB path. Then I usually disassemble the pattern head to wipe that out, dry the whole thing with more paper towel. I usually don’t bother disconnecting the cup.

 

When I pour in fresh CB into a gun I spray a little onto paper towel to ensure that any of the old color (or drops of water from the cleaning) that stuck around doesn’t make it onto my target piece.

 

 

Well, I guess what I was doing was not too far off then.  I always worried the water would somehow get trapped in there and ruin things (although that has never happened).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
On 4/11/2019 at 2:27 AM, Jim D. said:

On the recommendation of @Kerry Beal, I got the Platinum Q4. There are also a few extras that make spraying more tolerable.

There is a special small cup that works quite well. I would be glad to tell you what else I bought besides the system itself and the needle that works the best, etc.

 

As far as regular HVLP guns go, you want to look for a mini-spray gun; they will have small spray cups that are tall and thin, thus requiring less cocoa butter. The same is true of the special cup for the Fuji..

Thank you Jim and sorry for the extremely late reply :) . I would love to know what else you bought and your preferred choice of needle 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, spennie said:

Thank you Jim and sorry for the extremely late reply :) . I would love to know what else you bought and your preferred choice of needle 

 

From what Kerry Beal posted a little earlier in this thread:

 

On 4/10/2019 at 10:01 PM, Kerry Beal said:

Spencer - call Jim or anyone actually, at Fuji and chat with them (1-800-650-0930). We have had him put together a chocolate package that consists of the T75 gravity feed with the 3 ounce cup, the 0.8mm cap, the whip hose, a Q4 turbine and a remote.

 

That's exactly what I got. Another place to check is hvlptek.com, where the owner is the former owner of Fuji (and where I received excellent customer service when I was shopping for extra Fuji parts). As far as I could ever tell, Fuji prices are the same everywhere, so there is no point in looking for a bargain.  I got mine at Amazon simply because of quick delivery, but they did not have all the extras listed above. And, by the way, I am not the "Jim" to whom Kerry refers in her post; this one is a sales manager at Fuji.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
On 4/11/2019 at 2:27 AM, Jim D. said:

On the recommendation of @Kerry Beal, I got the Platinum Q4. There are also a few extras that make spraying more tolerable.

There is a special small cup that works quite well. I would be glad to tell you what else I bought besides the system itself and the needle that works the best, etc.

 

As far as regular HVLP guns go, you want to look for a mini-spray gun; they will have small spray cups that are tall and thin, thus requiring less cocoa butter. The same is true of the special cup for the Fuji..

Just on the verge of getting this set up are there any other items i would need with this kit .Thank you 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, spennie said:

Just on the verge of getting this set up are there any other items i would need with this kit .Thank you 

Get the whip hose and the remote for it, along with the small cup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Get the whip hose and the remote for it, along with the small cup.

I have asked about the remote but they do not seem to know much about it .The small cup is that plastic or metal Kerry 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It’s metal - 3 ounces -  The remote is made by a company named woods. You need to talk to the right people. I’m actually at work right now but perhaps Jim D could jump in and give you the information on who to talk to

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, spennie said:

I have asked about the remote but they do not seem to know much about it .The small cup is that plastic or metal Kerry 

Go to HVLPTek. The remote is part #3072, wireless remote. As I said previously, this site has great customer service and can answer any question about the Fuji, including using it with cocoa butter.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@spennie, I'm glad you posted again about the Fuji because I have been thinking about how useful it would be to have a central place where Fuji users could exchange information, ask questions, etc. My impression is that there aren't many of us on eGullet, but there are at least a few. I thought about starting a separate topic but don't think there would be enough traffic. Perhaps we should enlarge the potential participants to all who use HVLP guns to spray cocoa butter. So if you are interested, let's do it here. I am confident that you will have many questions. I know I still do after using the Fuji for over a year, and new things keep coming up. One issue is that with the Fuji  you will use a lot more cocoa butter. That's just the nature of an HVLP gun. I keep trying to find ways to cut down on the flow. I have learned that with Chef Rubber's metallic colors, which are very thick, it helps to add some plain cocoa butter. Yesterday I decided I would go back to my airbrush for a job, but after a long period of heating and reheating the airbrush and still getting very low flow, I brought out the Fuji and did the job in a couple of minutes.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/6/2019 at 1:18 AM, Jim D. said:

@spennie, I'm glad you posted again about the Fuji because I have been thinking about how useful it would be to have a central place where Fuji users could exchange information, ask questions, etc. My impression is that there aren't many of us on eGullet, but there are at least a few. I thought about starting a separate topic but don't think there would be enough traffic. Perhaps we should enlarge the potential participants to all who use HVLP guns to spray cocoa butter. So if you are interested, let's do it here. I am confident that you will have many questions. I know I still do after using the Fuji for over a year, and new things keep coming up. One issue is that with the Fuji  you will use a lot more cocoa butter. That's just the nature of an HVLP gun. I keep trying to find ways to cut down on the flow. I have learned that with Chef Rubber's metallic colors, which are very thick, it helps to add some plain cocoa butter. Yesterday I decided I would go back to my airbrush for a job, but after a long period of heating and reheating the airbrush and still getting very low flow, I brought out the Fuji and did the job in a couple of minutes.

 

Great idea Jim and your last sentence sums up why i need to get this system .I am ordering it here in the UK on Monday .Super excited and yes plenty of questions will be cropping up for ure 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hello!  I just have a quick question.  Usually, I've been using an airbrush to color my molds.  I've had to increase my production recently so, I purchased a Grizzly mini HVLP spray gun with metal cup.  I've read that people usually leave it a warmer so that the cocoa butter doesn't set too quickly while spraying.  Still though, on the first couple of times I've tried to use my spray gun, I've been finding that this little filter gets (picture shown) clogged first.  I just wanted to ask if everyone that uses a spray gun leaves this on or is it okay just to leave it off?  Any advice is greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

thumbnail_IMG_7229.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...