I am seriously shopping for a paint gun now that I have a good compressor. I have heard great things about the ASTRO HVLP, and will probably go with that unless I get some better suggestions. The compressor is capable of 15CFM@40PSI, so I need a gun that will operate a little below that. I figure after the air goes through a water trap and regulater etc...it may actually be more like 13-14CFM. At any rate, do any of you who paint care to share your gun model and results? I know that Jean Doll and Scrapper both have some slick paint jobs, but I have no idea what either of them use. Care to clue me in guys/gals? TIA
We use several kinds of guns in our shop, none of which are low priced guns. We have a real old Sharp cup gun we use for primers. For the actual painting, we use one of two guns. One is an older Sharp HVLP gun that ran us around $200 new. The main gun we use is a SATA Jet 2000 HVLP. This gun is great for laying on the basecoats and clearcoats, but it comes with a price. We paid nearly $500 for it two years ago. We also use a much larger compressor that puts out more PSI. We have a 5 HP compressor with a 60 gallon tank that is putting out 120 PSI at the regulator. We spray at around 35 to 45 PSI at the gun, depending on what we are spraying at the time. You will need to find a gun that will spray at a lower volumne to match your compressor. If you want to see a pretty good selection of spray guns for different uses and budgets, take a look at the Eastwood site. www.eastwood.com.
I being a painter for many years listen to those with experience. Jean and Dale do the nicest work of any I have seen. Their experience speaks volumes. I have some older sharp guns and some other stuff I have collected over the last 30 years. I do have a Finish line hvlp gun that I am going to use for the first time on my Stallion, supposed to do a nice job. We shall see. Dan
Well as far as the compressor I got, its a 7HP that puts out 135 PSI. I was just giving the CFM rating at 40PSI which is where most guns run isnt it? Anywho, Im really looking for an el-cheapo gun. Even $200 is out of the question I saw a guy who had never painted a car before shoot with a $90 gun and it turned out very well. Good enough for me. It sounds like youre used to much higher end stuff than I am looking at, so its understandable that you couldnt recommend a specific low end gun. Your work is simply awesome thats for sure. I hope one day I can afford to go all out and get some high end stuff BTW, here is a pic of what this <$100 ASTRO gun can do, even in the hands of a n00b. I guess thats the one I will get. Wish me luck, Ill most certainly need it
now i agree with the pros, but i did buy an "Extreme Duty" Cambell Housefield gravity fed gun, at Wal-Mart for $56.00, ill let you know next weekend how it does i caint wait to see my car finished! NOW, that said, i am trying my hardest to do this the right way, its like i told my upholsterer, "I dont care how long it takes, just do the job right" and let me tell yall, so far, it is looking GREAT. I love it!
also, i've got a Cambell Housefield standard duty siphon fed primer gun, and as long as you have it set up right and your paint is mixed right, i think it does a great job for a primer gun. and it only costed $39.00 im telling yall, it really does work too!
I have 2 Binks M1G's and 2 Sata NR 95's. Sata makes an awesome gun, but pricey and I dont think you can buy the 95 anymore. The Sata 2000 is a great gun also, the other painter at work has a couple of them, and having tried them the atomization is super, but then expensive. I have seen guns that look remarkably close to the Sata's on the Snap on truck and I think at some hardware store, I cant remember what brand they were, some off-brand thing. Can't tell you how they throw paint though. I know that years ago I had a Binks 7 look-alike, made by CIA, worked very good for like 50 bucks or so . The Binks M1G is a good all around gun too, I just like tha Sata's more so I only use the Binks now if I need to.
We use nothing but the Sata Jet in our shop also. It's just an awesome gun. We're not saying you can't get satisfactory results but for everyday professional usage I doubt you'll find any shops that use a low line gun. The best thing I can tell you if you use the Astro gun is keep it super clean. The cheaper guns usually spray fairly good when they are new. After each use you need to be sure to take the cap and head off and clean it thouroughly or soak it in lacquer thinner. Any residue left behind will only continue to build up and will play a major role in the quality of your spray pattern. I definitely can't fault you if you have to keep the cost down...just keep it clean and you'll probably do okay. Good luck.
i used a hvlp i got from harbour freight, works pretty good only paid 45.00 on sale. im also on a very tight budget, and keep in mind, its not only the paint gun that will get you a good finish. you need to mix the paint correctly,steady hand, and lots of practice,practice,practice. plus you can also wet sand and buff when finished. just take your time.
Cool people. Thanks for the advice Hey fan2488, did you paint your orange Mav with that gun? Got any full size pics of it? The good news is that we have 3 full size trucks in the back field that I can practice on. Lots of surface area there The actual painting is still a ways off as I have to weld quarters in and patch the doors here and there. Ill be asking alot more questions as I get ready to actually shoot regarding gun adjustment, prep, yadda yadda... Thanks again guys/gals for the advice.
Keep in mind that you may save money now, but if you receive poor results with the gun and have to do the work twice . Your material costs will eat up anything you save now, pretty quick. Note how several people mentioned that good primer guns. Most painters have one gun to shoot primers and a higher end gun to shoot finish coats.
I believe in always buying the best tool your budgit will allow. When I was getting my F100 ready to paint a $100 Craftsman was all I could afford. I still use it today 4 years later on my woodworking jobs. it is an HVLP type gun. It did a pretty decent job on my truck considering I did'nt know what I was doing. lol I get alot of complimenst on my truck so it can't look that bad. lol Clint
heres a couple of pictures, yes i painted the car with that gun, but i also wet sanded the clear when i finished. hope these help.
Binks Mach1 HVLP is what i have been using for over 7 years... it is awesome and runs around $250 for the cup and gun.. a little pricey, but you get what you pay for. i have spray 3 cars with this gun and they have turned out great. Conventional spray gun is what i recommed for spraying primer/filler because it is a little thicker than normal paint. i also use a touch up spray gun for the little jobs. it works great when you need to mix up a few ounces of paint for trim or touch up stuff
