Paint Spray Gun Recomendations

[BobGutsell]

Okay I've had enough of my old school suction type touch up gun. I know I need an HVLP, gravity fed touch up gun. But what other specifics do I need to look for?

 

[camaroboy383]

pay attention to tip sizes....a 1.7 is good for primers or huge house of kolor flake... 1.4 is a good tip size for bases,,clears,,single stage....good all around tip..... now typically on a touch up gun (small hvlp) they come with a 1.0 tip,,,you can not spray heavy flake through it,,,its bound to clog up...it will however still spray all pearls and small flake.... the smaller the tip,,the better the atomization,,,better atomization equals a smoother finish....

in all reality you do not need to break the bank on a name brand gun,,specially to paint toy boats....you can buy gravity hvlp gun kits that come with 3 guns,,, one large with 1.7 tip,,,one large with 1.4 tip,,,and one touch up gun with 1.0 tip....you can usually have these kits cheap...100.00 or so...now if you paint every day,,,all day long,,,,spend good money on a satajet,,or devilbiss or somthin along them lines...but like i said the once in a while painter needs nothing more than somthin to spray out of,,,and they do a dam fine job for cheapo guns...ive personally used them and they work fine...plus you get all the tip sizes you could ever need....

hope this helps...

alden

 

[longballlumber]

I bought this Devilbiss StartingLine kit from a local auto paint store for near the same price listed here ($150ish), and used it for the first time last night shooting Klass Kote Primer.

http://www.amazon.com/802342-StartingLine-HVLP-Gravity-Spray/dp/B0015LM088

Last night was the first time I have EVER done any painting with an HVLP system using an A/B Epoxy Paint system. I was super anxious about the whole thing, but so far so good. When I get home tonight I will be wet sanding the hull and shooting color. I have no reason to think it’s going to be different than shooting the primer. The gun was easy to adjust and seemed to work great.

Later,

Mike

 

[camaroboy383]

mike,,,shooting color will be different than shooting primer...primer is always thicker to a point...color "if single stage" has more of a tendency to run as it stays "wetter" longer....just be aware of how much material is laying down...

same goes for clear...base is easy,,,that goes on and dries very quick...if the color has pearl or flake in it,,be sure to keep your coats light or the pearl will puddle up and look strange,,,keep your distance on the last coat and the pearl will come out nice and even

alden

 

[BobGutsell]

Thanks guys, Alden I had been wondering about those el cheapo guns. You can buy the touchup gun on it's own here in NZ for about $40. I'll give it a go.

 

[Don Ferrette]

When I made the jump into HVLP I started out with one of the cheaper ($110) guns and did well with it. Then a friend showed me his SATA Minijet 4 HVLP detail gun. Told me if I tried one I'd never go back to shooting colors with the cheap gun. Well he was right, I shopped around and found a pretty good deal on the MJ4, bought one and the difference was night and day. Liked it so much I saved up some coin and bought a second one later that year with larger capacity cup for shooting clearcoats (the smaller cups are a pain when shooting alot of clear like on a scale). What the guys here are saying about the $100-$150 HVLP detail guns is fairly accurate, you can get a pretty decent job done with them. But if you can swing the extra $$ without straining your budget then do it as there is a difference. Everything from how they spray to how they clean up when your done is evident. The cheaper gun I started with is still in the stable, I shoot all my primers with it and it's perfect for that.

 

[Charles Perdue]

When I made the jump into HVLP I started out with one of the cheaper ($110) guns and did well with it. Then a friend showed me his SATA Minijet 4 HVLP detail gun. Told me if I tried one I'd never go back to shooting colors with the cheap gun. Well he was right, I shopped around and found a pretty good deal on the MJ4, bought one and the difference was night and day. Liked it so much I saved up some coin and bought a second one later that year with larger capacity cup for shooting clearcoats (the smaller cups are a pain when shooting alot of clear like on a scale). What the guys here are saying about the $100-$150 HVLP detail guns is fairly accurate, you can get a pretty decent job done with them. But if you can swing the extra $$ without straining your budget then do it as there is a difference. Everything from how they spray to how they clean up when your done is evident. The cheaper gun I started with is still in the stable, I shoot all my primers with it and it's perfect for that.

SATA all the way. Like the difference between a Yugo and a Mercedes. Both will do the job, but the difference is amazing.

Charles

 

[camaroboy383]

we are painting toy boats here right??? not bentley's??? just kidding...lol....

hands down fellas,,the expensive guns are gonna spray better,,sata,,devilbiss,,etc...but lets be realistic,,they are toy boats,,,and he was using a syphon feed gun,,,anything is a step up...im just stating there is no need to buy expensive guns to get a good finish...its all about knowing the material...

by all means,,,if you wanna buy a sata or somthin go for it,,im not discouraging it,,just saying its not needed....now if you paint cars all day long,,,,sure,,,a sata is the shiz....

alden

 

[camaroboy383]

here is a hull sprayed with a $40.00 gun...just if your wondering how good a 40.00 gun can spray......this is base,,clear ppg... the black is also base...

 

[LarryConrad]

Like any tool, buy the best that you can afford.

 

[Charles Perdue]

I also have a $39.95 HVLP from Harbor freight that I use. It is ok for primer, color, clear coat and I sometimes even use it for spraying tooling gel coat when making molds.

 

[Wally Marsh]

Been down the road with both the cheaper HVLP's and in recent years with the higher end ones like SATA minijet 3 and 4. The cheaper ones actually shoot well when new, but in only a couple years seals go bad no good support for rebuild kits, etc. Had other boaters share similar experience. Borrowed an older Sata minijet 3, painted like a dream (and I'm not a skilled painter), bought the newer minijet model 4 two years ago (now called the minijet 3000), and have never regretted it. Support for repairs (if ever needed) is there also. Iwata is also one that comes to the top, I know some scale airplane modelers that love their Iwatas.

Wallsters $0.02 worth

 

[Kevin Lloyd]

Heck, I've painted an entire Circus boat w/ a Preval gun and had great results, but I was shooting PPG Concept as well......if your paint is high quality and your conditions are right.....you can achieve great results with very little.

 

[BobGutsell]

Thanks Guys, I get the picture. The exchange rate is pretty good right now, I'll see what the best deal on the Sata MJ4 is.

But yeah, anythings got to be better than the suction cup job I have now. It might just get relegated to primers.

 

[Al Hobbs]

My Sata is 8 years old now and still going well.

I'm not much of a talented painter, but using one gun for this many years puts the original cost in perspective.

Al Hobbs