Paint Gun Question

[nitroxsteve]

It has been along time since I sprayed any paint other than from a rattle can and I am thinking of picking up a gravity feed gun but I am not sure what to get. I see at least 3 or 4 different size nozzles I assume for different types of paint. Is there one good all around spray about anything gun? I will shoot primer and mostly single stage paint no clear coat for now. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Jeep Driver]

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$40 at Lowes.

 

 

Makes a great little pressure cleaner too.

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I have the big one too but I haven't used it yet.

[Alexia]

Generally the paint instructions will have the required tip sizes. Most of the paints I intended to use required a 1.4mm tip size. I ended up purchasing a Graco-Sharpe Fenex line spray gun for spray primer and color coats.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019CSVA4/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item

[mnkyboy]

The FX3000 is a good inexpensive gun I used one for a couple years.

 

I use a Sharpe "razor" with a 1.3 for most base and clear coats, a Sharpe "cobalt" with a 1.8 for primers., and a sharpe FX1000 with a 1.0 for small stuff and touch up.

 

I have a few other guns but these are the ones I use.

[nitroxsteve]

Thanks for the replies everyone, does anyone have any recommendations for air compressors? Will any of the 5hp 20gal units be sufficient for these types of guns?

[Jeep Driver]

Yes and no.

 

If you are spraying a bumper or an axle or a Xmember or....... then yes.

 

If you are spraying a door panel or a hood........no. You'll need 60gal and up. You'll just simply run out of air.

 

 

Also, get a couple of the cheap air filters, they are like $5, you add it in-line at the gun.

[Oyaji]

Well... tank size doesn't really mean much, since it is just a reservoir of reserve capacity. What matters is the volume delivery of the compressor and its duty cycle.

 

You could paint as for as long as you like with no tank at all, as long as the compressor is rated to run continuously (100% duty), delivers enough air to keep up with the spray gun, and you had a pressure relief to bleed off excess air (like when you release the trigger). The tank is just there to offer extra capacity so the compressor can rest and cool down after it has surpassed demand and filled the reservoir to the cutoff pressure.

 

Check the CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) volume demand of your spray gun and compare it to the output (at desired spray pressure - probably 40 to 60 PSI) of your compressor. If the compressor delivers more than the gun demands, then all you need to worry about is the compressor duty cycle. If the duty cycle is, for example, 50%, that means it needs to rest the same amount of time that it spends running. You could get by with a less-than-100% duty cycle compressor if you spray a quart of paint, then go have a smoke or do something else while letting the compressor cool down, then resume painting.

[Jeep Driver]

The more it runs the more it heats, the more it heats the more it condensates, the more it condensates...............need I say?

 

 

Most 20 gal compressors will maintain about 5.6cfm at 40psi.

 

The last thing you want to do is run out of air half way though a panel or have it start spitting water.

 

Since he in inquiring about a $200 compressor I doubt he'll be in the market for a $4K dryer.

 

 

 

Look to the 175psi craftsman.......less volume but a little more compressed air to work with.

[nitroxsteve]

I was thinking the samething about the higher pressure units having a greater volume of air. I will be taking my time shopping for the tools so I can get as much for my money as possible. Thanks for the advice everyone.

[Oyaji]

Another tip for eliminating water from your airstream: use a water trap.

 

Simple traps work by allowing water vapor a chamber in which to condense. Over-the-counter traps only work so-so (because they are small) and they are not particularly cheap, but they are better than no trap at all. You can make a trap superior to all but refrigeration and dessicant types by plumbing in a  large condensation chamber. I've seen an old Freon canister with fittings added used for years, but I just used 2 wide-mouth plastic Coke bottles ganged together in tandem downstream from the regulator. Two quarter-inch fittings fit in the caps and provided sufficient flow. Lest you think that they are insufficiently strong to hold the pressure, let me point out that the 60 PSI max in the delivery line for painting duty is far less than the pressure the bottles hold when they are full of Coke - the pressure of the CO₂ dissolved in the Coke is at maximum 177 PSI at maximum expected temperature (like inside a car trunk on a hot day), IIRC.

 

By the way, I have tested plastic Coke bottles to 150 PSI (my compressor's maximum pressure) and could not get them to burst even when I whacked them with a two-by-four! :D They'll hold 60 PSI just fine.

[mnkyboy]

I made a water separator from a 10 gal LPG tank for a fork lift, I ran it into a regular water separator just to be sure nothing makes it to my spray equipment.

 

Its worked well for years.