What spray gun should i use ?

[247shuer247]

hey everyone i need opinions. I recently primered my hatch again lol
I have a craftsman spray gun right now its okay but i wouldnt trust it with my color or clear i would probably get over spray and orange peel.

so im on the look out for spray guns. keep in mind i am on a budget but i dont want to cheap out either maybe like a 100 dollar budget.
maybe a used devilbliss iwata. But i have heard alot of good things about astro. anybody have experience with one of them

[oldschool3g]

i only have experience with a harborfreight 50 dollar gun lol..but if i were to do it again i would go with a devilbliss.

[247shuer247]

lol i was thinking of buying one of those because its pretty much just going to be a one time thing.

which one did you get what type of cup and feed ?

your paint job came out bad ass hope mine will look that good

[gp02a0083]

I can give some good input here regarding the devilbliss and iwata guns. I have an older iwata wider 89 with a 2.0 tip i use ONLY for primer. That gun will lay the primer down thick and w/o a crap load of peel so that sanding takes 1/2 the time. Ive used HVLP and non HVLP devilbliss guns. The qualitly of the gun really comes into play when spraying clear coats, metalliac's and pearl's. The atomization of the paint is very important!

I purchased my two guns, a SATA NR2000 with a 1.4 tip set for clear coats and base coats and the iwata wider 89 with a 1.7 and 2.0 tip set for primer for about 300 together when i was an apprentice. I have never looked back and never needed anything else after that.

You mention about orange peel and over-spray, that really is not reflected by the spray gun itself, it's more about the air pressure being used and the metering of the material / paint needle. I've always sprayed primers @ about 14-20 psi, base coats around 14-18 psi and clear coats from 20-30 psi.

Orange peel is usually caused by laying down too much material in one pass, being too close to the panel being sprayed ,insufficient gun pressure, and fan height. What im saying is practice practice practice, adjust settings on the gun to your style of spraying and keep at it. I can use a 50$ harbor freight gun to get a high quality finish , i like the SATA better tho and it fits my painting style. I also perfer the 3M locking cup system, its kinda like a baby bottle for spray guns with an inner liner. Best part about it is that you can spray upside down and not worry about paint going everywhere and loss of material flow!

Over-spray is a whole different story, that is usually caused by excessive air pressure in addition to air flow of the work area. Down draft booths provide the best way to keep over-spray down to a minimum. Side draft booths are becoming more popular due to their size and cost. New models are like 1/2 down draft and 1/2 side or cross draft. If you gotta work at the house use a car canopy with a good fan at the back of it with a few bed sheets to capture most of the over spray.

Another consideration is going to water borne paints, they are easier to clean up, water is used as the solvent, the paint's color "pops" much more than with solvent. Cost is a bit more because its new, and spraying water borne clear coat is weird and it applies white rather than clear like typical solvent based clear coat does.

if any other questions just PM me here or on the face book page and i can help with a lot of questions regarding paint and bodywork

Dave

[2oodoor]

the Harbor Freight guns are decent clones of more expensive units and seem to be well worth the money for a hobbyist. If you properly clean them they will be good for way more than one time use.

[gp02a0083]

the Harbor Freight guns are decent clones of more expensive units and seem to be well worth the money for a hobbyist. If you properly clean them they will be good for way more than one time use.

This is true to an extent, the expensive guns are valved different and the machine work on the tips and caps are much better. As always make sure you clean the gun well and use veggie oil to keep the moving parts free.

im not saying to go out and buy a 300 to 400 gun at all. I did only because I was working in body-shops and as a painter life is made easy with a good gun.
Just get a cheap gun and practice with it. I used to sweep shops until they put a gun in my hands, it took me a few months to get really really good. I went from painting civics and other low end cars to audi's, bmw's lambo's and other high end cars in less than 2-3 years.

for anyone wanting to give this a try , id suggest something like what lowes used to carry , it was a 3 gun kit. Primer base coat/ clear coat and a mini gun. start off with the mini gun and get used to laying down some paint then step up to the larger guns.

[3gmodifier]

its has been a while since i talked paint for sure, but when i used to work at a body shop like 6 years ago, the head painter was this older german dude and let me do a prep/jam job on a car before he did the exterior. He handed me a new at the time, SATA and i was golden ever since. They make good shit and are very predictable as far as atomization, pattern adjustment, and flow rate. got to use his clear coat gun aswell. U had had to move quick but, when u got it down, u could hose down a car in almost half the time without a single run. there do cost a bit but well worth it.