[Chalie Mac]

A couple questions for the paint gurus out there:

I'm going to put down new paint soon. I'm looking at 2 low cost guns, both low pressure because I have a small compressor. One is a full size gun, 1.4 mm nozzle and sprays an 11 - 12 inch fan. The other is a mini-gun, .6 mm spraying a 4 inch fan. I plan to use house of kolor urethanes. Would the smaller gun be ok for spraying base and clear on a tank? Would the smaller gun work with pearls? I'm a little concerned about the small tip size.

 

[bearkatbiker]

Since you bought the good paint I would go ahead and get a good gun, no sense in cutting corners now. Guns should have interchangeable tips, so that shouldn't be a problem. Your going to want a larger tip (1.5 to 1.8ish) for primers and other heavy coats and an average tip (1.3) for top coats.

There are some starter paint kits out there that have most everything you need in the gun category. I would recommend one of those if your starting out.

Small compressor isn't going to matter because as the saying goes High Volume Low Pressure. The volume of air used should be the concern for a small compressor. If you were going to do a large item such as a car then I would up my compressor size. But since your doing a bike it really shouldn't matter. I wouldn't go below a 30 gallon tank. And you must use an in-line regulator and filter. Moisture will ruin your paint job.

Also be very very sure that you are protected and wearing a good respirator and that the work area is clean and ventilated.

--BB

--BB

 

[Chalie Mac]

Small compressor isn't going to matter because as the saying goes High Volume Low Pressure. The volume of air used should be the concern for a small compressor. If you were going to do a large item such as a car then I would up my compressor size. But since your doing a bike it really shouldn't matter. I wouldn't go below a 30 gallon tank. And you must use an in-line regulator and filter. Moisture will ruin your paint job.

I don't usually paint. This is my first attempt. My compressor is one usually used for air tools, not paint, so the tank is small. That's why I was going to use a LVLP gun. I'm trying to keep the CFMs below the high numbers HVLP guns require as my compressor just won't put out that much air. Both of these guns require less than 10 CFMs.

The guns I'm looking at have been reviewed by some others on auto painting forums and they've tested fine. They're not production guns by any stretch but they will lay down good paint if you take the time to adjust them properly. They are above the level of Harbor Freight. I don't want to spend $300 or more on an Iwata or similar high end spray gun for a single job.

I do have an desiccant as well as a regulator at the gun. I went with the HOK paint because they offer it in 2 and 4 oz bottles now. Since I only plan on doing a single job I didn't want to spend money for quart size paints.

 

[Slamd_S_Dyme]

If you want a decent gun for a halfway decent price pick up a Sharp Cobalt series gun. Ive got one with a 1.4 tip and I sprayed my truck in HOK Galaxy Grey when I was first starting and I was very impressed with the quality of the finish, especially for the price of the gun. Ive moved up since to a Sata RP and its a great gun but its also close to $600. If youre planning on spraying alot I would invest in a good gun such as Sata or Iwata but if youre just looking for something good to paint your bike check out the Sharp guns you wont be disappointed.

 

[dirty d]

charlie mac,
lots of what ifs and what nots to your questions,but in i large nutshell.here tis`;

the mini gun,if it gravity fed,and you slightly overreduce your material is fine for spraying,color,both pearls and otherwise. that same gun will also work well if you overreduce your clear and up the pressure a bit.

now,that gun is almost useles for spraying heavy bodied 2k primers. it is possible to get a fluid tip as small as a 1.0 to work for that,but only on a small area.

my professional and personal opinion would be to buy one of the no name or low name cheap "rip off" gravity guns w/ about a 1.4mm fluid tip. this would cover anything you are considering doing at this time and could even be used for other stuff much later. i personally use a 1.0 for my clear and 1.3 for everything else,but that is not for someone as you just starting out.you can buy these guns for well under a hundred dollars. you don`t need a name brand gun of any kind to do what you are fixin to tackle.

i`ve been in the paint biz for soon to be 35 years. i don`t really know that much,it`s just that i have screwed up a whole bunch of things in my time and found out the hard way what a person can and can`t get away with

any more ?s i`ll try to help.
oh,and good luck :!:

 

[AmishWarlord]

If you got one of those 1 gal compressors then your going to need to get a bigger one. I run out my one gallon one all the time just doing air brushing on rc airplanes.

Remember that 80% of a good paint job is in the primer coat and wet sanding.

Goto the junk yard in get a truckload of fenders to practice on before you paint the bike. When I'm going to do a new type of paint scheme on a RC airplane I prime up a months worth of cereal boxes and paint those. I had 12 boxes with P-40 shark mouths one time. I wonder what some future archeologist will think of those puppies when they did up the dump in 2,000 years.

 

[BDsbigZRX]

.......

lots of good advice here. The cheap(er) $100 jamb-guns (pint size cup) actually spray a lot more closely to their expensive counterparts than the big guns do. I find a $100 jamb gun with a 1.0 will spray about as nice as a $400 jamb gun with a 1.0 tip. Same can't be said for the big guns, as there's a big difference in the way a 1.4 $100 gun sprays clear compared to a $400 gun with a 1.4.

For a while all I painted with (except for primers) was a 1.0 mini-jet (jamb gun) then I got used to a 1.3 tip on a $400 full size gun. I use the big guns for everything now except small detail work that's too big for the Iwata HPC airbrush.

1.0 is suitable on the jamb gun, anything smaller is probably too small.....

 

[Trueseaker]

This is totally off topic, but Dawn, did you paint the pic in your sig? I really like it!