Which Paint/Spray gun should i buy.

[logan1]

Well i have decided to paint my own car and am in the market for a good paint gun @ a resonable price.

I not really sure as to how much i need to spend on a paint gun since i'll proabbly only use it a few times.

Do i need seperate guns to spray primer, paint and clear?

What brand should i buy? (My car is a daily driver and not a show car)

I have been reading online about spray guns and it seems that i should get a HVLP gun for automotive paint purposes.

Please share any painting tips or trick that might prove useful to someone that has never used a spray gun before.

[hls30.com]

It Depends on what price is reasonable to you.

Several years ago, I bought an Apollo 1000 HVLP setup($1200) that can paint a Z essentially without overspray-compared to a conventional spraygun. You can get good results with any quality gun with practice, proactice, Practice. Much like most tools, the more you tune it to your abilities, the better it will perform. A properly set up HVLP puts the vast majority of the paint on the car and not only in the air-and then the floor. The key to a great paintjob is the bodywork preparation. If the body is prepared correctly any paint issue you could have can be fixed after the fact. Choosing the right viscosity and tip are the key. Don't just match them to each other, match them to your painting style. What ever you get, shoot at least three gallons of water or thinner through it to get a feel for the weight and materials use of the gun, and to learn all of the adjustments and what they do. Then get a gallon of white of the same type of paint system you want to use on the car and paint anything you can find. The closer you get to actually painting a car (or cars) before you paint the important one, the better you will shoot it!

I was surprised by the weight of the gun after refilling the cup once. Also an HVLP gun with a metal body gets hot while being used-the airstream used to paint with is also used to cool the motor-and that keeps condensation issues within the paint at bay-for high humidity areas.

Even though I have shot several cars, before I shoot one I still shoot the entire car with thinner a couple of days before I actually shoot it, and buy a quart of white to shoot a parts car to re-aquaint me to the whole process. I don't shoot cars often, but I do have high expectations when I shoot one.

There is a lot to know from personal experience-when the paint will run out of the gun-make sure you run out of paint at the end of a stroke(or stop before you run out), find out if the gun leaks at a specific angle, What are you going to do with the air hose to keep it from bumping your new paint, or tripping you as you move around the car, or when the hose stops a stroke cold when the hose gets caught between the floor and a tire, How much taping up do you really need to do to keep overspray out and off of those things you don't want it-like under the hood, on the weatherstrips...

Get as much experience before you paint your Z as you can.

There are also several books and websites on automotive painting-read everything you can find, but realize just like exercize, there is no substitute to actually doing it!

Will

[beandip]

escanlon and I shot my Z in my garage at home. I have sprayed for years and know how to handle a gun. However not painting a car. I shot primer and prepped for paint ,but when it came to color and clear, this is where experience in the ''dance'' comes in to the mix big time. As Will stated, you need to know where to start and at what time to switch to the other side of the car to prevent a dry line. Vary important. Hose control is also vary important as well as the control of the viscosity of the paint. For the first time out I hope you haven't decided on metallic , but if so practice practice then practice again and don't paint parts off the car. Non metallic not so important with loose parts. Go to your automotive paint supplier and look for the stuff that they have for masking. Also for any bare metal shoot epoxy primer/sealer then fill primer. Sand then fill primer and when you are satisfied that all the blemishes are gone and you are done sanding, shoot another coat of epoxy primer/ sealer. I used white because my color is yellow a light color. This last coat of primer seals off everything and makes the car all one color and ready for the color. Good preparation is the key . I used two gallons of wax/grease remover in prepping my Z, wiping it down before each and every time I shot primer. You cannot make it too clean. Also you need a compressor that you won't run away from. Having to stop and let one catch up is not a good thing!

Good luck, Gary

Edited July 8, 2009 by beandip
additional info.

[peterc]

Excellent advise guys. Wish I had of thought of shooting water or thinner first to get a feel for the gun, etc. I'm quite pleased for the results I obtained, but I'm sure the confidence gained from some practice shoots would have produced even better results. Definitely paint it yourself. The pride I got from being able to say that I did it myself far outweighed any resulting minor imperfections.

p

[hls30.com]

.... The pride I got from being able to say that I did it myself far outweighed any resulting minor imperfections.

p

That is a diamond!

One thing I left out in my comments above is the serious safety issue. Even if you are shooting waterbased paint, get a good respirator-or a forced air breather. You don't want anything that comes out of that gun in your lungs, your eyes, or on your skin. Most paints are seriously poisonous, and nothing you want to risk your life(or those near where you will be painting) with. Home Depot, Harbor Freight and your local paint supply house will have a proper respirator and replacement filters to keep the toxic fumes and or the pigments outside your body. I have a modified Bpap machine I use for forced air breathing-watch where your exhaust exits as well.

I also wear gloves and a new tyvec jump suit-if anything spills or shoots on me accidently, no skin contact-many tocix chemiclas can readily be absorbed through the skin, and no dust/fibers to get into the just layed paint!

I have painted in a garage-use a suction air moving system(fan pulls air out of the room to the outside) to control where the fumes exit, using a pressure based system can put fumes into every space with an airleak, in an attached garage that could be the house, or even the HVAC system-ALWAYS pull the fumes out in an attached building. I have also painted more often in a Harbor freight 20x20 portable garage-putting up plastic sheet walls a cheese cloth filter frames with 2x4s on one end, and the old HVAC fan from the last time I had my AC replaced-that fan has the further advantage of being belt driven, allowing the motor to be outside of both the tent and the exhaust it pulls through. Many box fans are not spark proof, and can cause a fire/explosion when put into an atomized thinner environment.

Will

[logan1]

WOW

Thank you for all the awesome information about painting and proper safety precautions. I am intending to paint the car in my attached garage and will be sure to take all the necessary safety measures to ensure that no harm comes to me or anyone else. I had already planning to buy a painters suit, gloves and respirator but I suppose I need to look into a means to exhaust the spent air out of the garage so that it does not contaminate the house.

I have been doing a lot of reading about different guns and am leaning towards the harbor freight 43430 HVLP gun. It seems to be getting a lot of good reviews from amateur / novice painters such as myself. And at a price point of ~$40 it seems to be an awesome gun.

Edited July 9, 2009 by logan1

[logan1]

Found this DeVilbiss Auto Paint and Priming System that seems to be of good quality. Any of you guys ever use this kit?

http://www.eastwood.com/paint-equipment/paint-guns/devilbiss-auto-paint-and-priming-system.html

[hls30.com]

Eastwood has great products, but rarely at great prices, shop it and you will probably find it for around $100.

Even they sell it cheaper on ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Devilbiss-HVLP-Auto-Paint-%26-Touch-Up-Spray-Gun-System_W0QQitemZ230354100289QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Devilbiss-HVLP-Auto-Paint-Touch-Up-Spray-Gun-System_W0QQitemZ370226835314QQcategoryZ11785QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3907.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSI%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%252BFICS%26otn%3D15%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D54

Will

PS this has no turbine...

Edited July 9, 2009 by hls30.com

[logan1]

Hey guys I have an opportunity to pick up these guns locally for $200 each.

Devilbiss GTI 620G HVLP paint gun with size 1.3,1.4, & 1.5 tips, comes with regulator and hook stand in original box. Like new $200

Devilbiss SRI-625G HVLP paint gun, used very little $200

Does anyone have any experience with these guns?

I would only be purchasing 1 of these guns.

[five&dime]

I started with a cheap $110 kit that had a primer and base gun, a clear gun and a detail gun. All HVLP. I got it at the local auto paint supply place. I used those guns for 4 years. They did well. I always had to do some wetsadning and buffing though.

Great starter kit!!!

Then I went with the Devilbiss plus gun. It was about $500 and makes all the difference in the world. I now lay down glass smooth clear!!!

I would start with something cheap but stick with hvlp. Practice to get perfect. The prep work is the most important part anyway.

Then when you get better upgrade

[Bruce Palmer]

I started with a cheap $110 kit that had a primer and base gun, a clear gun and a detail gun. All HVLP. I got it at the local auto paint supply place. I used those guns for 4 years. They did well. I always had to do some wetsadning and buffing though.

Great starter kit!!!

Then I went with the Devilbiss plus gun. It was about $500 and makes all the difference in the world. I now lay down glass smooth clear!!!

I would start with something cheap but stick with hvlp. Practice to get perfect. The prep work is the most important part anyway.

Then when you get better upgrade

Anymore it's assumed that cutting and buffing a base coat clear coat paint job is a must. www.paintucation.com has some excellent DVDs covering all this stuff. The supplies are too damned expensive to go in blind.....

[IdahoKidd]

Great info on painting. I too am prepping my Z for paint (GMC's Gunmetal Metalic Gray) along with my 75 Volvo 164e AND my 57 International S120. (too many projects by the way). My question is: do paint fumes sink or rise? I have a fan from an old furnace I plan to use to evacuate the shop. Do I need it to exit down low or up high for best results?

Thanks,

Leonard