Spraying and Spray Guns

[walcen]

I've only used them for a cheap primer gun. The 2 pac primer and putties we use are brutal on spray guns and kills them in 6 months no matter how much money you spend. The ones we get have at work have a nozzle like a canon but they will have finer ones on their other guns.

Pretty much any reasonably built gun can be set up for spaying lacquer. I'll help you get it spraying right if you get one.

Thanks so much for your help Allen the information and advice that you've give is invaluable , but I'm one of these pedantic lame man type bug&#ers who likes to learn the In's and outs of stuff before buying.

I don't mind paying for quality cause I look after my tools meticulously but I need to know that I'm buying the right tool for the job, and as Ive never sprayed aside from a little airbrushing, I'm in the dark so I still have more questions.

I notice that most, if not all guns come with optional needle sizes, and I imagine that the size would dictate what viscosity product it can spray. So when one is faced with a gun that one thinks one may be happy with and it has 3 or 4 needle option, would you need to ask the supplier's advice with respect to the product one intends to spray?

Bellow is one I may be interested in and the supplier is close by.

http://www.bccoatings.com.au/index.php/ ... yword=star

regards

Wal

[Allen]

It looks to be a quality gun and judging by the price it's going to be.

It's a little misleading by just going by the fluid tip size, as I use a 1.3 mm for most of my work that is like a cannon compared to the 1.4 mm set ups that other guys use. Has to do with how the air cap etc. is designed. But the quick answer is that any gun with around the 1.4mm size ie a .1mm on either side when you are talking gravity feed is going to do the trick. The rest of the adjustments as far as fluid adjustments, viscosity and air pressure, not to mention technique are left up to you.

[walcen]

It looks to be a quality gun and judging by the price it's going to be.

It's a little misleading by just going by the fluid tip size, as I use a 1.3 mm for most of my work that is like a cannon compared to the 1.4 mm set ups that other guys use. Has to do with how the air cap etc. is designed. But the quick answer is that any gun with around the 1.4mm size ie a .1mm on either side when you are talking gravity feed is going to do the trick. The rest of the adjustments as far as fluid adjustments, viscosity and air pressure, not to mention technique are left up to you.

Thanks again Allen, I bought that little spray gun at what I considered to be a good price $180, I also bought a Velocity with 3 sets of needles and compared the two.

I started off using the Velocity for the first few coats, it took a while for us to get to know each other as I've never sprayed before but it was all good.

I then move onto the Star, boy!! I know what's meant by you get what you pay for, don't get me wrong the Velocity's a great little gun but it was like going from a manual gear box to an automatic, easy to use and extremely forgiving. You could almost air brush with it. I would highly recommend it from an amateur's point of view.

I can now see that spay painting is a fine art that requires a good level of skill and technique. I have finished spraying my Les Paul and made a lot of booboo's but I'm satisfied with the result.

Here's a link to the pics.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f98/body- ... dex22.html

Thanks for your help

regards

Wal

[Kamusur]

Excellent tips, thank you to all for sharing them

Steve

[Allen]

Looks great Wal. Now the rest is just practice, practice, practice.

[56nortondomy]

Thanks for fixing the photos. Wayne

[demonx]

Re: Star Guns

I'm mainly an Iwata man. Iwata Vs Sata is Holden Vs Ford. Its personal choice.

A few years ago one of my main guns dissapeared and I had to replace it quickly so I could spray a car. I went in to buy a Sata ($800ish) and I just didnt like the feel of the handle after using other makes for a long time. The sales guy at the auto paint store kept suggesting the star and I kept insisting no, that I had used star before and they are cheap crap. He insisted this gun was different, its their top of the range gun, think it was about $300-$400. I cannot even remember the model but it's written on the gun. It's a great gun. It is comparable with the ones twice its price. I've since painted several car repairs and dozens of guitars with it.

My advice is, if you've got disposable money, buy the iwata or sata or devillbis, whichever feels right to you in your hand, if you've on a budget, then the star is good, BUT there is good star and cheap rubbish star, the later I do not reccomend.

Here is a off the gun clear coat pic of a car I sprayed with that Star gun (1970 Corvette Convertible).



Theres talk of tip size. This is going to vary as to what products you're using. I use mostly Auto products and tend to like a 1.8 for primers or a 2.5 for high fill (which I dont use on guitars), then for basecoats I use a 1.4, then clears I seem to use a 1.8 the most. However it comes down to trial and error with the guns you're using and the products you're using with them, as they are variables that will change the tip size.