HVLP Gun?

[Superstang]

I am in the primer stage of my project, and am very disappointed with the harbor freight gun I have been using. I have no idea what kind of tip it came with. I know you get what you pay for, but this is one time deal for me, so I went the cheap route.

Anyway, I am thinking about buying a decent gun(s), and need some advise.

First off, my 20 gallon air compressor can put out 5.8 CFM @ 90 PSI. Can it supply a HVLP gun? I am not sure how to figure out what the CFM would be at lower PSI's.

If so, does anybody recommend some low end guns that can prime, and possibly apply the BC/CC?

I noticed that Eastwood has some DeViliss gun kits for a about $150, that require 13 CFM @ 30 PSI. Would my compressor work for these guns?

Thanks for any suggestions.

SS

[Phil V]

No spray gun manufactured for spraying full paintjobs on automobiles will run on your air compressor. the bare bones basic air compressor for doing full paints is a 220v 60 gallon tank 12 cfm at 90 psi. You will notice I didn't mention horsepower of the compressor electric motor, reason being is that in order to fill the other criteria previously mentioned the electric motor has to have enough power to accomplish those other statistics.

What tip do you have on your HF HVLP gun ? (probably a 1.4 ?) Don't blame the spray gun because they are actually a decent spray gun for everything but acrylic urethane topcoat paints (sincel stage and clearcoats). That 1.4 tip would work fine for epoxy primer but its a little small for 2K high fill urethane primer. What type of paint do you plan on spraying on your car ? (acrylic enamel, basecoat/clearcoat urethane paint etc).

[Superstang]

Phil V,

Thanks for the info. The gun I have now is not a HVLP- it is just a gravity feed gun, and it didn't mention the tip size on the box.

I plan on using the 2K high fill primer urethane primer, and BC/CC urethane paint.

Would I be able to use a any type HVLP gun with my compressor?

[Phil V]

Your gun sounds like an older tech conventional high pressure spray gun, which should work fine for spraying any and all primers. If its going on dry then your spraying technique needs some fine tuning or you need to add a little more urethane reducer to the primer mix.

In just about all cases HVLP guns use quite a bit more air than their older conventional counterpart spray guns. So you won't gain anything by buying an HVLP gun in hopes of using less air. Your small air compressor will work OK for priming individual panels but under no circumstances will it work for spraying a whole car at one time, it will run so low on air pressure within a couple minutes that the gun doesn't have enough air pressure to function correctly. If you want to paint your car all at one time then you will have to use a bigger air compressor

[Phil V]

If your air compressor puts out 5.8 cfm @ 90 psi then it will be in the ranges of 7 cfm @ 40 psi.

[Superstang]

Thanks Phil V.

Is there a decent gravity feed gun I can upgrade to? I guess I am looking for something that is flexible with different tips available.

My goal is to put the primer coat on, and maybe paint portions of the car.

Thanks,

SS