CAT spray guns

[BadDog]

Havent painted in a long time but I am now painting my old 94 dodge truck for my son and am planning on painting a few others before I tackle my 71 cuda... I firmly believe that you get what you pay for and dont usually scrimp on my tools..
For that reason I have been looking at the sata's and iwata's but at that price and you have to buy a seperate gun for base and clear..
I also have experienced cases where you are paying not just for quality but also the name and can often find the same quality for a better price..
I have read that the guns made in the usa by C.A.Technologies spray better and have better atomization than the sata at half the price.. I also like that they come with several different size tips so it can be used for each step in the paint job for one cost.. Anyone here ever use one of these guns or know anything about them?

[CoolasIce]

i have the Techline gun. techlineAlum.jpgIt has the best air cap they make, but it is cheaper than the Jaguar gun. I've used it only once on a fender, so I can't really say how it sprays differently than your typical gun. The fit and finish of the gun is very good. It's a lot heavier than I thought it would be. That's a good thing. It isn't made from cheap pot metal. I like the hard anodized air cap that they say lasts many times more than a regular air cap.
CAT makes all sorts of guns and spray heads for industries. I'd give it a try if I were you.

[BadDog]

Thanks for your input.. Hoping to get some comparisons.. they look pretty good and i have read reviews saying it is a better gun than the ANSI formula 1 which is what i was thinking of trying..
like I said before I have always bought top of the line tools..first as an ASE certified master auto tech mostly always bought snap on then as a General contractor my garage is full of rigid,dewalt and milwakii but had to shut my business down due to the economy and my budget is stretched real thin... but I see my tools as an investment and just cant cheapen it if the quality of my work will suffer for it.

[Len]

Thanks for your input.. Hoping to get some comparisons.. they look pretty good and i have read reviews saying it is a better gun than the ANSI formula 1 which is what i was thinking of trying..
like I said before I have always bought top of the line tools..first as an ASE certified master auto tech mostly always bought snap on then as a General contractor my garage is full of rigid,dewalt and milwakii but had to shut my business down due to the economy and my budget is stretched real thin... but I see my tools as an investment and just cant cheapen it if the quality of my work will suffer for it.

I've rarely found a tool that doesn't follow the "you get what you pay for" rule, especially when it comes to spray guns. The better they are the more they cost.

[sagola-spain]

Just in case you want to hear the point of view of a spray gun manufacturer...

- We make guns from 10$ to 1000$, and all them are completely different, the 100$ one is fine, but don´t ask it to be like the 300$ one, it´s simple.

- The price of a gun is not only a question of material, or design, that could be the 20% of the final cost, the more expensive thing is the TECHNOLOGY to make it, you know... anyone is able to tight a nut, but not anyone is able to KNOW what nut to tight.

- The less research is needed to make a gun, the less the price will be, that´s the reason because old technology guns are cheaper, and the newest are more expensive, again not only a question of materials.

- The heavier the gun, the "worst" the gun, heavy materials are cheap, to design and make a gun forgetting about the weight is pretty simple, try to do a strong gun, with the best performance, but as light as possible, and you´ll see your costs growing like crazy, as the MTB guys use to say "you want a light bike? ok, 1gram=1$"

- To be honest... for a DIY guy is not really neccessary to point always the top of the line tools, cause he doesn´t need to save 10% of paint, to save 7 minutes with a car, to use the gun 16h per day everyday... so take it or let it, but my advise would be to focus in the medium range of a named brand, many times we are talking about guns with the same building quality and materials (or similar), but with older technology, not critial for non profesionals, but with a much better price (yes, like computers...)



As you said, don´t try to save money with tools, that is never a good deal.

[Hybrid killer]

I have a CVI and it sprays silver base coat like doo doo. Blotchy in daylight. Fine in floresent light

[sagola-spain]

I have a CVI and it sprays silver base coat like doo doo. Blotchy in daylight. Fine in floresent light

With metallic bases go for a HVLP gun, but a REAL one, not a low cost dummie.



[edit] Not trying to tell that the devilbiss is a dummie... I´m sure you know what I meant, your cvi should be ok for base, should, not my favourite choice but it is not chinese junk...

[Phil V]

I have a CVI and it sprays silver base coat like doo doo. Blotchy in daylight. Fine in floresent light

I've been painting professionally for several decades and my experience is SOME silvers are going to come out slightly blotchy no matter what gun you have and what technique you use. SOME silvers are just a plain pain in the ass. The next time you have a few minutes to spare go to a new car dealership and look at the new cars painted in silver with the same critical eye you used on the car you painted. A NEW car passed me (still had the sticker in the window) going in the same direction here in town the other day. It was painted silver and it was so blotchy that it stuck out like a sore thumb. Even with both vehicles going down the road. But like I said, take a ride to a new car dealer and inspect the cars painted in silver with a critical eye, I think you'll be surprised. (maybe not a Lexus or Mercedes dealer but for sure the rest of them).

[Hybrid killer]

I've been painting professionally for several decades and my experience is SOME silvers are going to come out slightly blotchy no matter what gun you have and what technique you use. SOME silvers are just a plain pain in the ass. The next time you have a few minutes to spare go to a new car dealership and look at the new cars painted in silver with the same critical eye you used on the car you painted. A NEW car passed me (still had the sticker in the window) going in the same direction here in town the other day. It was painted silver and it was so blotchy that it stuck out like a sore thumb. Even with both vehicles going down the road. But like I said, take a ride to a new car dealer and inspect the cars painted in silver with a critical eye, I think you'll be surprised. (maybe not a Lexus or Mercedes dealer but for sure the rest of them).

I've seen that too. It just burns me up though. I'll be painting another car in a few weeks and the customer is super picky. It's going to be gold. I'll buy a new gun to spray it if I have to.

[Len]

I've seen that too. It just burns me up though. I'll be painting another car in a few weeks and the customer is super picky. It's going to be gold. I'll buy a new gun to spray it if I have to.

I've found that the high metallic colors that mottle easily are the products that are similar to enamel and are usually less expensive paints. Base coats that don't mottle so easily generate very little film build and dry thin, flat and very consistent. This is one of the reasons we use Glasurit products. We haven't used waterborne colors yet but I hear it doesn't tend to have this problem.

[Len]

I have a CVI and it sprays silver base coat like doo doo. Blotchy in daylight. Fine in floresent light

Be sure that you use the correct air cap for spraying base coat color. Using your clear coat cap can be a cause for problems when spraying metallic colors.