I tried out the Devilbiss Tekna, not impressed.

[Phil V]

I painted the front end of a van last night in gold metallic BC/CC and I wasn't impressed with the gun. It did OK but definitely not a $500 gun to me. I have an Iwata LPH 400 LV copy that I paid $100 for new three years ago from my local PPG paint store that I honestly think does a better job of spraying paint. I made sure everything was right so my setup and spraying technique are not an issue.

I think I'll convert my GTi Millenium to a Plus gun and see how that sprays.

[Hybrid killer]

Thanks for the input. I'm not impressed with my CVI either. I sprayed that G6 with it (silver) and luckily the lady don't know motling if it hit her in the head. I cleaned the crap out of my GTI and I will try that soon on a problematic color, but for today, I sprayed a fender and bumper on a 2011 Sonata (blend within fender) and used my trusty plus gun. My plus has yet to let me down. I think I will sell my CVI. In fact, that's exactly why I logged on just now. To put it up for sale

[Jayson M]

Very interesting Phil,but on the flipside you couldn't pay me enough to use an iwata lph-400 lv.They are slow as mollases,and they can't make an air cap to spray everthing...sorry I think they are over rated for the same money I will take a sata.

[Hybrid killer]

Very interesting Phil,but on the flipside you couldn't pay me enough to use an iwata lph-400 lv.They are slow as mollases,and they can't make an air cap to spray everthing...sorry I think they are over rated for the same money I will take a sata.

Is that to say you would need a different air cap for a super fine silver, and a different cap for say a dark metallic blue?

[twfsa]

I painted the front end of a van last night in gold metallic BC/CC and I wasn't impressed with the gun. It did OK but definitely not a $500 gun to me. I have an Iwata LPH 400 LV copy that I paid $100 for new three years ago from my local PPG paint store that I honestly think does a better job of spraying paint. I made sure everything was right so my setup and spraying technique are not an issue.

I think I'll convert my GTi Millenium to a Plus gun and see how that sprays.

Keep us advised on the conversion.

[Jayson M]

Yes 3 different air caps,purple,orange and silver,not sure of the purpose of each but a sata will spray everything with one cap.
Conversion is easy,change the air cap and fluid tip and you have a plus,hit the search,I did it about five years ago and so did others.

[Dennis N. Schmidt]

Phil, what set up did you have on the Tekna? And which material did you have the biggest disappointment with, base or clear?

The Tekna with the 7E7 cap is pretty good. With either of the HVLP caps it sort of sucks. With the 7E7 I've had good results so I'm surprised by your disappointment unless of course this is due to the HVLP aircaps.

I agree with you with respect to the Warwick 904H. Best cheap gun on the planet.

[Phil V]

Dennis, the gun I used does have the 7E7 compliant air cap with a 1.3 tip. I was using PPG Shopline Plus (not the regular cheap shopline base coat) as the gold basecoat (good paint for a good price) and it went on OK but I still had a little problem with not really mottling but lightly blotchy. I thinned the base down a little and that seemed to help but it still was a little blotchy.

The clear I sprayed was regular Shopline clear with no reducer and in all fairness to the gun it was not 70 deg.f. in the paint area and the metal on the van was not 70 deg either. I thought about it after posting the original message in the thread and in all fairness to the Tekna gun the conditions were not optimal for the gun to show what it is capable of. I was going to sell the Tekna but I really don't need the money and I'll keep it around and use it in the conditions it was designed for. Might make a big difference. Out of fairness to Len I didn't want to post the name of the Iwata LPH400LV copy that I use mostly for painting.

[Len]

Dennis, the gun I used does have the 7E7 compliant air cap with a 1.3 tip. I was using PPG Shopline Plus (not the regular cheap shopline base coat) as the gold basecoat (good paint for a good price) and it went on OK but I still had a little problem with not really mottling but lightly blotchy. I thinned the base down a little and that seemed to help but it still was a little blotchy.

The clear I sprayed was regular Shopline clear with no reducer and in all fairness to the gun it was not 70 deg.f. in the paint area and the metal on the van was not 70 deg either. I thought about it after posting the original message in the thread and in all fairness to the Tekna gun the conditions were not optimal for the gun to show what it is capable of. I was going to sell the Tekna but I really don't need the money and I'll keep it around and use it in the conditions it was designed for. Might make a big difference. Out of fairness to Len I didn't want to post the name of the Iwata LPH400LV copy that I use mostly for painting.

I used the Tekna for about 6 months to shoot both base and clear and found it to work pretty well. I liked the wide fan and the amount of paint that it put out but I'd probably go with the Plus if I were to be buying another gun.

[Dennis N. Schmidt]

I agree with the PLUS comment Len. Especially for the buck there is nothing better.

[rons]

Yes 3 different air caps,purple,orange and silver,not sure of the purpose of each but a sata will spray everything with one cap.
Conversion is easy,change the air cap and fluid tip and you have a plus,hit the search,I did it about five years ago and so did others.

Purple cap used on LVB model for metallics
Orange for base coats on LVX model
Silver general purpose on LV model

[yousif]

I am so Impressed with my lovely spary gun lwata lph 400lv 1.4
after using the iwata I sold my digital2 sata rp 1.4

I've got the purple cape for pearl and base coat and silver cap for the clear

I love iwata and will buy the new iwata super nova

[tech69]

Very interesting Phil,but on the flipside you couldn't pay me enough to use an iwata lph-400 lv.They are slow as mollases,and they can't make an air cap to spray everthing...sorry I think they are over rated for the same money I will take a sata.

I don't paint very often but I have noticed the body guys that do paint like slower guns than guys that paint everyday. It's probably slow to you cause you paint fast. Me on the other hand, I like to make slower passes, which is perfectly suited for a gun that you may perceive as slow. Since I'm not a guy that paints everyday I'd say at this point that there's no need for me to change the speed of my passes cause my paint work turns out pretty good. Maybe this is Phil's perspective as well. I dunno.