I have a Sears 1 hp , 2 cylinder compressor.......

[lowmileage]

that says it puts out 6.8 (s?) cfm at 40 lbs. I want to use Dupont Chroma 1 S/S in Lemans Blue (metallic) on my '69 Corvette. I want a new gun to replace my old Devilbis suction gun that I used on 8 previous paint jobs. All were lacquer except the last one that I did in 1992 that used Chroma base and clear coat. All those prior jobs came out pretty good IMO with the Sears compressor and the Devilbis. Of course, I got tons of paint dust which I'd like to avoid with a new gun but realize most (all) of the new HVLP guns need a lot of air. I've gotten some comments locally to "just use my old gun" but with the cost of paint, I'd like to avoid all that overspray. I have a '85 blazer that I would paint first to "get the feel" of the new gun. Any help will be appreciated in the selection of the new gun, Thanks, Fred

[lowmileage]

Well, I went thru about 12 pages of prior posts and it seems it was a wonder any of my paint jobs came out good with the compressor I'm using. Looks like I need a better (bigger) compressor.

[Len]

That compressor is small even for a non-HVLP gun but if you spray in sections you might get away with it. What happens with a small compressor is that you can get a pressure drop that cause the gun to not atomize as well and the compressor runs a lot that causes it to heat the air and generate more moisture that can show in your paint work.

I would probably skip HVLP and go with a "reduced pressure" (RP) gun because it will apply the paint more smoothly and consume less air. The most gun for the money is probably the DeVilbiss Plus because it comes with an inlet pressure gauge and three fluid tips and has a great track record.

LINK

[Polish Painter]

Something to think about a single stage metallic is difficult to spray and control the metallics.
Base / Clear would be easier IMHO.

[Len]

Something to think about a single stage metallic is difficult to spray and control the metallics.
Base / Clear would be easier IMHO.

That's for sure. SS is much more likely to have light and dark areas caused by mottling.

[lowmileage]

Something to think about a single stage metallic is difficult to spray and control the metallics.
Base / Clear would be easier IMHO.

Thanks for your comment. I am aware of this but I really hate the look of clear coat on older cars. It looks wayy out of place IMO. These cars (in my case a 1969 Corvette) should look the way they did "back then" unlike what you normally see at Barrett Jackson for instance.
Regards, Fred

[lowmileage]

That compressor is small even for a non-HVLP gun but if you spray in sections you might get away with it. What happens with a small compressor is that you can get a pressure drop that cause the gun to not atomize as well and the compressor runs a lot that causes it to heat the air and generate more moisture that can show in your paint work.

I would probably skip HVLP and go with a "reduced pressure" (RP) gun because it will apply the paint more smoothly and consume less air. The most gun for the money is probably the DeVilbiss Plus because it comes with an inlet pressure gauge and three fluid tips and has a great track record.

LINK

Yes, I saw that gun and like the reviews. I'm thinking that because I will have the hood, doors, "flip" convertible lid and the roof all off the car, I should be OK. What is remaining on the "shell" will be fairly small body parts to paint. I still have to do quite a bit of work yet in getting the new motor and trans., and the new top front surround on along with the fenders, it might give me some time to pick up a compressors with a liitle more "beef" than what I have now. I will probably use my old Delvilbiss guns for the primer and Sand Slick, and get the Plus for the top coat. Many thanks all for your replies, Fred.

ps. info shows the Plus puts out a 12 1/2" spray. Could I make that less? I think I used my old gun at about a 8" fan or so and am not sure if I could get use to 12 1/2". I mean in my situation, I think an 8" fan would give me less waste.

[Len]

You could narrow the fan but it can make the gun more difficult to control and when spraying metallic colors a more narrow pattern can cause stripes (mottling) in the finish.

[Bob K]

I really hate the look of clear coat on older cars. It looks wayy out of place IMO.

I think the reason it looks out of place is because we are accustom to seeing paint that is forty or more years old. It didn’t look that way when it was new. Nothing says you need to color sand and buff the paint to perfection, but it is nice to have that option.

Bob K

[lowmileage]

I think the reason it looks out of place is because we are accustom to seeing paint that is forty or more years old. It didn’t look that way when it was new. Nothing says you need to color sand and buff the paint to perfection, but it is nice to have that option.

Bob K

Thanks Bob - you may have a good point on that. Something to consider for sure.

Fred

[Phil V]

That '69 Corvette was two years old when I started painting cars for a living. Just about all the painting we did on corvettes back then were done in lacquer and I remember having to buff the lacquer to a good shine to match the rest of the paint on the car (obviously most painting on a newer corvette back then just as now were spot jobs repairing damaged areas and not the whole car). The big difference I can see digging back in my memory compared to new cars today was cars had a lot more orange peel back then than they do now.

I agree that people are basing what a 50 year old car should look like now on a paint job that been around for 50 years. A 50 year old factory paint job does NOT look the same now as it did when it left the factory. Base/clear urethane paint would look fine on an older metallic paint corvette, just don't do a show car wetsand and buff on the new paint. I do have to agree that spraying a non metallic basecoat/clearcoat on an older vette would show some difference compared to what the car looked like when it left the factory.

Bottom line is I don't remember paint jobs being not shiny back 40 years ago. They were shiny, they just had more orange peel.

[Cy Young]

Wondering- Would this compressor keep up with a SRI Pro ? I have a similar compressor and have been looking for a gun which can be used with this compressor. I need to be mobile so I'm stuck with this air supply. I have a Frazinator which I fabricated and it works well to remove 95 % of the water and a secondary filter rigged. I paint in a coastal town with high humidity and mainly do piece work in a hanger. Crap in paint hasn't been a problem. I need to shoot some metallic with clear coat and will make a purchase if I can find a gun to replace my Binks #7 which I have used for years. I like the decease in overspray with the HVLP and efficiency. Just been leery to change after many years. I have a car hood to do and a side of a auto which has been keyed along with some airplane pieces in BC metallic with CC.

Frazinator- http://z6.invisionfree.com/ToolBoxTa...showtopic=1461

http://hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/at...8&d=1053129962- This isn't mine I constructed a 2" single unit that works fine for what I do.

[Len]

Wondering- Would this compressor keep up with a SRI Pro ? I have a similar compressor and have been looking for a gun which can be used with this compressor. I need to be mobile so I'm stuck with this air supply. I have a Frazinator which I fabricated and it works well to remove 95 % of the water and a secondary filter rigged. I paint in a coastal town with high humidity and mainly do piece work in a hanger. Crap in paint hasn't been a problem. I need to shoot some metallic with clear coat and will make a purchase if I can find a gun to replace my Binks #7 which I have used for years. I like the decease in overspray with the HVLP and efficiency. Just been leery to change after many years. I have a car hood to do and a side of a auto which has been keyed along with some airplane pieces in BC metallic with CC.

Frazinator- http://z6.invisionfree.com/ToolBoxTa...showtopic=1461

The SRi Pro uses 3.5 CFM @ 30 PSI with the compliant cap and 4.8 CFM @ 30 PSI with the HVLP cap. However the SRi is a detail gun and it will take more passes to paint a hood than a large gun but it can probably do the job because it's larger than most detail guns and I've used it to paint complete panels. There are more details about this gun on the link below.

DeVilbiss SRi Pro Link

[lowmileage]

Thanks for all your replies. I like the HF 3.5 HP compressor with the 60 gallon tank and hope that before I'm ready to paint, they might have a super coupon sale on it. It has good cfm flow, it's 220 volt and cost's in the mid 4's. Will update as the time comes.

[JCCLARK]

Just keep in mind when comparing it's CFM's you're looking for
and it's the CFM's at 90 PSI to compare with.
Those 40 PSI ratings are always higher and not realistic.
It's always a higher CFM output when pumping against a lower pressure.
But compressors typically refill the tank when it gets down to around 90 PSI,
not the 40 PSI. So the pump is always pumping against the 90 PSI tank
pressure or higher so that's the refill rate, not the 40 PSI one.8)