spray gun question

[mcline71]

Is there such a thing as a reasonably priced spray gun that will shoot primers and then color and clear? Or do people generally buy one gun for primers and then one for paint and clear? Also any recommendations for reasonably priced guns would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[73vertproject]

Hoping our newly appointed Scotty might be able to weigh in here.

 

[Austin Vert]

I'm glad to give help and advice here, but i'll sit this one out for now and let the American guys, (maybe Scott or Wendall) give their advice.

This is because they would be very familiar with American available guns,(as well as international guns like Sata, Iwata, Devilbiss etc) and thus give way more accurate advice as to the best brands for the money and where to buy them, to meet your particular needs, that would be available in America.

Greg

 

[Qcode351mach]

Is there such a thing as a reasonably priced spray gun that will shoot primers and then color and clear? Or do people generally buy one gun for primers and then one for paint and clear? Also any recommendations for reasonably priced guns would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Most Painters usally have 3 guns One for primer..one for base..one for clear.

When you do this day in & day out for a living the 2 most important guns are your base & clear..Theres nothing worse than having a gun that you used for base then use for clear & it spits a piece of base left in some nook or cranny out on your beautiful clear you just layed down of course it always happens on the last finish coat..Primer who cares it gets sanded anyway..I've been using a cheap home depot hvlp gun & a cheap harbor freight hvlp gun for my primers..When it comes to base & clear I love my sata jets..BUT those are expensive guns that most can't justify the cost of at a hobbyist level...If you want a good gun reasonably priced for base & 1 for clear then I would check out the eastwood concours http://www.eastwood.com/ew-concours-paint-gun-w-1-2-tip.html If it's 1 shot deal for you then get 1 for your base & clear just make sure to clean the heck out of it before your clear..I would then spray like half a gallon of thinner through it just to make sure it's super clean before using it for clear

 

[Go Time]

I have personally used the Harbor freight guns. The cheap one and I have a professional kit that they sell. I purchased them for primer and edging in parts and doing floor boards and such. They are OK and will do the job and for the price you can not complain. I have the need for a better gun but can not justify 400 to 600 for something that wont be used that often. I've been eyeing the Eastwood Evolution Gun just because of the weight factor. I don't know anything about it other than it appeals to me. When the times comes for me to do the full paint job Ill probably just borrow the devilbis guns my brothers shop has. Although as "Q" has pointed out I am very apprehensive about using a gun that is suppost to be dedicated clear but I can not confirm that. There is no worse feeling than seeing the splotch of black base coat or primer come out on your light colored base in the middle of your smooth as glass clear, it just ruins your whole day believe me. Dennis

 

[mcline71]

Thank you so much for all the fantastic info. Love this website. Hopefully someday I'll have learned enough to offer other newbies advice and info. Thanks again.

 

[caspianwendell]

As Q said a harbor freight special will work fine for primer cause your going to sand most of it off anyway. I personally use an Astro siphon feed for primer with a 1.6mm tip. It sprays smooth and saves a little work but, it's not a bad idea for novice, or amateur painters to have an acceptable amount of orange peel so when you fog the contrast sand color you can see all the low spots easily. As for the finish guns, the better the gun you can afford, the higher quality finish you can expect...but there is also other important things to consider like filter traps, and air dryer. The cleaner, and purer the air is the better the finish will be. Your local sears store will carry several different ranges of guns in several price ranges to choose from. I like a 1.4mm tip for top coats myself.

 

[Totalled]

How big of a compressor do you have? Can you run a HVLP gun for a full paint job without letting it catch up?

 

[turtle5353]

I am very much an amatuer when it comes to painting. I can weld like hell but hate the body and paint work, but always find myself doing more and more of it. I bought the harbour frieght kit that comes with 2 guns and several size tips. They seem to be fine for spraying primer, but i cant seem to get them to lay down the base or clear for crap. But it may be operator error. I used these guns on my nephews mustang and I had a ton of orange peel. i wet sanded and buffed the heck out of it and it looked good when done for painting it in my garage. But everytime i try to use these HF guns i get tons of orange peel. I have shot a lot of test samples but all come out with orange peel. I wasnt sure if the gun wasnt atomizing the paint well enough or what? But i have messed with many different settings and still had same results. i am looking into the gun from Eastwood that Q reconmended. I have been eyeballing it for sometime. I will probably buy it soon and let you know if helps out my technique!! Only time will tell. But these guys will lead you in the right direction and this was just my experience with the HF guns.

 

[mcline71]

How big of a compressor do you have? Can you run a HVLP gun for a full paint job without letting it catch up?

My compressor is probably not quite big enough, not sure. It's a 60 gallon supposedly rated at 11.5 @ 90.

I am very much an amatuer when it comes to painting. I can weld like hell but hate the body and paint work, but always find myself doing more and more of it. I bought the harbour frieght kit that comes with 2 guns and several size tips. They seem to be fine for spraying primer, but i cant seem to get them to lay down the base or clear for crap. But it may be operator error. I used these guns on my nephews mustang and I had a ton of orange peel. i wet sanded and buffed the heck out of it and it looked good when done for painting it in my garage. But everytime i try to use these HF guns i get tons of orange peel. I have shot a lot of test samples but all come out with orange peel. I wasnt sure if the gun wasnt atomizing the paint well enough or what? But i have messed with many different settings and still had same results. i am looking into the gun from Eastwood that Q reconmended. I have been eyeballing it for sometime. I will probably buy it soon and let you know if helps out my technique!! Only time will tell. But these guys will lead you in the right direction and this was just my experience with the HF guns.

Going to pick up the HF gun for primer and wait on the gun or guns for base and clear. Maybe by that time I will have decided to send the car out to be painted. Would really prefer to try to do everything myself but we'll see. Do you have any knowledge or thoughts on Eastwood' s welders? A Lincoln or Miller probably isn't in the budget.

 

[turtle5353]

How big of a compressor do you have? Can you run a HVLP gun for a full paint job without letting it catch up?

My compressor is probably not quite big enough, not sure. It's a 60 gallon supposedly rated at 11.5 @ 90.

I am very much an amatuer when it comes to painting. I can weld like hell but hate the body and paint work, but always find myself doing more and more of it. I bought the harbour frieght kit that comes with 2 guns and several size tips. They seem to be fine for spraying primer, but i cant seem to get them to lay down the base or clear for crap. But it may be operator error. I used these guns on my nephews mustang and I had a ton of orange peel. i wet sanded and buffed the heck out of it and it looked good when done for painting it in my garage. But everytime i try to use these HF guns i get tons of orange peel. I have shot a lot of test samples but all come out with orange peel. I wasnt sure if the gun wasnt atomizing the paint well enough or what? But i have messed with many different settings and still had same results. i am looking into the gun from Eastwood that Q reconmended. I have been eyeballing it for sometime. I will probably buy it soon and let you know if helps out my technique!! Only time will tell. But these guys will lead you in the right direction and this was just my experience with the HF guns.

Going to pick up the HF gun for primer and wait on the gun or guns for base and clear. Maybe by that time I will have decided to send the car out to be painted. Would really prefer to try to do everything myself but we'll see. Do you have any knowledge or thoughts on Eastwood' s welders? A Lincoln or Miller probably isn't in the budget.

I would say your 60 gal compressor is more than adequate to run a spray gun!

I bought an eastwood mig welder about 2 years ago and LOVE it! Works great. And priced Great. When they first came out i read a lot of reviews on them conplaining about quality control issue, missing parts, screws not tight, stuff like that. But i think they have gotten all those issues sorted out and put out a great reasonably priced welder. I weld a lot more than the average Joe, i think. And I weld everthing from sheetmetal panels to 1/4" angle on trailers. i built my last trailer for my quads and it turned out great. If you buy the 220volt version it also comes with an aluminum spool gun. I just recently got to use mine for the first time and it took some getting used to but ended up laying down some nice welds on an aluminum utility bed on my buddies truck. for aluminum it has to be VERY clean!!

Another thing i like about the eastwood welder is that it is infinitely adjustable. The control knobs dont have clicks. You can set the knob half or quarter of the way between and heat setting or speed setting. My brothers 180 Lincoln 220volt welder is not that adjustable. He has 10 heat settings and 10 speed settings, nothing inbetween. Thats a big plus for eastwood. Also the eastwood uses the same consumeables as a lincoln or miller. I believe they are TWECO style. So just about any hardware store or welding shop will have them in stock.

Make sure you get a bottle of 75/25 argon/co2 mix and run solid wire, i wouldnt weld with out it. You can use flux core wire but its messy and doesnt leave nearly as nice of welds. But will work in a pinch if you run out of gas. i keep and spare roll just in case.

They also come with a 3year bumper to bumper warranty. if they cant fix it they will send you a new one. After three years if you decide on a new one they will prorate your old one and knock some off the price of a new one, which is really nice!

Anyhow, i would not be scared at all to purchase another eastwood welder. i was looking at their tig welder/ plasma cutter combo, but a friend of mine gave me a nice Lincoln plasma cutter for nothing. Cant beat free!!!

 

[Don65Stang]

I would say your 60 gal compressor is more than adequate to run a spray gun!

I bought an eastwood mig welder about 2 years ago and LOVE it! Works great. And priced Great. When they first came out i read a lot of reviews on them conplaining about quality control issue, missing parts, screws not tight, stuff like that. But i think they have gotten all those issues sorted out and put out a great reasonably priced welder. I weld a lot more than the average Joe, i think. And I weld everthing from sheetmetal panels to 1/4" angle on trailers. i built my last trailer for my quads and it turned out great. If you buy the 220volt version it also comes with an aluminum spool gun. I just recently got to use mine for the first time and it took some getting used to but ended up laying down some nice welds on an aluminum utility bed on my buddies truck. for aluminum it has to be VERY clean!!

Another thing i like about the eastwood welder is that it is infinitely adjustable. The control knobs dont have clicks. You can set the knob half or quarter of the way between and heat setting or speed setting. My brothers 180 Lincoln 220volt welder is not that adjustable. He has 10 heat settings and 10 speed settings, nothing inbetween. Thats a big plus for eastwood. Also the eastwood uses the same consumeables as a lincoln or miller. I believe they are TWECO style. So just about any hardware store or welding shop will have them in stock.

Make sure you get a bottle of 75/25 argon/co2 mix and run solid wire, i wouldnt weld with out it. You can use flux core wire but its messy and doesnt leave nearly as nice of welds. But will work in a pinch if you run out of gas. i keep and spare roll just in case.

They also come with a 3year bumper to bumper warranty. if they cant fix it they will send you a new one. After three years if you decide on a new one they will prorate your old one and knock some off the price of a new one, which is really nice!

Anyhow, i would not be scared at all to purchase another eastwood welder. i was looking at their tig welder/ plasma cutter combo, but a friend of mine gave me a nice Lincoln plasma cutter for nothing. Cant beat free!!!

Dito to the above. My Eastwood mig welder is the 110 volt version and is great! Use 25/75 gas and you'll be good to go. Q recommended a specific welding wire in a post some time ago that will give the best results possible. I bought a couple of rolls but haven't used the new wire yet.

 

[mcline71]

I would say your 60 gal compressor is more than adequate to run a spray gun!

I bought an eastwood mig welder about 2 years ago and LOVE it! Works great. And priced Great. When they first came out i read a lot of reviews on them conplaining about quality control issue, missing parts, screws not tight, stuff like that. But i think they have gotten all those issues sorted out and put out a great reasonably priced welder. I weld a lot more than the average Joe, i think. And I weld everthing from sheetmetal panels to 1/4" angle on trailers. i built my last trailer for my quads and it turned out great. If you buy the 220volt version it also comes with an aluminum spool gun. I just recently got to use mine for the first time and it took some getting used to but ended up laying down some nice welds on an aluminum utility bed on my buddies truck. for aluminum it has to be VERY clean!!

Another thing i like about the eastwood welder is that it is infinitely adjustable. The control knobs dont have clicks. You can set the knob half or quarter of the way between and heat setting or speed setting. My brothers 180 Lincoln 220volt welder is not that adjustable. He has 10 heat settings and 10 speed settings, nothing inbetween. Thats a big plus for eastwood. Also the eastwood uses the same consumeables as a lincoln or miller. I believe they are TWECO style. So just about any hardware store or welding shop will have them in stock.

Make sure you get a bottle of 75/25 argon/co2 mix and run solid wire, i wouldnt weld with out it. You can use flux core wire but its messy and doesnt leave nearly as nice of welds. But will work in a pinch if you run out of gas. i keep and spare roll just in case.

They also come with a 3year bumper to bumper warranty. if they cant fix it they will send you a new one. After three years if you decide on a new one they will prorate your old one and knock some off the price of a new one, which is really nice!

Anyhow, i would not be scared at all to purchase another eastwood welder. i was looking at their tig welder/ plasma cutter combo, but a friend of mine gave me a nice Lincoln plasma cutter for nothing. Cant beat free!!!

Great info, thanks! I've purchased a few things from Eastwood and have always had good luck. I always get a little nervous when reading the reviews and see the one or two people say they got the product and the thing didn't work at all...blah,blah,blah... but I guess you see those reviews even on the high price stuff. Thanks again! Free is great!

 

[caspianwendell]

i was looking at their tig welder/ plasma cutter combo, but a friend of mine gave me a nice Lincoln plasma cutter for nothing. Cant beat free!!!

You have a very generous friend

 

[turtle5353]

You have a very generous friend

ya he bought it for one big job he had then has never used it since. He brought it up to my garage and said keep this here, I know where it is if I need it. How could i refuse

 

[caspianwendell]

Oh that is a request you can't turn down

 

[Go Time]

I purchased the Eastwood TIG/Plasma combo about 10 months ago and so far I like it. Eastwood stuff seems to be decent quality for the price, not as cheap as Harbor freight not as good as the big brands (lincoln/miller). Im happy with their stuff so far so I think the spray guns should be decent as well.

 

[mcline71]

Just saw in the new Mustang Monthly that HF has a coupon for their spray gun for $9.99.

 

[turtle5353]

Just saw in the new Mustang Monthly that HF has a coupon for their spray gun for $9.99.

im not sure if thats the same one that comes in the kit ??? i think they have 2 different grades of the bigger gun..... not 100% sure though?? And the one in the kit comes with 2 or 3 different tip sizes. The one for 9.99 just has 1.