I have normal craftsman air compressor - 6.4 scfm at 90psi and 8.6 and 40psi.

the paint gun I have requires 11 scfm... so I am assuming this is not going to work. I was checking out harbor freight paint guns and found one. Now what I would like to do is start with some body panels and work up to painting whole cars. Will this gun work?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=90977

thanks for any advise.
Matt

I painted this one

I have a craftsman air compresor as well. Go to your local paint supplier and look at their guns. The one I used was $65 and the one I have now was $95. Point is a good quality gun don't cost much. How the job turns out depends on prep, materials used, and the mother of it all color sanding.

Matt, You might do just as well with a Devillebliss , Binks, ect . The price might be a little higher--not by much--but would be better for all over jobs. Try some of the paint stores as mentioned above or look at the online stores too. Best to go see and handle what you`ll be using and get some info from the supply house..

i was looking in the Yellow pages, and I could not find anything for auto paint supply? does anyone know of a chain or a place in the Dayton/Cininnati area that has automotive paint supplies?

quote Originally posted by Madess: i was looking in the Yellow pages, and I could not find anything for auto paint supply? does anyone know of a chain or a place in the Dayton/Cininnati area that has automotive paint supplies?

Moores Paint Supply 937-223-9185 for Dayton Store---I think they have one in Cinnci now.

You can use that gun with your compressor but be careful not to overheat it. If you want to paint using that gun that you already have, paint small areas at a time so you are using less air. Try to paint cars by the panel instead of a huge area. You will want to get a moisture trap because the hotter your compressor gets the more moisture will be in your air source.

Your compressor would prob be better doing panel by panel. You prob want a Harbor Freight siphon feed gun rather than an HVLP gravity gun. They use less volume of air, just higher pressure. HVLP=High Volume/ Low Pressure. Your compressor has the air pressure, just not the volume ( CFMs). Best part is siphon feed guns are cheaper than HVLPs. For siphon gun, set your regulator to 40 pnds or so as a starting point and find what works best for the way you spray. Everyone is different. You want your fan pattern open about 3/4 - 1 full turn and open the material knob for highest output (hold the trigger back and screw the knob out till the trigger stops moving). ALWAYs keep the gun moving, never stop with trigger pulled or you will run.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 03-26-2006).]

ok, maybe I will try the siphon then,

the procedure is
sand and prep,
primer
base coat
clear coat - right

do I need two coats on any of these?

IMO, the Harbor Freight guns are pretty low quality, the low price makes them tempting, but they are pretty much a disposable gun. Unfortunately, if you dont paint for a living its hard to justify dropping a lot of money into something you will only use a couple times. The last gun i bought was a Finex gun from NAPA, was under $100, shoots great, and feels nice and balanced, which will make a big difference on how well your arm holds up after a few passes around the car. I liked the gravity feed HVLP guns over the siphon guns, they use a lot less material, and have an easier learning curve. You could easliy end up spending more money on materials painting with a siphon feed gun, which you could have spent on a better quality HVLP gun.

You will need several coats of each type of material, how many really depends on what color you are painting and what color you are painting over. Some colors cover better than others, and some brands of paint cover better than others as well. Dont be afraid to ask the guy you are getting your paint from questions, he will be a wealth of knowledge. And like others have said before, you have to do a good prep job, else nothing afterwards will matter.

You might want to consider renting/borrowing a better compressor when you actually reach the point of painting the car, not sure what the local availability is like in your area though. As far as the prep work, your current compressor will be fine, you can sand at whatever pace the compressor can maintain, but once you start spraying, you really cant keep stopping to let your compressor catch up, it will make a difference in how well the job turns out.

If you give a few more details about what your plans are, like color, where you are going to paint ( i'm going to assume it outside, if you had access to a booth you wouldnt have the compressor issue) , then people can give you some more info that will help you out. Hope this helps at least a little.

Hi Madess,

Where do you live in Cincinnati? I live in Batavia. Smyth Automotive has a seperate Paint Shop at 4271 Mt. Carmel-Tobasco Rd. There are very helpful, and sell all of the supplies you will need.

------------------
Ernie

1988 Silver GT
One owner 47000 miles.
Soon to be a 3.4 DOHC powered.

His compressor he has wont handle an HVLP. Yes a siphon will use more material. 2 coats of primer, 2 of base coat, and 2 clear are normal. Some colors are more transparent and may take more. Yellow and orange sometimes take me as many as 4 or 5 to cover. As he stated above, you might consider renting a better compressor for a day or 2...that will have12-15 cfm minimum. His present one with an HVLP gun will use its full reserve capacity up in a minute or 2 then he will have to stop to wait for the motor to pump it back up. I guarantee your paintjob will end up an ordeal more than a pleasure. I own my own body shop and painted cars now for nearly 45 years. Ive done them from paint brush to spray cans and up. I have 3 Harbor Freight guns I use myself except for bigger jobs and higher dollar stuff. They do good work for the most part but maybe not up to what I do with my $400 ones.

The condition of your bad paint will tell you about priming it. If you have any panels cracking, peeling or body filler those areas must be primered. If its just faded out or just want to change color it can be painted right over after its sanded. Anything sanded with rougher than # 360 or # 400 paper will have to be primered. A car in good condition that say your just changing the color or doing some custom paint can be just scuff sanded all over with # 400 or a red Scotchbrite. The whole surface MUST be dull...every nook and cranny for paint to stick. What you do primer also has to be sanded again with #400 before painting. I highly recommend DRY sanding, especially for beginners, so that you can see what your doing as you go. If you wet sand, your constantly drying and resanding over and over many times to get spots you missed. Water and sanding residue will get under and into things and may take days to dry out unseen until you spray the paint

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 03-27-2006).]

quote Originally posted by gascarracer: Hi Madess, Where do you live in Cincinnati? I live in Batavia. Smyth Automotive has a seperate Paint Shop at 4271 Mt. Carmel-Tobasco Rd. There are very helpful, and sell all of the supplies you will need.

Cool, thanks for the info

Biggest problem with painting outside is getting trash in your wet paint. The reason i asked that was because there are things you could do to minimize that. I'll let Rogergarrison chime in with a more technical explaination, but essentially you have different "speed" reducers that will determine how fast your clear will slick over ( being dry to the touch, but not cured). Obviously having your clear dry faster will allow less time for you to get trash falling into it. Getting trash in your primer and base coats arent a huge deal, as you can just sand the spots out and re-shoot that small area, Clear isnt as forgiving unfortunately.

well, actuall I have a 5 car garage, I was planning on putting on some curtains or other barrier of some sort so I could spray in there.

quote Originally posted by Madess: well, actuall I have a 5 car garage, I was planning on putting on some curtains or other barrier of some sort so I could spray in there.

You `ll need to set up some sort of cross ventilaltion type deal, A large low running fan should help some.....

To make yourself a little booth in your garage, go to any auto paint supply store and get a roll of the clear vinyl. Its made to cover a whole car when your spot repairing damage. Get the roll for SUVS because its a lot wider (maybe 15' wide) and you cut off any length you need. The one I get has Nacar 3M imprinted on it so you know which side is out. The roll with enough to cover prob 15-20 vehicles is about $25. Ideal time to spray is after the sun is out following an overnite or early morning rain so the dust is settled. Spray as early in the morning as possible as opposed to evening...far less bugs are out then...in the evening they will swarm to any light. Cant spray outside in the sun...the paint will dry before it has a chance to flow out smooth so has to be done on an overcast day.