Spraygun

Through out my career as a painter, friends, strangers, etc. have asked many questions. One frequent and very important one is:
" What gun should I buy to paint my car?"
I've seen guys on forums arguing for days over which glazing putty is better, spending big money for esoteric items in an attempt to do the best job possible.
What I don't see is people shelling out the money for a quality spray gun.






Spray Gun 101:
The automotive re-finishers spray gun is the single most important tool he owns. I have seem countless guys with cheap, worn out DA's, 2x4's as sanding blocks, 10 dollar socket sets and a top of the line spraygun.






Through out your bodywork, prep work you always have an opportunity to go back and improve something cheap and easy. Once that first ounce of RTS material leaves the gun, the solvent blows off and it hits the panel there are no more cheap easy fixes.... ( the one caveat to that is taking a rag with lacquer thinner and wiping your sprayed finish back off )






It would be impossible for me to turn out quality work day in and day out if I had to spray with a new, different gun everyday. My spraygun is the one constant in the process of refinishing. I have gotten batches of bad product from paint companies, contamination from booth make-up air, booth temp controls going haywire. The existing finish on a car can throw a monkey wrench into the job even when properly degreased. When I pickup one of my guns and pull the trigger, it acts the same way every time. I can't stress this enough, proper gun choice/care and quality materials are the single most important things in making your prep work look beautiful.
If someone calls me with a problem, is spraying a SATA 2000, shooting PPG 2021/DCX 61/DT885 I can usually figure out whats wrong easily. If they have a red gun that says "China" on it, are shooting Wam Bamm clear over Dupont base reduced with PPG DT they are on their own.






When anybody asks what gun to buy, my answer is a model from SATA 90% and Iwata 9% the last percent is for the guy spraying IMRON on concrete truck tanks while they are spinning, outside @ 40 degrees







If you are inexperienced a SATA 3000 can teach you how to paint.






I haven't lost my mind, at least I don't think so, if I had would I know?


OK, if you take a 3000 and put properly mixed PPG, Dupont, Glasurit, Spies in it, spray at the proper temp over properly prepped panels you adjust YOUR spray style till you get the desired results ( I suggest you spray test panels everyday until you get good results before you go near your own car with spraygun in hand ) With that set of conditions if your job looks crappy it's a 99.9% chance that it's human error.


Stay tuned for tips and tricks from Spraygun

Roger Quintero

I suggest mentioning the CMF/PSI needed to spray with a good quality gun. Normally you cannot just use your Sear 5hp compressor.

Spraygun

You are quite right Roger. Using the appropriate sized fluid nozzle for the material you are spraying is critical. Most paint manufactures have a recommondation on P-sheets.
PSI in is usually what ever the gun maker states as sufficient to get 10PSI at the cap. There are exceptions though, some products/painter style will need fine tuning, this is why practicing with your gun/product selection is needed before jumping right in the spraying a car.

Roger Quintero

You are right on targe.
I am an old school painter who learned on a Sata 95 and still love that old gun. Young painters say I am (Sodomized); becuase I love those Sata guns. You pay allot for the name but you get allot for the money. Matter of fact I am purchasing another gun soon. I am leaning toward Optima or the Sata 4000. I worked at restoration shops at night doing body work, graduated to painting a little, went on my own and painted allot of stuff; learning from the school of hard knocks. I learned real quick if you can wet sand and buff you can do a show quality paint job. Ha Ha It is pretty hard to mess up basecoat, and clear can always be buffed. This is a pretty good forum for someone wanting to learn to paint. Questions get answered pretty quick and accurate.
It is very hard to get someone who is willing to give you advice how to paint without them thinking you are going to steal their job/business.
One thing that can never be mentioned enough. Get a quality mask and keep it on!!!!!
Half the guys I started painting with have (half) their lung capacity after about 10 years of painting without consistently using a good mask.

Spraygun

I still have one of a pair of NR95's I purchased when they came out. Those guns had thousands of jobs on them, I worked at a large dealership where we averaged 5 jobs a day for 5 years, not to mention spraying 45' buses.....
I still have a gravity Jet90 I break out every now and then. The 3000 takes a little getting used to coming from a 95, the pattern is wider and softer, I've found that narrowing the pattern and cranking the air up on last coat of clear produces good results. I looked at the 4000, it's lighter and quieter, maybe in a year or two I'll pick one up used.

SG

Dave Tracy

How much pressure are you running on the digital readout on your 3000 as a rule? I'll be using a single stage PPG urethane and have a 3000RP with a 1.2mm tip. I haven't used it yet. I plan on sing the hood as my warm up to the car.

Spraygun

I shoot HS topcoats at 32ish psi in, that's at 75-80 degrees in a downdraft booth. With a different product in a different set of conditions I would have to adjust accordingly. I suggest doing a test panel in the conditions you are using.

SG

Dave Tracy

Thank you!

Roger Quintero

I love my sata guns. I shot this a couple days ago with my sata mini jet and it shoots as good as any of my larger guns.
Rog

Roger Quintero

By the way the cluster was single stage Urethean.

alonzomerrill

As per my view SATA 3000 is looks very good and i really want to use it for paint on my car. I have tried some painting equipments but all are not works properly. Can you help me to find out this paint equipment.

69 Chevy

I will admit that SATA are very well made automotive paint sprayguns.

Perhaps buying the top-of-the-line SATA gun for all around use, (primer, basecoat, clearcoat, single stage, acrylic lacquer) for a one time, in the front driveway paint job, goes against the very purpose of the DIY paint job...saving money. What do SATA's go for these days?...$700+

A novice spray painter is just as likely to drag his air hose through a wet body panel using a $30 Harbor Freight, use once and throw away gun, as a high $$$ SATA or Iwata. It takes practice, whether it's spraying cars or TIG welding aluminum to acquire the needed skill to do a good job.

harmonpa

Thought it would be helpful theres a guy in Australia who makes a living painting cars he provides a ton of info on painting and gun reviews http://www.thegunman.net.au/ . He has a lot of good training . I agree that people do not focus on a quality spray gun and matching paint, run in to this a lot being in tech support for spray equipment and the issues are equally related to gun selection as well as coating selection. If your trying to determine a good compressor size heres an article covering that as well as the different kinds of compressors. Basically you should aim to have 30 CFM (PSI matters little) typically your going to need a two stage compressor so that you can generate the volume of air needed. If you don't have a big compressor you will get issues with the gun spitting which will lead to a poor finish.

tanhar020

I am using Wagner 0518080 Control Spray Max HVLP Sprayer. It comes with a metal cup which can be used for the fine finish in a small application. I can control flow as per my need. I think this is best seller spray gun on amazon. If you want to buy it with discount then check below link:
Best HVLP spray gun

porchdog

sata is a fast gun , iwata is a low and deliberate gun. no mater what gun you buy you must adapt to it's painting style.

DUB

I partially agree with 'porchdog' Whatever paint gun a person buys DOES require getting used to it and knowing how best to adjust it and get it to apply the paint you choose to use.

DUB

DUB

I know we all do things are own way that works for us...but using 1.6 for sealer...holy smokes. I know if the sealer I use got shot with that I would have to back down the fluid something fierce.... or it would be running all over the place.

And I COMPLETELY understand that the gun can be adjusted to compensate for the larger fluid tip.

DUB

Billy Nguyen

Hi! I am Billy new to forum. I paint cars at home as a hobby. I started with something made in Italy. They are good cheap gun for beginner. Eventually u will want Sata or Iwata or Devilbiss. I have a few cheap 1.4 gun but try something with a 1.3 and u will see a big difference. Cheap gun have few needle tips choice better gun have more fluid sizes. Sata is very hard to find the right setting for dont buy unless u are a proffessional, if u have a small compressor than I suggest a lvlp. I kept my cheap Astro for primer dont buy anything u dont like. I love all my gun. Iwata is good for clear Sata is good for base.

harmonpa

I agree with Billy that at first a cheap spray gun is ok but eventually you will want to upgrade to something with a bit better quality. I think that the gun makes a bigger difference once you get good with properly thinning your material and setting the spray gun right. This guide covers alot of what you need to use a spray gun. If your using hvlp maybe consider buying a zahn 2 cup from amazon for a few bucks material that runs less than 30 seconds in a zahn will usually spray well.

DUB

++++PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING****

I have shot paint with my fair share of paint guns...the old style siphon feed type and HVLP and pressure pots and so on.

And one thing is for sure...that even if you have a cheap paint gun...if a person takes the time to dial it in and gets the paint to the correct viscosity and adjusts the gun right..and
finds the correct distance from the panel and overlap.....and air pressure....chances are they outcome can be quite acceptable.

YES..a lot of the new high tech guns that are so expensive are using technology to atomize the paint better and are generally used in a high production facility where consistent paint jobs are a must....because they have also taken into account that spray booth is high dollar so the amount of trash in it is almost non existent.....thus...faster turn around times on the paint work.

SO...if you paint in an area that is really bad and trash is going to get into the paint...buying a super high dollar paint gun is kinda foolish (in my opinion)...because you are going to have to sand and buff your work..that any benefit of a gun that can lay down the clear slick as glass is not needed....but you also do not want gun that lays down the clear so 'orange-peely' that it rivals gravel guard. Which is why a person needs to shoot test panels and get the paint gun and other issues...'dialed in'.

Because the funny thing is...if a person goes out and buys a super high dollar high tech HVLP gravity feed paint gun...there is NO guarantee that it will shoot paint perfectly...it also...needs to be set up correctly.

DUB