Marvel Posted September 30, 2004 Share Posted September 30, 2004 How many of you guys have spray painting gear? I know/think Dale Walker has the big guns auto shop stuff. Who makes smaller but still high quality sprayers? I'm thinking of the HVLP stuff that I could to work on music instruments (guitars, mandolins, citterns, etc.) Any info would be most helpful. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 I have a Camble Hussfield (sp?) sprayer for large things like houses, sprays 2 1/2 gal of paint per minute if you let it. For car sized items I have a Binks 2001 spray gun, nice results, and for smaller stuff I have a Badger air brush. The airbrush will produce some real fine lines or spray up to about 1 1/2 inch wide at a time. The Binks lays down a real nice coat of paint but for something like a musical instrument you might want something like a touch up gun. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 Michael Hurd is a professional in Auto Body. Hopefully, he'll chime in here and offer some advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted October 1, 2004 Author Share Posted October 1, 2004 I know some intstrument makers who use Sata products, and one of the luthier suppliers sells Badger stuff as well. When you are only spraying a single guitar/dobro/bass, etc., you don't realyy need something large, but you do want high quality. Of course, after doing ten coats with wet sanding in between and finally polishing it out, that may be relative. A lot of guys do out to 12000 grit, before the final polishing and buffing. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 I asked this same basic question to a friend of mine who does automotive painting mostly as a hobby. A comment he made (I'm not saying this is gospel, just his remarks. Please feel free to rebuttle. We all learn that way ) concerning spray guns was that several years ago Binks was the only real game in town because of their design patent. However, their patent ran out a few years ago and since then, many manufacturers have copied the Binks design. The result has been spray guns that have great pattern and flow control at a very inexpensive price. I've seen the paint job my friend has shot on his MGB project car (a Chrysler Prowler base coat/ clear coat orange color with a gold/yellow fade out) and it is awesome. The gun he uses came from Harbor Freight and he said he paid 30 bucks for it. I guess my point is that you don't have to spend big bucks for a spray gun. I'm sure Dale Walker will bite my head off now. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted October 1, 2004 Author Share Posted October 1, 2004 Thanks Tom. I would like to hear form Dale as well. I guess he isn't frequenting this section much. I know some autos are done extraordinarily well, but when a musician picks up an instrument, they are usually looking very close and the finish. I think Dale has done some instruments too, although they have been electrics, and not acoustics if I remember correctly. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 I own a few spray guns, but the one that I use the most to refinish with bc/cc or single stage products is a Sata Nr2000 HVLP, with a 1.3 mm fluid tip. When priming, I have an older Mac SG9EK siphon feed HVLP, with a 1.7 mm tip. Depending on the viscosity of the product that you are working with, will determine the orfice size. Sata has a tutorial on their website to help determine what is best suited to your needs. It pays to buy a professional quality spray gun if you are using it quite often, as the cheap copies have inferior parts ie: die cast vs. forged bodies, small taper on needle, and pivots that wear out. The copies may work similarily, but in constant usage, they do not hold up. I have used devilbiss, iwata, binks, sata and also the cheap pro-tek knock offs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76scalas Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 I am a paint supervisor for Matsu****a Kotobuki (Panasonic). I would not recommend a full size HVLP for home use. Like the name says "High Volume Low Pressure". Most home compressors just don't make the volume of air required to run these. Best bet is a "Gravity Feed" HVLP touch up gun. Gravity fed so you can use higher viscosity coatings than with a siphon feed and they are easy to clean! I would recommend at least a 5 hp. compressor with a 50 gallon tank. Like this: http://www.binks.com/products/display5.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 on his MGB project car (a Chrysler Prowler base coat/ clear coat orange color with a gold/yellow fade out) and it is awesome. The gun he uses came from Harbor Freight and he said he paid 30 bucks for it. I guess my point is that you don't have to spend big bucks for a spray gun. I'm sure Dale Walker will bite my head off now. Tom ---------------- At $30.00 that gun probably came from China. If you buy one like that, don't gripe about your jobs being "outsourced". Not that anybody here is griping about outsourcing... but I hear a lot of complaining about job outsourcing and yet, we have a passion for as much inexpensive Chinese copies of American products as we can get our hands on. So now how do you think Brinks supposed to compete with $30.00 retail price? Yes... outsource to China. Sorry for being so far off topic... carry on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiob Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 If you want do do alot of finishing in a hurry, check into a Graco Hydromax 350, 4.0 Gal min @3900 psi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted October 2, 2004 Author Share Posted October 2, 2004 One of the luthiers I have heard from uses a SATA MiniJet 3, a gravity fed unit really meant for touch ups. He says it works great for instruments. I have found it (minus compressor) for around $200 give or take a few dollars. I would rather spend a bit more, knowing I wouldn't need to be replacing it anytime soon, or even in my lifetime. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 Just because you have a full sized gun, does not mean that you have to have a large patern dialed up. You can meter the fluid and cut the pattern down to the same as a small gun. A good point was made that a HVLP requires massive amounts of air for continuous spraying. My Nr2000 uses over 15 cubic feet a minute. Most compressors at home do not put out that much air. You need a serious two stage compressor for continuous spraying. That said, refinishing instruments, they are quite small in contrast to an automobile. You may very well get away using an hvlp, if you have a large enough tank on the compressor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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