Paint gun review

MAXED_OUT_RPM'S ----- Nevemind the HVLP business - its for those who need to conform to strict rules & regs ...If your in the garage painting - Just tune the gun to your liking....... Im alway tuning my guns while i paint - they are NEVER set at a specific point & left that way ......... Variations all come into play & adjustments are made accordingly..........

The best paintjobs are those with the most detail to the body work & prep before hand.... Paint is the easy part........

Start off with a lazer straight body & begin to shoot your paint..... your going to look for atomization & how well the paint is covering ..... Not too much / not too little........ keeping a good overlap & spray technique i good too......

Depending on temps wait 20 - 45 minutes between coats ....... picking out hairs & lightly sanding nibs with 800 inbetween can be done as well.........

Wait about a good hour or more depending on temps & reducers to provide the chemicals to evaporate....... Spray on your first coat of clear medium light ,,,,, Wait 20 minutes ,, follow up with a medium wet coat & allow 30+ minutes,,,, Another coat of Wet clear & more time to dry 45 minutes or so ( You will be able to check by touching a taped off area that gets alot of overspray on it , Such as windows ).......... Once Flashed off - you can do 1 more wet coat ............................................

Let car sit & dry for 15-24 hours depending on Temps/weather.......

Wetsand with 1500 to tackle the skin of clear..... You can SMELL the clear !!! Be Careful around any ridges - Stay AWAY !!!! Follow it all up again with 2000 & 2500 wetpaper & Buff that bad Boy out ..........

Thanks chopsawbob, that is very helpfull. I guess when final sanding with the 1500, 2000, and 2500, Its just a quick even sanding to get any of the imperfections out of the clear so it turns out super smooth right?
When buffing, is it a polishing compound that i should be using? Is there a specific type that i should be looking for?

Thanks again

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Originally Posted by maxed_out_rpms

Almost spreytech, the only thing i dont understand is HVLP does it mean High Volume Low Pressure? And yes, it sure helped out alot. There are not to many great painters around where i live. Most are just your basic body shops that do not like to do expensive paint jobs because they are not into that kinda thing , so to speek. They would rather just chage a fender or 2, sand the car down and put some colour on it.
Another question for ya,
This would concern a base coat clear coat with alot of depth to it. After spraying the 3-4 coats of colour, do you have to let it dry in between the colour and the clear, then use really light sand paper, sand it, then spray the clear on, or can you just wait till the base coat it tacky and spray the clear right over it. And how the hell do they get the clear to look like its 1/2" thick?????? Dam that looks good.
As you can see, ive only sprayed laquer with a hardner added to it. I want to paint my 1 ton this spring so im really eager to learn.

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Yes HVLP = High Volume Low Pressure : Means it requires large amounts of Air Volume (CFM's)at inlet , and the gun head design inside makes the paint & air mixture spray at low pressure .
I use Iwata LVLP , and GEO makes a toploader gun that only requires 6.6 psi at the gun to work ( if you do not have a compressor enough to handle a HVLP )

Now on BC /CC : I shoot PPG and I usually let my base gas off for 10-5 minutes before clear coating , as I have a Heated downdraft booth , and my base gases off quick , so I can clear my base fairly quick .
All PAint manufacturers have different Temperature Solvents to Spray Base and clear in the Ambient Temperature your going to spray in .
And when you buy your paint make sure to get Product information sheets on the types of material your buying so you can get all the info of that product , it will give a gun setting , temp requirements , reduction ratios, drying times , tape times ( when its dry enough to lay tape stripes if your going to paint stripes on before clearing ) ..ect Those Info sheets are a wealth of info so please ask for them , it will help you alot in understanding what your about to spray .

Than after spraying your clear coat and letting dry its required time , you can water sand the clear with 1200-2000 grit sand paper ( to remove dirt and orange peel ) , and buff to the deep flat look you are seeing .
If you do a search on my name , I have given out alot of info here on BC/CC that may come in handy too .

Spray

PS: Do NOT forget to purchase a Charcoal respirator before spraying !!!!!!!
The stuff is deadly ! 3M makes disposable ones on the cheep in 3 sizes to fit your face.

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Originally Posted by SprayTech

Yes HVLP = High Volume Low Pressure : Means it requires large amounts of Air Volume (CFM's)at inlet , and the gun head design inside makes the paint & air mixture spray at low pressure .
I use Iwata LVLP , and GEO makes a toploader gun that only requires 6.6 psi at the gun to work ( if you do not have a compressor enough to handle a HVLP )

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Yup, for sure!!!! I got the Iwata that you perscribed for me a couple years ago and I love it!!!! My DeVilbiss became my primer gun and my Sata, well, it just hangs there on the hook neglected!!!! Best gun I ever had, bar none. I'm certainly no pro painter, but the Iwata made me look like one!!!!!

As to what Bob said about the prep work, it's crucial to get it right and keep going over it till it is right... Acouple more times around the car block sanding is what separates the REAL paint jobs from the pretenders. Takes a lot of patience to get the blocking right when all you want to do is see the car with color on it, but it's definitely worth the extra time.....

Here is the way I solved my what gun to buy process, started to look at brands that I had heard of, then read some of the hotrod bulletin boards post. After consuming large quantie's of information, meaning individuals post, manufacturers spec. and considering the pros and the cons of various brands, I next focused on my individual circumstances. They are 1 doing this as a hobby, 2 spraying at home, 3 knowing the value of good functional tools, 4 wanting a good looking/ lasting paint job... After that I ended up getting the Iwata 400lv , anyone knowing me knows Made in the USA is my first consideration of any product, so way a jap product? This gun seem to fit the bill , low press 16 psi and low volume 9.5 cfm , these numbers transformed into low over spray and low over spray then transforms into less MESS and good coverage, now I will not know for sure if this plan will come together cause as a home builder, spring will be the painting season for me and I will either think I am the man or just another dude confused and taken advantage of by the system............ let you know in the spring

Very interesting information. I don't mean to sound negative but I am a little sceptical about advertising. I can understand production shop or custom painters useing the top of the line guns,but they are like any other hot item in advertising,they are over priced by 200%. The more of them that are bought,the higher the price goes! I would love to see a television special where a nationally known custom painter goes on-air and uses these 3 guns and then let the world see the difference! Call me sceptical,,,but in the hands of the artist/professional,I don't believe you could see a difference between the $100 gun and the $500 gun.
And shouldn't something be said about a beginner hobbiest(like myself),not having the skills to use the $500 gun,so start with a $75 one,learn the adjustments,pressure,mixing,technique and buy a better gun when you can 'effectively' use it? Over priceing makes my blood boil,,,,but,thats just my opinion:)

Your not understanding this correct... The gun isn't going to make the paint job better. Use the 75 dollar gun long enough and switch to that 400-500 dollar gun and you will see what the difference is. Easier to spray with, faster, more comfortable, etc. I've used a old caveman gun from 30 years ago that was cheap then and I've had things come out looking great but switch to that 400 dollar gun and it's much easier to use and less mess because of overspray, etc.
Not good to give out information unless you have USED BOTH the cheap gun and top dollar gun because you just wont understand.

LOL No Denny that was NOT to you. Come on now, you know that I know how much you know... lol wow, a lot of knows. But seriously, that was not towards you.

The problem with cheapy guns are they are not manufactured with quality in mind , so therefore , poorly made needle , fluid nozzle and aircap can make for a BIG problem , you might purchase a good one or bad one , usually 7 out of 10 of the cheapy guns are bad. ( I used to buy cheapy guns for primer as my helpers sometimes forgot to clean the guns and the catalyzed primer is a bitch to clean when it kicks dry over night ) and My jobber quit handling them altogether because of the poor quality and gun returns from bad manufacturing .
So keep that in mind ;)
30 year old Devilbiss can still spray color , but it will require more paint product because the transfer is 30% on the car and 70% in the air & a VOC violation today , and an HVLP is 60% and up .
My helpers love to use my Accuspray ISSAC 7 Base Coat Gun with a 1.5 needle and a 705 air cap , it sprays base and High Solids Clear with ease !
and its not very expensive for a top of the line gun , around $280 , and will be an solid all-around starter gun for any one . They like using my Iwatta LH-400 Base gun , but they can not handle the Iwata LPH 400 set up for clear as it hoses the clear and they dont quite have the gun control yet ;)

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Originally Posted by SprayTech

They like using my Iwatta LH-400 Base gun , but they can not handle the Iwata LPH 400 set up for clear as it hoses the clear and they dont quite have the gun control yet ;)

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Got that right on hosing the clear, better have your track shoes on when you shoot clear with it!!!! But I tell ya what, the Iwata is by far the best gun I ever owned, sure am glad I took your advice and got it!!!!

[QUOTE=FAYLUR] I would love to see a television special where a nationally known custom painter goes on-air and uses these 3 guns and then let the world see the difference!

Agree 100% that is exactly what I have been trying to catch on these car/motorcycle building shows. The one thing I keep seeing and it is mostly on the motorcycle shows is how little paint fog seems to be present in the booths as they spray and some do not seem to be using a booth. That is what made me hone in on the air pressures and cfm usage. By no means am I advertising the product, just representing a different prospective, considerations that were important to my purchase of a spray gun. That being said I will add this, higher priced tools (not the highest priced), such as the Hutchins and Ingersoll Ran do and have advantages that are very common. First they are repairable , not throw away, second the advantage to operate at different speeds with loads of torque makes the cutting,grinding usage of the tool just plain more efficient. This also helps the abrasives last longer and makes the price worthwhile. Getting what you pay for is harder and harder to get these days with all the me too products, cheep never means quality. Quality and cheep are two words that are found in the dictionary but do not have any truth when used in the same sentence of a sales pitch. I am not a tool collector (tool snob) with all the top brands, example my box,ratchets and wrenches are sears, but in the air tool world
HF and Northern tool have there place just not in my toolbox.

I like that....takes years for some to understand it!!

Quality and cheep are two words that are found in the dictionary but do not have any truth when used in the same sentence of a sales pitch. I am not a tool collector (tool snob) with all the top brands, example my box,ratchets and wrenches are sears, but in the air tool world
HF and Northern tool have there place just not in my toolbox.
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born free hyped to death

Spraytech, your right that Iwata is AWESOME! Too bad the guy I work with (and you know the story already) didn't buy that purple cap or else he would have liked it too... LOL

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Originally Posted by FMXhellraiser

Your not understanding this correct... The gun isn't going to make the paint job better. Use the 75 dollar gun long enough and switch to that 400-500 dollar gun and you will see what the difference is. Easier to spray with, faster, more comfortable, etc. I've used a old caveman gun from 30 years ago that was cheap then and I've had things come out looking great but switch to that 400 dollar gun and it's much easier to use and less mess because of overspray, etc.
Not good to give out information unless you have USED BOTH the cheap gun and top dollar gun because you just wont understand.

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:LOL: YEAH BOY,I've never used a $500 gun and never will. I'll leave them for the guys that think they have to pay $500 to get a good paint job.:LOL:

But when you do it for a living and blow color all day long every day the $500 gun will make you money ;) I have sprayed with just about every gun , and they all lay the color and clear different , and finding one that lays it slick the first time is money well spent ;)
True not all hobbyist's need an expensive gun , but it does help in the final finish , in time sanding and buffing :) The flatter you lay it the easier it is to cut and buff if needed .
Having confidence in your equipment also helps in knowing its not going to spit , pulsate , spray a bad pattern , ect.......
letting you concentrate on spraying !