automobile paint guns

[PUREPWR]

I am intersed in purchasing a paint gun to practice painting cars. It has always been a hobby of mine. Where can i find a decent one right now. I dont need the top of line or state of the art one right now but any ideas. I tried ebay but I dont know what search to type in.
I dont think it would be that hard to learn how to paint a car. It would just be several light coats and then clear coating. I think the only hard part would be the buffing part to really make it shine. Right????
thanks tom

[TraceZ]

It is important to do even coats, with no runs. It takes some practice, but is not too hard.

Eliminating dust is a real issue. It become less important if you intend to do several layers of clear coat and then wetsand. The wetsanding smooths out the surface pretty nicely, eliminating the dust marks.

Surface prep is as important as the actual paint. do as little masking as possible, instead take everything apart. The fewer edges in the paint the better. Take your time and be patient.

I've researched it a little, and hope to have time to someday try it myself also. It sounds like fun!

[N20LT4Bird]

I think it depends how serious you are. I bought a campbell - hausfield spray gun at autozone for 50 bucks or so. I, like you, just wanted to experiment. It worked real well for the $$. If I was going to do it all the time, I would invest a bit more into a nice gravity feed, HVLP gun. If theres an auto body supply place near you, go in and talk to the guys there. Keep in mind, they are trying to sell you a gun, but they should be able to help with brand and price etc. I remember I could have bought a nice HVLP gun for about 150.

Trace Z is right about the prep. Prep is everything. Lowsy prep = lowsy paint.
I dont think my car came out too bad though for my first time........

[markd79ta]

Search under HVLP...you will get a lot of hits.

Email me if you have any questions: I have done this a lot.

[markd79ta]

Re: automobile paint guns

Originally posted by purepwrta
I think the only hard part would be the buffing part to really make it shine. Right????
thanks tom

Color sanding and buffing are not all that bad. ...just practice on restoring old junk vehicles. You will get that hang of it. I did a '75 T/A completely trashed, as my first project when I was 18. The second was a '78 Chevy short box that I did in Candy Apple red...that thing was cool when it was done, but man...a lot of work. I have done miscellaneous cars, panels, and patchwork in my spare time. I did the hood on my R/A hood on the '97; if you want me to send you a couple of pics of any of these, I can.

[PUREPWR]

Yea taht would be great if you could send me some pics. My T/A is already black but I want to make it a darker black. The DARKEST black. I have heard that there is a color called triple wet black. By wet i mean, ya konw when you washing a black car and it is wet the black is alot darker than the dry spots. I dunno hard to explain I guess. Do you think that this color would be hard to paint. Or how do you make a car chamelian, dont you like mix a color in with clear coat or something.
sorry if this is confusing.

[markd79ta]

Black is the most difficult color to paint next to metallics. Black shows every imperfection so your prep works needs to be absolutely perfect. After I painted the hood on my T/A several imperfections in the fiberglass reared their ugly head. I shot so many layers of sand & fill primer, sanded, and shot them again...still didn't get them all. Metallics require an agitating cup so that you don't get streaks and imperfections. Last summer, I fixed my friends new Envoy with the Pewter Metallic base/clear. The hood was toasted so we had to replace that along with painting the bumper cover, etc. I had to shoot it with my cheap HVLP gun, and it turned out OK, a few imperfections...but it was fairly successful. I wouldn't start on your T/A as your first project; buy a heap and go to town.

I am not too familiar with the chameleon paints.

I'll zip a file and send it to you.

[PUREPWR]

Ok cool. But yea for sure I wont start on the T/A, I would just go to the junk yard that is like 10 minutes away and buy some fenders and a hood ooff something crappy, just to practice on. I looked on ebay and there was some guns for like 40 or 50 bucks. Are those good enough to paint a car or should I get one of the guns that are like 150 or 200? Also, do i need one of those compresser things, or since these guns im looking at are all gravity ones mean that i dont need one of those.

[markd79ta]

Originally posted by purepwrta
Ok cool. But yea for sure I wont start on the T/A, I would just go to the junk yard that is like 10 minutes away and buy some fenders and a hood ooff something crappy, just to practice on. I looked on ebay and there was some guns for like 40 or 50 bucks. Are those good enough to paint a car or should I get one of the guns that are like 150 or 200? Also, do i need one of those compresser things, or since these guns im looking at are all gravity ones mean that i dont need one of those.

Yes, you definitely need an air compressor. Devilbiss is my favorite manufacturer http://www.devilbiss.com/ You can paint with a cheap gun, and it will look OK, but they don't last very long before you need to put a rebuild kit in it...starts spitting etc. I use a NAPA conventional gun for surfacing primers (some sealing primers); they are pretty thick to run through an HVLP gun. Oh, also, climatic conditions can effect your mixing of the product deviating from what the instructions say. You also use different catalysts for different painting conditions.

There is actually a lot to it. You need to adjust the pattern on your gun, the air pressure, and the volume of product. All products are different which require different settings on your gun. Also, climatic conditions(humidity, pressure, etc.) also effect your gun adjustments. There is a temperature window for every product, and you will need to adjust your gun differently for varying degrees of air temperature. Also, you need to paint in a dust free environment. The painted surface acts like fly paper, and it attracts all of the airborne contaminants and dust (insects.) I had a moth fly into the freshly painted hood on that T/A I sent you. When you are done painting, their is curing window where you need to use 2000 grit paper, sand it down in an even one direction motion, and hit it with a rotary buffer.

Also, there is a lot of prep work to get your surface printable, from fixing dents, and surface priming & sanding, to finish sanding with 400 or 600 grit paper depending on what you are trying to accomplish...I always just finish with 400 for adhesion. Before you paint, the surface needs to be completely free of any contaminants. If it is not, you will get fish eye, and a whole bunch of nasty imperfections in your painted surface. When you do shoot it, there is a fine line between putting on the paint dry (nasty to buff out), and putting it on too wet (where the paint runs off the car or orange peels). I learned how to do this by watching my buddy's dad. It takes time, and a lot of practice to get good at it. I am in the "fair" category because I don't do it enough.

[PUREPWR]

ok thansk for all the tips, ill keep u posted on my progress. I got your email and I really like you 97 t/a. is that a warbird hood, or is it an out law war bird. Also, i have been contemplating getting those wheels. Do you think u can sent me some more pics of car. Mainly from the side so i can see the wheels, and a couple from teh front so i can see the hood. But can you not send them so big they are really hard to view the whole car. thanks tom

[99WS6TA]

well i use a $750 seta jet gravity gun when I used to do body work a couple of years ago. and used a $50 binks vacuum paint gun for primering. but you dont need to spend that kinda of money on a paint gun. i have seen awsome paint jobs with 50-100 dollar paint guns. hell one of my friends just painted his mustang with spray paint cans, and suprisingly it came out looking real good. either way you go good luck.

[PUREPWR]

Does it matter how many really thin coats I put on of both paint and clear coat. Because I want the paint to look really "thick" and "rich" and shiny. I think the facory black paint just looks really thin and bad. And I want it to be really really glossy and shiny. I have heard that the collector edition 96 vette had almost 20 coats of lcear coat. can someone help me out with this.

[Steve95formula]

Normally if you are going to clear coat you want just enough paint to cover the primer from showing through and layer the clearcoat. It least that is what I heard from a PPG reseler. I'm painting my '79 Camaro and am getting a few good tips heard and there. Im using an epoxy primer as a base coat and if there are imperfections like stone chips atc. sand them out and use a sandable primer than is compatable with the paint you are going to use. I speak from experience. I use Omni from PPG wich is a good but afordable paint and primer brand.

[losixxx-ntkid]

I have a Binks model 18 Ive used for about 30 yrs and its always been a great gun.
I have now retired it to primer only service and bought a Mattson.
It is an HVLP pressure feed gun that looks like a suction feed one. They also offer an inverted model that looks like the gravity feed ones for those that prefer that style.
I myself cant get used to the gravity feed style guns so this one fits me perfectly.
I love the pressure feed as the low pressure of HVLP at tip doesnt even enter the equation.
I also like the ability to swap cups and tips with out the gun body.
Check it out you wont be disappointed.