HVLP gun questions

The "purple" HVLP conversion type guns from Harbor Freight have a number of positive reviews from various auto body forums. A friend of mine got one and uses it for poly on woodworking projects and reports it works well. These guns are regularly on sale for $40 or less and there are a couple sizes and a version with a remote paint tank.

I have a binks HVLP gun, a high end chinese gun, and a harbor freight gun, - I haven't used the harbor freight one yet - the binks cost $450, the chinese one $150, the HF $14 - I use the binks for putting paint on cars, I use the chinese one for putting primer on cars - I also used it to paint the imron on my delta drill press (photos on my web site) - the Binks is nicer - you can decide if it's enough nicer
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I bought an Ingersoll rand HVLP gun. I figured that they would not make junk.
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What sorts of paints can I use with them? Will thinned oil paint work?

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:57:48 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus21958 quickly quoth:
Generally, you figure out what paints you want to shoot and match the gun to that range. (Unless you're too che^H^H^Hfrugal, as I am.)
HVLPs don't shoot latex well at all, but warming the paint, adding thinner and Floetrol helps a whole lot. That's all I've shot with my HF HVLP gun so far.
Alkyd and oil paints shoot a bit better with their lighter viscosities. Your gun should have a suggested thinning and mixing chart in the instructions, Ig.
Also, buy a viscosity cup and use it. I found that and cheap filter cones on eBay. Use them every time and clean up the gun with the proper solvents the -second- you stop shooting with it.
-- Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials. -- Lin Yutang

Thanks Larry. I am very excited about this HVLP concept. I hope that it works as well as I imagine.

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:24:00 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus21958 quickly quoth:
It doesn't work much better than a good gun, but it sure is less messy and cheaper to use with expensive products. I haven't really gotten a lot of experience with it yet, but I picked up Andy Charron's painting books so I could look into it more deeply when that bug bit me, too. and
I found out that the local shops wanted FOUR GRAND to paint a truck. I bought the gun and then sold my old truck complete with blems instead of repainting it, figuring that the paint job would probably only fetch another $500 and might cost $300 to shoot. I sold my Ford for $1,100 instead of maybe $1,600.
The thick enamel I shot with the gun did tend to blotch until I got it thinner, then it tended to run. Isn't experience fun to gather? ;)
I repainted my old 1920 Davis and Wells table saw with an alkyd paint, but I used a brush. (This was before I got the HVLP gun.) It went on nicely and self-leveled wonderfully. Spraying is quicker, though, but not by much once you've included mixing and cleanup chores in the overall time.
-- Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials. -- Lin Yutang

Just bought the first one that you mentioned. Thank you.
I think that I want to paint my trailer, as I do not want it to rust.

I have been using these disposable paint cups on my gravity feed guns. They pay for themselves in saved time, lacquer thinner and disposal costs. I get mine through my Auto Value PPG paint rep. Here is the same product online. There is also a gun cleaning bottle available although I can't find it online that really saves on thinner usage too. Similar to this but mine has a different cap and tube. Devilbiss DPC-8 Gun Cleaning Bottle
for RBL 325 Disposable Economy Paint Cup & Filter System, 50/bx
Steve

For me, painting has had the biggest learning curve of any of the skills I have learned. Here are some hints that have worked for me:
As with any gun, disassemble and clean the gun when you are finished. Skip mineral spirits and go for lacquer thinner. Much hotter. You can reclaim dirty solvent to clean dirty gun parts. You can usually get away with only a few ounces of fresh clean solvent each go around. Wear nitrile gloves.
If your gun isn't equipped with an air pressure valve, put one in line right before the gun. It makes adjustment much easier. You'll need less air than you think. Start with the paint and air valves closed & work up to acceptable coverage. Otherwise you'll have overspray all over the garage, house, hvac system, etc...
Use a mesh strainer. With cheaper paints, all kinds of debris is filtered out.
Use a good quality respirator with the appropriate filters. I use a 3M 6200 facepiece with 3M 6001 filters.
Use good paint. I use Sherwin Williams. Cheap paint will have you chasing your tail trying to figure out what the problem is. Most of the painting I do is ironwork. I use industrial alkyd enamels reduced with xylene.
I usually get the worst results with fast-dry paint.
Don't paint too thick of a coat. It'll take forever and a day to dry.
Obviously store paint and solvents away from ignition sources, preferably in a haz-mat cabinet.
I'm not a painter, I'm an "AINT"-er.
Happy shootin'

The cheapy HF units are just fine. JR Dweller in the cellar
Ignoramus25555 wrote:

That's why I used acrylic lacquer on the three cars I painted in years past. First, I was able to use an oilless, tankless Sears compressor. It was plenty of pressure and volume. Second, in no time at all, you can sand the last layer you screwed up right off of there, and shoot it again until you get it right.
It may not be the toughest paint around, but five or six coats and some elbow grease sure does make it shine. d8-)
-- Ed Huntress

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:32:00 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Up North" quickly quoth:
I said: That's $80 delivered to me, a few more than I'd need for a decade or two. They look handy for frequent painters, though.
-- The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it. -- Edith Wharton

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:32:21 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed Huntress" quickly quoth:
Lacquer is sweet, isn't it? I often helped the painter prep cars (OK, for a few minutes at a time, waiting for the beer to get there) and the acrylic lacquers were easy to smooth/remove runs. That guy, Dennis, could make any metalflake stand at precisely the correct angle to match the existing paint and the repainted patch would be invisible 5 years later. Other painters' work would start showing flaws within a few months. Dennis was a true artist with a gun.
Now put on a polymer sealant and it'll shine without added elbows. The Scot side of me likes NuFinish, $6.50 at Wally. Easy wipeon, easy buffoff. A better finish, which I'll try when this jug is gone, is Klasse (German import, about $20.)
-- The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it. -- Edith Wharton

Yes. For the beginner who wants the job to turn out right, and who doesn't mind sanding out his mistakes, it's damned near sure-fire. Since I painted a car about every two or three years, there was no way I was going to accumulate enough experience to get a good-looking job with enamel, and I don't even want to think about what I'd have to go through to spray polyurethane. I'll leave those for the experts. Lacquer is for everyman, and it can look great if you don't mind putting in some work.
I'd never even attempt it. That's where it's worth it to pay an experienced hand.
Well, I was talking about sanding out the orange peel and the dry spray and runs. A series of wet-and-dry, up to 800 grit (I went to 2,000 the last time, but it wasn't worth it, because the rubbing compound did the job just as well after 800) will take care of anything but fisheye. Then the DuPont No. 7, good wax, and it's done.
I never did like the stuff. I used it on my wife's Mazda (an '87, notorious for its soft paint) and it just didn't shine as well as it did when I used Meguiar's. I did patch comparisons and I could see the difference.
I used Classic in the old days, and Meguiar's more recently. Classic was really great for hand waxing the softer finishes like lacquer because it had a lot of jeweler's rouge in it. It wasn't very good on harder paints.
I'll keep it in mind.
-- Ed Huntress

notes on lacquer
1. it is brittle and it shrinks as it dries - thick coats will crack - I have to redo some of a car that has never been out of the garage for this reason
2. it is not available in districts where VOC is an issue, such as much of California
3. a trick with lacquer - sand to about 400 and get it flat, then spray a thin coat of slow thinner - that will give you the shine and let you quickly see if your job is any good - not like a buffed shine but plenty good enough to look for little ripples and whatnot
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Yes, they do seem expensive for a box of 50 and that is how I buy them. About a buck apiece and no shipping. They should be available individually through a body shop or paint supplier as they are with my source. Handy also for storing unused paint for a week or two and swapping colors in the middle of a job. Steve

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:22:37 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Up North" quickly quoth:
Steve, how do you remove the cup without losing paint?!?
-- The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it. -- Edith Wharton

I put the plug in the vent, flip the gun upside down put the lid on the work bench and unscrew the gun. The cups come with a plug for both the vent and the bottom or gun end. Steve

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:30:31 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Up North" quickly quoth:
Handy!
-- The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it. -- Edith Wharton