Best paint gun to use?

Hi,

I've had 6 years experience doing kustom painting for my projects and friends' projects with spray cans. Many of you may cringe at reading this, but again 90% of paint is all about clean preparation and starting out at 14 I didn't have the money to do Larry Watson paint jobs. It's time I move up to a spray gun though, I've seen my limitations like thousands of others. Wanting to do more than just basic paint jobs, mostly working with kandy paints, pearls, and metallics, what would you recommend as a really good gun to use that's not all that expensive for someone who's never sprayed with a gun before with pure dedication to learn?

Anyone had any experience with this or is it just another toy gun?
http://www.amazon.com/Devilbiss-StartingLine-Paint-Priming-Spray/dp/B001KP4DNE/ref=pd_sbs_auto_1

Thanks, I appreciate your feedback!

 

Use the supernova by iwata. Best gun you will ever use. Or the Sata 3000 is a good gun also.

 

Oh I also forgot to mention i want variable size nozzles and all that. Again I'm not experienced with guns, maybe this is already a feature? Need to do fogging and edges and that sort.

 

Thanks I'm looking them up. Anyone kind in particular to doing any Larry Watson styling or Dean Jefferies?

 

devilbiss GTI millenium, awesome gun alot of professional painters use them. they come with a 1.3,1.4,1.5 tips. tp tools usually is the cheapest on price. The thing with sata is if you want to change tips you gotta buy the needle and all. which is big bucks when you considered you probably payed 500 for just the gun.

 

I use an iwata LPH-400. It's an older model but it lays down the clear coat beautifully

 

The Sata is about the best gun you can buy. When you're spraying HVLP, your most important consideration is pressure at the head. Adjusting the inlet pressure will give you an idea as to what is the correct pressure, but there's no way to be sure. The Sata has a digital gauge built in so you can read pressure directly from the head. Definitely the Cadillac of spray guns, and really for true ballers only.

If you're just getting into the game, which it sounds like, it doesn't make sense for you t go out and drop that kind of dough on the finest equipment. Go get yourself a Devilbiss Finishline, a lower line Sata, or even a Kobalt gun from Lowe's, and learn to mix and spray paint the right way first. Then once you get the knack of it, upgrade when you feel necessary.

Once gun isn't going to cut it for everything anyway. You'll need a cheaper gun with a larger tip for spraying primer, a base/clear gun for your finish, a small gun for jambs, and a gun with a huge tip for spraying flake if you ever need to. One step at a time

 

Devilbis spoken here, I have a Plus, a GTi, a FLH3 primer cannon, an SRi & a couple of others


If you want to learn how to *handle* a gun the easiest thing to do is buy some $15 POS from Horrible Fright & go paint your fence with water. That's about the cheapest way to get used to handling one.

 

I second the motion. Love the supernova.

 

Although the gun is important for a good finish, just as important is the air supply.
You will need a good size compressor, and moisture and oil removal system.
Check CFM requirements of the gun(s) you will be using and make sure they don't exceed the compressors ability to supply those needs.
Also be sure to use a good respirator to protect your HEALTH!
Have fun and Good Luck!

 

I went out andd bought me one of them thar Binks #7 guns payed a couple of weeks pay for it when i got it. used it for a while and got good with it. then all kinds of new fangle guns came along tryin to be as good as that one was. Over the years I have tried most of them I have beat to death every top load gun I have ever owned (I get about four or five good swings with a three pound maul on a 205lb anvil and I have a hard time finding parts to hit again) Now days I go to HF and I buy a $16 binks look a like and when It give me trouble I go get another. I find for the price they are hard to beat ( prefer the ones with the metal frame)

Oh and yes I did beat the crap out of a $300 Sata once.

 

Get a devilbiss Finish Line gun, they are a very nice gun that can be easily rebuilt. then step it up from there if you feel the need. but the finish line gun will take care of you for a long time.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/spraygundepot/itemdetail.aspx?itemno=DEV+FLG-654

heres a complete set with 3 tips for $170.00

 

The Devilbiss Finishline guns are great, I've shot several cars with them. The only bitch I have is that parts don't interchange with the pro line of Devilbiss stuff, so I can't get parts from my local paint supply.

 

use sata 1.3 for kandy jobs . iwatas are nice for clearcoat but half the material goes in the air.

 

Looks like a good starter set. I would hate to spend big bucks and be disappointed. The biggest key is "Keep it clean" Shoot primer with a primer only gun. Practice a lot,don`t be afraid to ask questions. I used to paint model cars with a fly spray pump ,unthinned paint. My right arm is twice the size of the left LOL. No not from what you are thinking,I`m ambidextrious.

 

I've run a Harbor Freight gun with absolutley no problems. Just like any gun keep it clean and it will work forever. gravity fed hvlp.

 

Get a cheap gun, and spend the difference on paint to practice with.

I bought a Harbor Freight gun to shoot primer with, and am using it for everything now. I'm sure a Sata or Iwata would be an improvement. But the dust from my garage paint booth is a bigger problem than my cheap gun.

 

i`m agreein with the guys that have the harbor freight junky guns......if you are just starting, no booth, no very nice water seperation system, why spend 500 on a gun, those are very nice.....but for driveway/garage paintjobs....way too much money...i have and use the cheap guns from harbor freight...they work pretty good, and if they get too dirty, throw em out........then when you turn pro, you can gett all that fancy stuff......but using a 500 dollar gun as an amateur is not very cost effective......gotta save the money for the 10000 dollar paint booth you should have......lol

 

I bought my FInishline from Smartshoppers.com for a bit under 100$. Can't beat that for the price. YOu can also buy the tip kits for primer, which is also good for flake, for a good price.
I'd stay away from the super low priced stuff, just like I would with any other tool.
But for quality, can't beat Sata .

 

You know they just used basic siphon type spray guns, right?



There are no magic spray guns, those guys had skills. More about pressure, spray pattern, distance from the surface being sprayed, etc.

I appreciate what your asking - but most any modern spray gun you buy nowdays is gonna be leaps and bounds better than what those guys used. BTW you know "best" and "inexpesnive" are usually opposites, right?

]

 

I agree that when you're starting out there are better places to spend your money than on a top of the line paint gun. As well as the HF guns work, it's hard to justify spending more. They're almost throw aways.

A couple years ago my neighbor the Devilbiss rep offered me a killer deal on trade-in paint booths. I could have gotten an old style booth like in the above picture for $500. The weather's good enough here you can get by with just pouring a slab next to your shop and bolting the booth down. You can't hardly build another stall for $500. That's the sort of thing to put your money in.

 

devilbiss is the best brand I've used.

 

Used the cheapies, got half decent with those then bought a Pro-tech gravity gun. Got pretty good with that then got a killer deal on a Copper Devilbiss Tekka, digital air control too as part of the package deal. Havn't used it ye but can't wait to try it. I would agree with most that you should get used to spraying with a cheaper gun while learning technique. You can get pretty good results with a cheaper gun. I like the gravity fed ones. Once you feel comfortable spraying then step up to a more expensive model.

 

I have been doing body and paint work since high school in 1966. I have used syphon feeds, gravity feeds, HVLP, and non-HVLP...a spray gun is only as good as the paint and the skill of the painter. My recommendation is to buy a cheap HF HVLP gun and start learning how to mix paint. There's nothing that you can learn from a book or a video that's better than actually mixing paint and spraying it. Once you get to the point where you know how much reducer to use for the given weather conditions and how you personally lay the paint on...then move on to a more expensive gun. I doesn't matter if you have a Devilbiss, a SATA, an IWATA, or a HF...if the paint isn't reduced correctly or you don't spray it correctly, you are going to have a mess. Going from rattle cans to a full-sized spray gun is a big jump...wider fanout, higher pressure, and wetter coats without runs are all in your future. Have fun with it...start cheap and then buy a Cadillac gun.

 

Thank you! I found this post as well as others very useful, although I have to really agree with you it sounds good to work my way up. I really need to learn the technique and control using a gun, it's completely new to me. My Dad has an HVLP gun, I'll ask him exactly what it is and practice with that, maybe buy my own of that exact one and do my projects with it.

Thank you again! One day in the future I'll get my "Cadillac gun."

 

yeah,,and LPH 400 Iwata

 

Iwata just released the hybrid supernova LS-400H. I never used it yet,but im sure its great.

 

Sata is the best u can buy I have 4 just ordered 2 more

 

Thanks, yes I'm aware of that.

After reading this thread, since I've also pondered enamel vs. laquer for a long time, I've concluded I want to spray in laquer but using a good basic spray gun today that would be the equivalent of what was used back then.

With spray cans I've always wanted to see just how good I could do with how little, so I prefer to be on a low budget and see just how good you can achieve through skill and practice. Not looking for the most expensive thing out there. A gun for a buck and a half sounds good to me!

Thanks for your post.

 

If you're going to do ALOT of painting, just go to a paint shop and hold each gun in yer hand....pull the trigger a few times, get a FEEL for it....find one you like, and if it's outta yer price range, find a used one on Ebay or CL. I got a killer deal on my Sata, but I still end up using my less expensive Cornwell brand HVLP on 90% of my paintwork, only because it feels better in my hand.
While a HF gun "works", the trigger pull is not smooth and isn't very comfortable (to me anyway), but it does fine for shooting flake.