I paid a guy to paint my unmentionable car and it came out beutiful. I laid primer with an older suction gun which was new in the late 80s. From time to time I have painted farm machinery with it. Now I have been working on a truck. I am planning to save some money by painting it myself. I also have a 1931 model A in line for paint. I am no professional painter and I know I cant compete at that level. Air compressor is not an issue or concern. I am looking at a new gravity fed hvlp gun. I see the devilbiss finishline guns at the $200 price range. The old suction gun can still lay the primers down. Mainly thinking single stage paints. Is this a good gun for the price or are there better options in this range?
I have those at school. They are ok but the pattern is small in my opinion. I don’t like how they spray single stage. The Anest Iwata has a similar priced set up. These spray better in my opinion. I don’t like spraying primer thru the same gun I paint with. A cheap HF gun is good for that.
I spray a LOT of SPI epoxy through the Harbor Freight purple gun. For heavier primers I like my Green Titan gun. I bought an Accuspray system and hate it. For base, I found a steal on a Sata Jet 4000 that was new in box. I change the needle and spray clear with the Sata as well
The harbor freight purple gun does a good job... I think its 29 dollars.... I have painted a couple of vehicles withit and had pretty good results
I use the HF purple HVLP for primer and a Sharpes Cobalt for painting with good results. I think the biggest secret to getting a good paint job is following the instructions, right mix ratios, pressures and setting up the gun.
I really like my devilbiss GTI. Comes with 3 tips to cover single stage, clear and base. Don't and Won't do primer with it. They are available for under $400. The famous purple guns does primer, chassis, underhood etc. The Finish line is OK, but lacks fan size and multiple nozzles as standard.
When it comes to spray guns everyone is going to have an opinion. Primer just buy a cheap HF gun. Starts acting up toss it and buy another. I have a devilbiss dv1 for base coats. Sagola 4600 extreme for clears. Sata rp for sealers, devilbiss and optima for sander surfacer.I have had iwata's and sata's as well. The iwata never felt right in my hand. Comfort plays a big part. I really don't think you should buy 1 gun. Just my opinion
As everyone sez, HF purple gun is great for primer. Regular price is 15.99 and they run run them on sale all the time for 9.99. Easy to stock up with at that price.
https://www.eastwood.com/iwata-air-gunsa-1-3mm-hvlp-gravity-spray-paint-gun-and-cup-9230.html We bought a couple of these for school They spray great and come in a variety of tip sizes. So far it’s the best spraying “economy” guns I have used. Much better pattern and atomization than the devilbiss In my opinion anyway.
I have been using the Finishline HVLP gun for years & like it, but I don't do single stage stuff. I bought a Techna Copper along with the plastic cup system recently, but haven't tried it yet. Here is my most recent complete with the Finishline. God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
I buy 2-3 HF purple guns, every time I go. They are fine for primer/sealer. I clean, prep, and prime everything intended to be painted, as soon as I get possession of it. The big-guns (expensive) come out for final sealer, and top costs.
One of the guys I am on FB with who turns out a lot of AD Chevy trucks does just that. Buys them by the cart load on sale and calls them disposable.
Agree with all of the above. I'm not a fan of any of the HVLP guns for spraying base, clear, or single stage. Anything I've tried is slow and you have to be right on the surface to get the paint to flow and avoid orange peel. Iwata has the W-400 Bellaria that can be bought without the cup for about $180 on ebay including shipping. I'd guess that's the one Anthony is mentioning. Cups can be bought from multiple sources for about 8 to 15 bucks that fit the Iwata as the attachment thread is universal among most all brands. Iwata's cups are way overpriced. I've got an Iwata LPH-400 that cost about twice as much as the Bellaria. It sprays nice, but is so slow it about drove me nuts. Bought the Bellaria based on reviews from The Gunman on youtube, and I prefer it 10 to 1 over the LPH. The Bellaria is a reduced pressure (RP) gun rather than HVLP, and sprays much more like a DeVilbiss JGA or Binks #7 but without the overspray of a suction gun. It needs slightly less than 10 cfm of air while many of the HVLP guns will use 15 to 17 cfm which means the absolute minimum compressor to feed them is a 5 hp. A compressor with 3 real hp will run the Bellaria. All the above is just personal preference and spraying style, but I'd say that most anyone who's got a lot of past experience using a good suction type gun would prefer an RP gun over an HVLP. Sata makes some nice RP guns as well, but with their current prices pushing a thousand bucks, they're way out of my amateur budget. The HF purple gun is great for epoxy primer. For 2K high build primer, the Vaper guns from Northern Tool with a 1.8 or 2.0 tip are good and fairly cheap alternatives as the 1.4 tip on the purple gun isn't big enough for spraying high build.
X2 on the RP guns And the 1.4 tip on the HF guns struggle with polly primers. The Vaper 1.7-2.0 guns can handle that cheaply. I haven’t had any issues with the Iwata or Sata guns as far as speed. I can lay down clear as fast as I can move em. The devilbiss is the one that seems slow. Mainly because of a small pattern.
For under 200 I suggest the sharpes cobalt. I have one that I've painted a bunch of cars with. To be honest its all been base clear. Got a binks 7 for single stage. Also agree cheap gun for primers.
I painted my car with a HF 68843 hvlp gun and it laid out really nice. Just a heads up, I took a HF hvlp and drilled out the tip as much as I could without losing the needle seat and it sprayed poly no problem.
I suppose I have been lucky but I have over the last few years found several top line guns at pawn shops, a SataJet RP3000 which is a reduced pressure gun $75, and an Iwata Super Nova WS-400 EVO which is classed as an EPA approved gun, but runs at 30 PSI so I'm not sure if it's classified as an HVLP, $200. I love them both and both have a multitude of tips and nozzles available. Do a little research to find out how to tell if they are worn out, nozzles and tips don't last forever. I use them for base/clear and I bought a Neiko 31215A Air Spray Gun, 40 Psi, HVLP with 1.7mm Nozzle from Amazon for primer and epoxy and works well, it's a good quality $50 gun. I also went with the 3M paint cup system which is very handy for mixing and spraying on multiple guns, you just need to buy the threaded adapter for each of your guns, about $25. You get one hard plastic main container and box of disposable plastic inserts, built in filters, very cool. Have a look at GunMan's You tube channel, he's a painter in Australia but be prepared to spend hours watching him put various guns through their paces, very informative. Cheers https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzJ7rCZtG8GVVKjv8_eynUg
I am painting my own truck as well and I sprang for one of these. I figure I'm saving $20,000 + doing it myself, why not buy a nice gun, high end materials, blow up paint booth and give myself the best chance of a nice looking paint job?
both of these work good . the blue one is on sale 10 bucks the red one is better $65 and they have a black gun for $200 . Supposedly very good quality . never used it , but old blue n red have painted hundreds of forklifts over the years with single stage and look great .
Good question. I have considered buying one of those myself. e have a high end down draft booth at work, but if the blow up boothes work decent it could save my having to haul my projects to my job to spray them
HF offers a couple larger replacement needle and nozzle sizes for the purple gun that squirts heavy primer just fine. #25942 2.2MM tip #25943 1.9MM tip
Went to HF yesterday and got a couple of these… Got them on sale with a coupon I copied that was posted on here, thanks @blowby! Now I’m looking for the optional tips… Can’t seem to find them anywhere on the HF website, anybody know what’s up with the part numbers? Is there a prefix or some trick to finding them? Thanks again to the HAMB helping me spend my money, although this time it was just 4 gallons worth!
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