spray painting............

[matty]

has anyone bought a compressor to colour code stuff....

i just use the spray cans but usually you dont get a really shiney smooth finish,

the compressors ive been lookin at have been anything from £60 to £100's

so do u think a cheap one for 60 quid would be ****?

 

[Sy B]

I use 2 compressors at work one is an industrial worth £1500 the other a 240v worth £80, The spray gun i have cost £250, Make sure that the spray guns required PSI is achieveable from the compressor you are considering to purchase or hire one from HSS etc

 

[Barakka]

When thinking about a compressor for spraying you need to look at the size of the tank on it. Basically the tank gets filled with air and you draw it from there to spray.

When the air is coming from the tank you get a nice smooth supply. If you drain the tank and you're drawing air directly from the motor you'll get an uneven supply -not good for spraying !

The size of compressor/tank you need depends on what you want to spray. For spraying small items like wing mirrors, trim panels etc one of the small 24litre jobs will probably do..

Then you can step up to the larger ones, if you're planning on doing full panels or a whole car etc. you need something like a 200 litre one to ensure you get the smooth supply for long enough at once:

There are many steps inbetween as well (50/75/100/150 etc.). I know the owner of a company which sells them, if you want any more info or prices let me know and i'll get in touch and see what they can do. They sell them mostly to the building trade for air powered tools (specialists in air tools), but also do the spray guns etc. and would put a good package together... will be good prices too.

 

[Tom]

Depends what you want to do, if you don't mind so-so finish and you only want to do little things then a cheapie will do the job but get at least 50ltrs.

to get a good finish (apart from lots and lots and lots of practice) you need at least 150ltr compressor and a decent HVLP gun.

Now, what you can get is an HVLP gun driven from what is basically a vacumn cleaner. These start sub £100 and are not half bad. No good for running airtools from though!

 

[matty]

Re: Re: spray painting............

yeah some prices would be exellent, ive given machine mart an email too asking them, all i am spraying is the interior bits ie dash, handles etc, mirrors and the black plastic line that goes all around the outside and possibly a spoiler if i get one,

i dont want a really expensive thing though as i would be only painting little things, all i want is a nice shiney smooth finish, rather than a grainy sandy like finish

 

[Tom]

Re: Re: Re: spray painting............

Search for 'Earlex Spray Station 3000' on the argos website.

Not half bad for the money. Better than any compressor/gun combination unless you are going to spend £500 or more.

 

[kev]

Have you done any spraying b4

Have you done any spraying before - if u havent i wouldnt bother - My car is my passion and i attenpted to spray my kit after a few years of Karting experience and spraying those - My dad has about 30 years of motoring experience and sprayed a few whole cars in weekends when he was younger - Metalic paint is a pain in the arse and the compressor is not good unless u spend loads!!!!!!

Im paying to have mine re-done!

I would seriosly consider paying someone else to do it! That is unless u want to try to get good at it for the future - and then its gunna take a few tries. U need somewhere completelly dry, calm and preferably warm to do it aswell.

Only my opinion though - Kev

 

[Allan Wall]

re

I have a compressor and gun, and its ok for doing little bits when you can get them in a nice environment to do the spraying.

i used it to do all the smaller bits on my dash, and it turned out fine. but i havent got a big enough dust free, etc, etc space to spray anythig larger.

 

[Barakka]

Re: re

Just heard back about the prices for compressors, she wasn't in work yesterday.

They use a brand called Fiac, guess what - they're Italian ! Apparently they've tried many different brands and they're the best in their opinon - builders tend to give them some stick

Apparently for bits of trim and stuff like that a 25litre should be OK. But as Tom said a 50 is prefferable, especially as people tend to buy them for small things and then when they get quite good/brave start on bigger things LOL!

The Entry 25litre is about £115 +VAT (equivalent MachinMart Ranger) with the 50 litre at around £155. They do spray guns, but not hobby ones, just professional spec and they start at about £40.

If you bought the compressor and gun the price would also include, hose, connectors, gauge, and they'd chuck in a blowgun etc. so it's ready to go.

BTW: If anyone is interested in the larger industrial standard ones (100 litre and up) they've just got a batch of re-conditioned ones in at very good prices, but they can get anything. Oh, and they also sell Teng Tools - like Snap-On without the massive cost.

This isn't an advert, just if it helps anyone out - great. If you want anymore info on anything, email me or post here.

Barakka

PS - I heard that if you've got a garage to spray in the best way is to set a heater going for a couple of hours with the door shut to get it nice and warm. Then wet the floor with a hose pipe and the water attracts the dust down from the air by static to create the best possible spraying environment.

 

[Tom]

Re: Re: re

If you are going to wet the floor, hook the air hose to the roof so it does not trail in the muck.

Also make yourself a tent from plastic sheeting to basically make a clean room inside your garage.

Don't forget to wear the proper mask, not the shitty paper things! Get a good vapours mask, preferably with removable filter elements! They are great as you can't even smell the paint.

I need a bigger compressor as my new air-toys drain my 50ltr one in about 15 seconds!

Has to be said, once you've got a compressor and an impact wrench and tyre inflator you won't ever want to do it by hand again!