Spray gun questions

[Mike OMelia]

Normally, I'm not a cheapskate. But for some stupid reason, I have been unable to make myself buy a high end air gun. I base my faulty thinking on the fact that the cheap guns are, well, inexpensive. But no matter how well I clean them, they eventually die. So, my question is, why? Do they corrode internally? Are the expensive guns made out of expensive, corrosion resistant materials? Other than the tips, what makes a gun a good gun? And which one should I get? I'll admit, I fear spending $300 on something that will die. Mike

[John Coloccia]

Double post error

A good gun should last you a LONG time. After it finally dies, usually because you neglected it for many years, you can send a good gun to someone like this, he'll clean it and replace some parts, and it's good as new.

http://www.spraygunrepair.com/

I drove up to his little shop and picked up a rebuild kit for my Devilbiss EGA touch up gun. He's quite a guy. Anyhow, he makes a living cleaning, repairing and refurbishing guns. A good gun should practically last you a lifetime. I bought a great cleaning kit from him too, and he also sells refurbished guns, though I think he mainly sells automotive type guns. But I digress...I just wanted to plug a good guy.

A cheap gun...like the garbage I used to buy....will last you about a year until everything starts to fall apart IF you take exceptionally good care of it. A good gun is a joy to use and a joy to clean. It takes me about 5 minutes to clean the gun I bought from Jeff Hewitt at Homestead. When I say clean, I mean CLEAN. I don't know why. You can call him and ask him. All of my cheap guns take....well, TOOK because I threw them out....forever and a day to clean...and they never got clean.

BTW, a good gun from Jeff will not cost you much more than a piece of junk from Home Depot.

Whatever you do, look into the DeKups disposable cup system from DeVilbiss. I will never go back to anything else. But get yourself a good gun.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mike and John.....I took the liberty of merging the two threads into one while deleting the redundant post and removing that which wasn't relevant.

[Mike OMelia]

Thanks Ken.

John, make a reccomendation. I don't think I want a small gun. Definitely a medium duty/size. I like being able to lay down a layer and not spend a lot of time in the environment. I use waterbornes. So, stainless interior is a must. Rebuild capability is a must as well. Good warranty. I do clean my guns. Almost obsessively. But, I think the waterborne factor is getting me.

Mike

[John TenEyck]

If you are spraying every day you should buy a pro quality gun. If you are like me, however, and spray maybe 5 gals per year, I don't see the need. I've been using a set of 3 knock-off guns that look a lot like those sold by Grizzly, Woodcraft, Rockler and others, that I paid a total of about $120 for and they spray great, at least to me and the people who buy my work, and are easy to clean and maintain. The internals are not stainless steel, although there is a lot of brass. I haven't had any corrosion problems and I only spray WB and shellac. I clean them with soap and water at the end of every day of use and then spray a little alcohol through them to remove any residual water. I'm sure I'd like having a pro quality gun; I just can't justify the cost based on the results and ease of maintenance of what I have.

John

[John Coloccia]

Thanks Ken.

John, make a reccomendation. I don't think I want a small gun. Definitely a medium duty/size. I like being able to lay down a layer and not spend a lot of time in the environment. I use waterbornes. So, stainless interior is a must. Rebuild capability is a must as well. Good warranty. I do clean my guns. Almost obsessively. But, I think the waterborne factor is getting me.

Mike

I spoke with Jeff about my needs, and he recommended the QS-600WB

http://www.homesteadfinishingproduct...spray.htm#guns

I've used it to spray EM6000 and nitro, and both lay down vey well. The 6000, in particular, is not easy to get a good surface with. It really likes to orange peel. This particular gun gets it to lay down far better than the cheaper guns I'd been using. Anyhow, I'd call Jeff and explain what you're tying to spray, and he should be able to guide you. You should be able to get a good, solid gun for under $300. It won't be a Sata, but it also won't cost $700. Since I had cleaning kits and things coming out my ears, I bought the gun only...no kit....maybe it didn't even come with the cup, because I was planning to use DeKups anyway. It only cost me $160 in that stripped down version.

[James Marshall]

A good gun should last you a LONG time. After it finally dies, usually because you neglected it for many years, you can send a good gun to someone like this, he'll clean it and replace some parts, and it's good as new.

http://www.spraygunrepair.com/

I drove up to his little shop and picked up a rebuild kit for my Devilbiss EGA touch up gun. He's quite a guy. Anyhow, he makes a living cleaning, repairing and refurbishing guns. A good gun should practically last you a lifetime. I bought a great cleaning kit from him too, and he also sells refurbished guns, though I think he mainly sells automotive type guns. But I digress...I just wanted to plug a good guy.

A cheap gun...like the garbage I used to buy....will last you about a year until everything starts to fall apart IF you take exceptionally good care of it. A good gun is a joy to use and a joy to clean. It takes me about 5 minutes to clean the gun I bought from Jeff Hewitt at Homestead. When I say clean, I mean CLEAN. I don't know why. You can call him and ask him. All of my cheap guns take....well, TOOK because I threw them out....forever and a day to clean...and they never got clean.

BTW, a good gun from Jeff will not cost you much more than a piece of junk from Home Depot.

Whatever you do, look into the DeKups disposable cup system from DeVilbiss. I will never go back to anything else. But get yourself a good gun.

I would second the use of a good gun. I use DeVilbiss as well dating back to my old JGA gun. There are other good guns like Binks and Sata, but parts are always available for DeVilbiss.

DeKups is amazing as well but you have to get the right adapters and the right size of cups to fit your needs. If you are a cheap skate you can even clean them out. DeKups has poor instructions.

The water based paints, which will become more prevalent, corrode the inside of guns not made for them. I used TCPGLOBAL.com from the web. If you write in they will get back to you.

Jim

[Mike OMelia]

OK. I am narrowing down. I do like the gun you recommended. Have you had any issues with the aluminum body paint or annodization coming off? The kit is a solid deal.

Mike

[John Coloccia]

OK. I am narrowing down. I do like the gun you recommended. Have you had any issues with the aluminum body paint or annodization coming off? The kit is a solid deal.

Mike

Not yet. I've only had it for a few months, but it seems solid. My last gun was a Kobalt (i.e. Lowes brand). It actually had some plastic coated parts that just melted off. LOL. I don't really foresee any problems with the gun. It's a very simple design and the fluid path is all stainless. About the one thing you definitely don't want to do is let waterborne sit in there overnight and dry, because it will be a pain to get out. That may be worth a trip to Paul unless you have a lot of time and patience. Other than that, I suspect this gun will last a good long time. I spoke with Jeff a bit about it when I bought it (because I had the same concerns, in addition to parts availability in the future), and he told me that he hasn't had any problems with the hundreds that he's sold and that parts are not an issue.

But I encourage you to speak to him yourself. He may have an even better fit for your particular application.

[Mike OMelia]

My application is the same as yours John.

[John Coloccia]

My application is the same as yours John.

So far, I've sprayed shellac, 6000 and nitro and have been very happy. I use my Devilbiss EGA for doing bursts...it's probably the best little touchup gun on the planet, like an overgrown airbrush, but everything else is with the 600WB. The 6000 definitely goes on very nicely with this gun when you dial it in. My cheap HD gun always gave me a good amount of orange peel. I don't know how the 600WB would do for bursts. I know that my Devilbiss outperforms it since it outperforms most so I've simply never tried.

What I love about this gun is the finish goes on very softly with minimal overspray. It just sort of gently lays on the surface. The way I setup my spray booth is I have 120PSI or so coming through a bulkhead fitting, and that goes off to two regulators. One regulator is just air for blowing stuff off. The other is my gun. I found that this is the best way to get consistent airflow. If you just set the regulator at the compressor for 40PSI, or whatever, the recovery through 50' of air line is ridiculously bad. I have about 120PSI through the line, and then knock it down in the booth and only have a few feet of hose to the gun. That works a lot better. I suppose a regulator on the gun would work too but I hate the bulkiness of that.

The Asturo you're looking at is a nice gun too, but I believe that there is at least SOME overlap in Asturo's lineup and Homestead's where they actually carry some of the same guns but they're branded differently. I seem to recall some falling out between Jeff and Asturo, but can't really recall the details. I don't have any experience with Asturo, but I have no reason to believe you wouldn't be happy. Once you get out of the Harbor Freight/Home Depot market and start buying from actual finish dealers, I think you'll find that as long as you spend over, say $100 ,you'll probably end up with a decent gun, and then it's just a matter of picking the right one for your application. For me, it was the 600WB. If you need to do bursts, maybe the 125WB is a better choice, and I do believe that is practically identical to one of the Asturos.

[Mike OMelia]

Well, for now, I am between the asturo and qs600 (kits). Two things leave me undecided, and one I may have to call about. I do know that homestead is a good outfit. The aluminum body worries me. Stainless will be completely unaffected by the WB stuff. I like the fact you can spray volitiles and wbs with the qs600. I'm not sure that is true (yet) with the asturo (if the seals can handle it)

Mike

[John Coloccia]

As far as I know, all of the Asturos are aluminum bodies also. I think that's pretty standard or the gun would weight a ton. By "All Stainless" they mean everything that finish touches.

[Ed Edwards]

I've been using a Binks #7 with S-W moisture resistant lacquer, great fining but the over spraay is visious (sp).
Now I'm considering an Applo 1035 Hvlp 4 stage unit and the 7500 gun,

any thoughts

Thanks,Ed

[John TenEyck]

I'm always amazed at how everyone tends to anguish over what gun to buy and over think spray equipment in general. It's just another tool. There's nothing mysterious or magical about it. Pick one that meets your needs and is within your budget and have at it. I like top quality tools as much as the next guy, but IMHO unless you are a pro who earns his living with it there is no need to spend big bucks on a spray gun. Even the modest guns I've used spray great, are easy to clean and maintain, and are plenty durable. Just sayin'.

John