Got some gear, need some advice on keeping the gear good and some advice on painting.

[acarmody]

So I managed to get myself a fairly good bargain IMO today from an uncle. Paid $500 for a fairly old but hardly used Ingersoll Rand 3hp twin-piston compressor and some tools. See picks below. Have no idea on specs since I can't find any manuals or whatever, though my uncle thinks its a 14CFM compressor though hes not 100% sure.

Anyway, since it has been in storage for a few year, I changed the oil and the air filter, made sure all the water was out, and gave it a good looking over, seemed good so hooked it up and it ran fine.

Anyway I'm thinking of painting my car one day (I know, I know, I'm a gluten for punishment) but first I will get a crap load of practice on some MDF and a spare bonet if I can find one. SoI was wondering if anyone can tell me some tips for keeping the gear good and also for doing some acrylic painting on some MDF.

I know that I need to drain the tank every use, and need to clean the gun every time, but with kerosene or is there some special stuff? What tools do you oil? Anything you guys and gals can think off just toss it up. Right now I'm the definition of noob at this stuff.

BTW, ol' school gear for the win, check out the filter/regulator. When I walked into the store with that to get a nitto connector for it (had old style connector) the salesman eyes bugged out, LOL.

Also generally are Samson and Arnold gear any good?

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/8802/snc00462.jpg
http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/392/snc00463r.jpg
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6109/snc00464.jpg
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/4582/snc00465.jpg
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/6028/snc00468.jpg

If this belong in the Spray Painting and Panel Beating section then sorry, and please move it.

[vkberlina]

great compressor good buy. Much much better than a new elcheapo unit
I have its big brother a 3 phase twin piston, might be worth changing its oil a few times, if it hasnt been services flush the compressor out with deisel a couple of times then fill it up aith sae30 run it for a bit till warm, dump the oil and fill it up again, mine took about 3 changes before it stays clean. If you intend on spraying I would buy a new regulator you can buy one with a guage for around $60-80.

Your best bet if you do a bit of painting go to an automotive paint supplier and buy a 20L drum of GP thinner with a tap and have it on a bench at home, clean the gun out with it each use, dont oil it.

You will find if it still works it would be ok I would use the gun for primer etc it hasnt got a pressure adjustment which is handy on gun and better than the inline adjusters. I would buy a new good gun for painting the car with something like a devilbiss top feed. If you want to repaint the compressor I think I have the paint codes for the color somewhere I repainted mine when I got it but mine looked pretty nasty.

You only oil tools like sanders, dirgrinders etc dont oil spray guns. Just a drop of air tool oil before and after every use.

You will find MDF will soak up too much paint, practice on steel, paint anything from BBQ settings, just look around the house. Get a couple of old mud guards, bonnet & boot lid and prep and paint them practice blocking them down etc, buy a 20l drum of wax and grease remover, maybe a roll of plastic masking, 3/4 & 2 inch masking tape. Just remember the better your preperation the better the finish, and keep your spray area clean wash it all out before you spray. The plastic masking rolls are great as you can screen off a spray area and it will attract spray mist/over spray too it.

Personally after using 2pac I will never spray acrylic again.

cheers
Scott

[acarmody]

Good advice, cheers. Might go and fine some old panels, and practice on that. I'm hoping to find a decent condition bonnet, and practice on that. Keep painting and then sanding off again until I can get a decent technique.

Would something like pine be better for practicing on?

And I'll do a few oil flushes like you recommend. How long do you run it with diesel?

[vkberlina]

Most timber will soak up paint like a sponge, I would stick to steel, find someone wreaking a car and just offer them $10 a panel tell them what you want it for, even ask at a wreakers. tell them you dont care what its off as long as its reasonably straight some wreakers have selected cars each week in a save it from the metal recyclers special

Dont run it with deisel, I didnt I just over filled it full left it over night then drained it the next morning, I also took the oil level inspection window off and blasted degreaser intot he bottom and drained it out, mainly this white gunk came out. When refilled the SAE30 I turned it over by hand a dozen times then fired it up, ran it till the oil changed color and it warmed up then drained it and refilled with fresh oil which after 30hours of use is still clean.

Also just another thought, call your local tafe and see if they do adult education courses for panel beating and spray painting, some tafes ran them of a night.

cheers
Scott

[acarmody]

Yeah a local TAFE does do that course, I was deciding whether or not to do it, looks like I might.

I used some compressor oil that a compressor service place recommended, 68 or something, this stuff, Product . That usable?

EDIT: Just had a look, the course apparently looks at spraying acrylic lacquer. Might not be so good after all.

[ari666]

good score from doing a bit of research (i.e. asking on this forum) i have found this: DEVILBISS SGK 600 1.4 Gravity Spray Gun HVLP paint shop - eBay Paint, Body Supplies, Tools, Car, Truck Parts, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 03-Nov-10 07:44:23 AEDST) im going to go have a look at it this afternoon, but looks like a bargain at this stage. i also bought a set of guns from supercheap auto for 80 bucks. there were three in there. a 1.7mm tip for putty, 1.4 for base, and a 1.0mm for small touch ups. the 1.4 and 1.0 are pretty much useless but will be good for parts for the 1.7 and 80 bucks you cant really go wrong hey?

for my tools i run 2 air lines. one 'clean' line for the spray gun and one 'oiled line' for the tools. i suck at remembering to oil them so i have an auto drip feed that feeds oil into the stream of air. all you have to do is check it every couple of weeks. been using an oil feed at work for the last 12 years and the cheap crappy tools i bought from the chinease junk shop 10 or so years ago are still running strong.

as vkberlina said, spraying timber is in no way a reflection of spraying steel. itll be almost impossible to get runs on wood cos' it just absorbs the paint, so you may think your getting pretty good at it, spraying steel and waaaay over do it. buy yourself a fridge for beer in the garage and practice on the door. doing it that way will mean you will have to practise rubbing back old paint too, which is IMO harder that painting. so far i have found that getting a good result is a matter or 15 hours of prep and 20 seconds of spray painting, so remember, its what you do BEFORE you paint that will make it look good.

i was using thinner to clean my guns, but i am trying gun cleaner out. its a bit cheaper and seems to work better, but the downside is you cant use it to thin primers with, so itll mean you need 2 products. thinner was working fine before. but buy yourself a gun cleaning kit too. paintmobile have one for 30 bucks and its awesome, has these tiny little bottle brushes, metal picks, all sorts of things you need to clean out the nooks and crannys of the gun.

[acarmody]

Thanks ari666, when you have had a look at the gun post up how it looks, I might be interested in getting one too.

I'll see if I can get some random bonnet or something from a wreckers, just don't know how I'll get it home, no trailer my ol' man wants to build one though

[acarmody]

I just made some videos (be gentle its my first time ) of me fooling around with my spray gun. Some advice/feedback would be great.

Ignore the huge spray in the first video, the second video explains it.

Also see if you can spot the word 'hectic' in the vids, yes it is a joke, no I don't normally speak like that.

[ari666]

just picked up my gun only sprayed etch primer at this stage but its MMMMMMuch better than the super cheap auto gun. feels really nice and everything went down flat, but the test will be to see if metallic goes on evenly.

anyway, advice based on what you posted is:

1. there is no way to give good advice over the net
2. " " without spraying actual paint and seeing the pattern
3. dont wave the gun around like that. the trigger should come off at the end of each stroke. the more systematic you can be the move enevly the paint will land. what you will find if you keep holding the trigger at the end of the stroke, lower the gun to the next stroke and go back in the other direction is that you will get massive runs on the edges cos' the stream is staying in that area longer than the middle. left to right, trigger off, right to left, trigger off etc.

mess with your fan and quantities too. you will need to get good at guessing how much paint you will need flowing cos' on a hot day it would be ok to have heaps coming out, but on a cold day you may need to take it a bit easier.


the only real way to learn is to play with the settings and see what happens. but yeah, i have never used one of those guns, only ever used gravity fed.

lol, just watched vid #1... that is mentally too much air! it only really needs to mist. not a frikken cyclone

[vkberlina]

I would still do the acrylic course the principles you learn will transfer to 2pac. you will just need to learn how to mix 2pac and a few other tricks with it.

As for cleaning guns I keep just GP thinner and use it to clean guns, thin primer, paint etc, Its easier than keeping 2 lots of virtually the same thinner. I also keep 2pac thinner which is handy for finishing coats of acrylic with humidity problems and for 2pac of course.

As for the oil I use SAE30 as its much cheaper than "compressor" oil but the same grade. I paid about $30 for 5L of Penrite oil, I use it in my lawn mower, air compressor, pump motors, log splitter saves keeping multiple oils and the price is better.

cheers
Scott

[acarmody]

I would still do the acrylic course the principles you learn will transfer to 2pac. you will just need to learn how to mix 2pac and a few other tricks with it.

Yeah I will definately look into it.

As for the oil I use SAE30 as its much cheaper than "compressor" oil but the same grade. I paid about $30 for 5L of Penrite oil, I use it in my lawn mower, air compressor, pump motors, log splitter saves keeping multiple oils and the price is better.

I just bought some more compressor oil to follow your advice with the flushing and diesel, I just paid $45 for 5L so not too bad.

just picked up my gun only sprayed etch primer at this stage but its MMMMMMuch better than the super cheap auto gun. feels really nice and everything went down flat, but the test will be to see if metallic goes on evenly.

If you don't mind me asking, what did it cost? And what model?

lol, just watched vid #1... that is mentally too much air! it only really needs to mist. not a frikken cyclone

On the positive side, it might have some possibilities for putting car wash on.

On another note, when I was picking up the oil the shop had a little cheap basket of stuff and I picked up this crappie little touch-up gun and the lady threw in a small recoil hose with it, so both for $10, not bad I say.

[ari666]

man ten bucks you cant go wrong.

no idea what you would use it on, but hey! looks cool.

anyways, the gun is the one in the "spray guns" thread. devillbliss 220 bucks. i just sprayed some green and it came up reallll nice (except for the peel, but thats my fault not the gun)

[acarmody]

So the eBay special came good for you? I will definitely look into that.

I got my original side skirts sitting in the shed, I might use the touch-up gun on that.

Also the guy at my local wreckers said that if I can have some old 323 bonnets that he can't get rid off, for free if I just come pick them up. Should be great for practicing on.

[ari666]

check my impala thread for gun results not too bad really

[acarmody]

I just checked it, good job, it came out real nice.

[acarmody]

What sort of mask do you guys recommend? I know that you ari666 like the Sundstrom masks, you mentioned in another thread that the mask can be purchased at BOC (as in the gas company?) for $80, is that a ready to use kit or just the mask?

[ari666]

yeah thats the whole kit. you get 5 of the paper filters so once they are all glued up you just switch them out. there are also two types of sundstrom masks, i bought the slighty more expensive one which has a rubber mouth piece. i have been told that the cheaper one tends to hurt and will break eventually.

[acarmody]

Is that the P100 of the P90?

EDIT: Just checking out BOC's website. You just go to one of thier 'Gas and Gear' stores, right?

[acarmody]

Just having a look at guns. I could get either of these (assuming Gti doesn't go too high) , any recommendations

Devilbiss GTI Gravity Spray Gun - eBay Spray Guns, Air Tools, Tools, Home. (end time 14-Oct-10 17:26:18 AEDST)
DEVILBISS SGK 600 1.4 Gravity Spray Gun HVLP paint shop - eBay Paint, Body Supplies, Tools, Car, Truck Parts, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 03-Nov-10 07:44:23 AEDST)