Air compressor for DIY auto painting

[Wacky]

Hi Guys,

I'm, trying to work out the suitable specs for an air compressor for DIY auto painting. My wife decided to swipe the gate with our front bumper. only had the VZ for 2 weeks :bang:

Anyway, rough estimates are $400 - $500 depending on the amount of damage and how much work they will have to do.

But I am thinking, that for $500, maybe I could do it myself (doesn't need to be a super dooper professional finish - it's only an executive, and I'm sure it won't be the last time she hits something), and end up with an air compressor and tools so I could paint our other cars.

I saw one with these specs:

TANK SIZE: 50 LITRES
6-8 BAR WORKING PRESSURE
MOTOR: ELECTRIC 2.5 H/P
DIRECT DRIVE
VOLTAGE: 240V-50Hz
2800 RPM
PUMP DISPLACEMENT: 233L PER MINUTE

But I read on another thread about DIY painting that you need 15CFM. The conversion info I found puts 15CFM at 425LPM. I haven't seen any compressors (home level) that put out that much, yet I know lots of people use home level air compressors for painting.

can anyone point me in the right direction?

I was told years ago by someone that I should look for something over 40L tank size, Direct Drive, and twin piston, but not sure if that is really true.

 

[Tom_1569]

Were are in the process of painting the VN at the moment, when we looked into it we were gonna buy or hire a big air compressor caus we only have a small 2hp super cheap auto 100 buck one. We bought a good gravity fed spray gun ($200) the better ones are neccasary as they seem to use less air with a better finish. We have our compressor regulated to suit the gun, and we can go over the bonnet 3 times with out running out of air (have the pump running though but doesnt drop below its required pressure), unless your painting the whole car in one shot the little one will work fine, were are doing the car in sections and its perfect, anything bigger would be a bonus. You may spend 400 if u dont have any compressor stuff.
Make sure you do plenty of preparation is all i can suggest, we spent about 15 hours preparing the bonnet, and we still know where every little imperfection is.

 

[Wacky]

Thanks mate, yeah, I'd never attempt to do a whole car in one go. And I am prepared to spend quite a bit on the actual guns and other air tools (a friend who always insists on not needing to buy the expensive gear - not just with air tools - is slowly learning his lesson) to make sure hte job is done as best as I can.

And after reading a bit here and there, it is quite clear about the need to prep properly, in that it will really make the difference between a good or bad finish.

Okay, so a compressor with my above posted specs should be okay for doing small jobs like a bonnet one day, a bumper another, a door another day, but probably not for doing them all at the same time?

 

[stocky]

i used a 2 HP compressor and some kind of non-gravity fed gun to respray my front and rear bumpers. i think it came out good, but you do need to prepare it well. i think i used about 0.5L of paint and 0.5L, plus 50ml of some flex additive, per bumper. so just buy a litre of paint and thinners, and a litre of clear, which will probably cost you around $100. do it indoors as well, in a garage or something, just wear a mask

 

[Tom_1569]

Yeah just to keep adding, the missus was rushing me off before lol.
My compressor is a 2hp 21litre compressor, its **** and useless for running air tools for to long, but suprisingly is really good for painting. To see if it was up to the test, we filled the spray gun with water and went over the bonnet, kept going over in correct sequence to we saw the pressure drop below the regulated pressure. We got about 3 1/2 times with water which is more then enough for painting even though paint/primer uses abit more air.
Make a correction to my rushing before, our gun was 100 dollar deal, from transquip LINK, which is a two for one deal, the gravity feed gun is excellent so far, this is our first time painting and this gun has been so easy to set up and use and our primer finish its alot better then we expected. We havent got to painting yet caus were slack but going by the primer it all should be a piece of cake.
Preparation is really the key, any small scratch will become bigger once painted unless using a high filler which i dont recommend. I dont recommend because the bonnet we have had high filler on it and it is hard to strip, we literally chiselled the paint off, then stripped and sanded.
If your in victoria, i highly recommend you use Pakeham paints in melbourne for all paint. Hes pretty well priced and has excellent customer service, has answered heaps of amateur questions from us, and has been a great support.

Good luck with your painting and remember to post pics.

 

[DannyboyDS]

15 hours prepping a bonnet and its still not perfect? what kind of paint went on? was it super high gloss?

in less then 15 hours you could have just stripped it bare and sprayed it with primer.

 

[Tom_1569]

15 hours prepping a bonnet and its still not perfect? what kind of paint went on? was it super high gloss?

in less then 15 hours you could have just stripped it bare and sprayed it with primer.

VN bonnet, its got the original coat, then someone has gone straight over that with a **** load of high filler and paint and clear, we literally put strippers on to softening it up then CHISEL the paint off to the original coat, and strip and sand. trust me it was not wat we expected, also we done the inside of the bonnet as the inside is our practice painting caus no one sees it and its covered by the mat, so we used it to set the fan and everything. Seriously took over 15 hours (done over 2 days) of sitting in the freezing cold and rain.

 

[bradman]

I use high fill and cover a car in bondo (bog) before i spray at home,
Most of it hits the ground before the first coat goes on but its more for tiny inperfections, at the end of the day it comes down to the time you spend on it.
I have a 2.5 hp 45lt home job air comp and it does the job,...Alittle slow but works alright

 

[CDT VH TURBO]

Air compressors from someone in the trade
if you are going to be painting,sanding and so on often then get at good quality 3HP compressor, the only problem is 3HP must have a 15 amp circuit
if you are only going to paint a car once or twice in your life then a 2.5HP compressor will do but as long as it is a quality compressor
make sure you have a regulator and adjust it correctly

there are a lot of compressor sales mobs claiming all sorts or CRAP with free air delivery (FAD)
most cheap compressors are down on FAD compared to a quality compressor

if you need any help or advice give me a call and I am only to happy to help people with the correct advice


cheers
Steve CDT VH Turbo
Promptair Compressor services
Croydon Vic
041 754 1026
[email protected]

 

[willgluck]

I am in search of painter for my car repainting task, I need a professional one which can change the looks of my ride with the best materials. Please suggest me if anyone knows about this.