9 replies to this topic

[bluesprite]

If anyone replies, could they also mention a decent budget compressor and spray gun, or say what to avoid if you're looking for a cheap one. Thanks!

[OllieTheWelder]

Aldi occasionally sell decent compressors. They have a 3 year warranty as well.

[richw911]

Its all about the gun to be honest spend as much as you can and get a good make ie devilbiss , SATA etc.

This is the gun we used budget one but it gave really good results.

http://www.sprayguns...roducts_id=6399 Good starter gun for diy jobs.

[redhot-mini]

for the compressor you need 1 with a big tank they come in sizes 50lt 100lt 150 200 etc you need a big tank else the air runs low and you lose presser i have a 75lt one and that is to small to paint a hole car you would need atleast a 150lt compressor and for the gun i use a develvis gti and they are a very good make for the paint cellulose 5lts you could paint 4 minis as once mixed you will end up with 10lts of paint but that will be good as once you have painted it you can flat the paint back and polish it up and get a very nice finish and also its good if you have some left over for touch up or even another full respray

[afoggo]

i painted my car with a 25Lt compressor, wish i had a larger one as the compressor was never off to keep the air pressure up!

i use a sealey spray gun, got it from a company off eBay, really good, put the paint on really nicely and it was like £26ish

[Giant Mini]

anyone tried one of these syetems ?

http://www.axminster...tem-prod846031/

they are supposed to do away with the need for a large receiver but I have no experience with them, was thinking about trying one for non-auto type painting.

[AVV IT]

Bigger is certainly better when it comes to the tank on a compressor, but if you're prepared to be patient and only want a reasonably good finish as opposed to pro body shop perfection (and to be honest if you're a novice spraying in a garage,then your'e not going to get pro results anyway), then you can get away with a cheap compressor with a smaller tank.

I actually sprayed mine a panel at a time using just a tiny hobby compressor that had just a six litre tank designed for running a nail gun. Whilst I wouldn't particularly recommend this, as you can only pass over each panel a hand full of times before having to stop and wait for the tank to refill and build the pressure back up. With a fair bit of flatting back afterwards, then it is possible to spray a small car like a mini this way a panel at a time and get reasonable results (certainly far better results than you would ever get with rattle cans any way). The cheap 75 litre hobby compressors that you can pick up from Aldi & Lidl from time to time would therefore be sufficient for this, although not as ideal as a bigger tanked unit would be. If you do go for one of these, then make sure you are standing outside the store at opening time the day they go on sale, otherwise you probably wont get one as they tend to sell out rather fast (or at least they do around here any way!!)

A good compromise is just to buy your own spray gun though and then simply hire a decent compressor with a large tank for the couple of days that you will be spraying. This is a much cheaper option and also means that you don't end up paying out for a huge compressor that will take up loads of room and you will probably never get much use out of again anyway.

The amount of paint you use will depend on your experience, a pro will use much less as they will loose much less in over spray than a novice will. I used 5 litres of celly white diamond + 5 litres of thinners to spray my mine (not including the roof) an excessive amount by a lot of peoples standards, but with my level of skill I needed that amount to get decent coverage.

[PaulColeman]

I have a 3Hp (as big as you can get off single phase 13A) compressor with a 150L tank and I personally wouldn't consider anyhthing smaller. It's all about free air delivery (FAD) that's how much air comes out of the thing and is the figure which matters. Quite often companies will quote the air displacement which is not the same thing, so when comparing compressors make sure you're comparing apples with apples. If I fill my paint gun up with 500mL of paint I can empty it quite easily without the compressor becoming stretched. The last thing you want is the pressure dropping because the thing can't keep up. I also have a water trap and a pressure regulator in the line.

Then I've got a 50L 2.5Hp one just for my air fed mask as I usually spray 2-pack and it will seriously damage your health if you breathe the stuff in. I'd personally use and air fed mask for any painting but you can get good face masks for the paint supplier. You're looking at quite an outlay for the right kit so you have to decide whether it's worth it. Don't try and run a mask and a spray gun off the same compressor as it will never keep up and you'll be risking your health.

Paul.