I'm ready to kick the can. Any advice?
Gary L. Sanders
Find a good hobby shop and talk to experts there. Buy a good airbrush and
a small compressor, it's worth it.
Curtradio wrote:
>
> The spray can that is.
> I want to leave the world of spray laquer behind and start "rolling my
> own" with an air compressor and an airbrush. I need to get outfitted with
> the right gear to do radio restoration work. I will never need to hook a
> nail gun or any pneumatic tools up to the compressed air.
> What do I need? How do those CFM and PSI ratings affect this kind of
> work? Is a "tankless" system too underpowered to do a good job? What about
> spray heads, etc? Is there any brand that is particularly good (or bad)?
> Is there a great mail order supplier or should I buy locally? Is there a
> good reference book on this subject?
>
> I am looking forward to any and all comments on this subject.
>
> ----Curt
--
Gary L. Sanders, V.P. Engineering
Sanders Media Adventures, Inc.
Video Design Consulting
C-MAC/SMA Active, Hybrid Video Filters
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gls_sma
phone/fax (408) 279-5118
Curtradio
LBRTY4US
In article <4t6r60$f...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, curt...@aol.com
(Curtradio) writes:
> I need to get outfitted with
>the right gear to do radio restoration work. I will never need to hook a
>nail gun or any pneumatic tools up to the compressed air.
> What do I need? How do those CFM and PSI ratings affect this kind of
>work? Is a "tankless" system too underpowered to do a good job? What
about
>spray heads, etc? Is there any brand that is particularly good (or bad)?
I am no spray pro, and I am sure someone else here will offer more
professional advice; I have, however, sprayed quite a few things around my
place over the years, and will share (or bore you with?) the flwg:
Any nailgun or most other pneumatic tool will require far less air than
any spray gun (except perhaps a little airbrush); they also are not
particular about air cleanliness, oil and moisture in the supply; these
things are crucial to spray guns.
I think that a small "touch-up" gun, with an 8 oz siphon cup and a couple
of appropriate sizes of orifices, will probably meet your needs, and is
far easier (and less wasteful) to clean up. (Opinion:) Any brand will do,
as long as it says "Binks" on the gun. Highest quality
gun/needle/orifices are expensive, but worth every penny they cost in
terms of pattern control and uniform results. The orifice(s) will come
with a printed table denoting the pressure range and CFM required for its
operation. Bear in mind that this will be what is required at the gun,
not at the compressor, which must be higher still to overcome your
(considerable) air line losses. You will be amazed at how much air even a
little gun requires! Also, until you get practiced at maintaining it, you
will be surprised at how much thinner you will expend properly cleaning
it. You will also require a ventilated-but-draftless, dustless,
explosion-proof lit area in which to safely and controllably spray; if you
are into political correctness, many areas even have quite strict local
codes regulating spray booths. Either way, nothing you value can be
anywhere in the space, unless you are painting it. You'll need coveralls,
unless you plan to throw your clothes away on a regular basis.
The size of compressor needed to deliver the CFM required, and the devices
it must have to regulate, filter and dry the air satisfactorily is a very
different kettle of fish from the little nailgun units, and one worth
having around for any legnth of time is also not a "giveaway." There is,
however, at least one half-assed but workable way around this (see below
for my own). For one excellent source of advice and supply of a quality
gun, visit your local serious auto paint supply house, which sells this
stuff to body pro's every day. Try your discount nailer dealer for
affordable hose/fittings, which aren't really made for painting with but
are good enough for us tyros, as long as you're only pushing air (siphon
cup gun) and not paint (pressure pot setup). If you are comitted to
spraying often, avoid "affordable" cheaply-built compressors; they will
soon be more expensive than the real thing. Consider 220vac. An honest
3hp is about the smallest I'd frig with, even with a touch-up gun, and it
is hard to find a currently-sold unit this small which is designed for
anything more than marginal use. You'll also need a real respirator with
filters, not little disposeable masks, if you have personal longevity in
mind.
I found one solution which works well for me (I only spray a few times a
year): having a nice Emglo 1 1/2 HP dual-tank nailgun compressor around
from building my house, I found a high-quality air filter/dryer/oil trap
from a cheap remarketing catalog that comes in the mail (the kind with
pages of 32v motors and 5v supplies, etc.) for $10, and piped it up to a
clean old 100 pound propane cylinder just outside the shop, to act as an
accumulator. I feed this with the Emglo, after really warming it up 'till
it's hot and blowing it down a couple times, and run my little gun from
it; it is hard work for the Emglo, but with good judgement it does the
job. I have even run my full size gun, with its smaller orifices fitted,
to paint my buildings with this setup (using 250' of hose), although it
takes frequent breaks in spraying to allow the compressor to catch up, as
pattern and delivery suffer badly if the supply is allowed to fall off
(but this is not fine finish work). Also, by leaving the propane tank
fully charged by tightening the compressor regulator fully down (to 125
PSI) when I am finished, I can easily connect a hose fitted with an
inflation head to it, and have my own outdoor "air station" which I use to
keep all the vehicle tires (many on this homestead) and toys inflated for
months afterward. I painted the cylinder blue, both for safety (not for
gas anymore) and appearance.
You sure you really want to air spray? You can buy many cases of good
spray lacquer for a fraction of the true cost of necessary air equipment,
its maintenance, the time involved, and hazards. And you still have to
buy the lacquer and thinner, no?
I think that once you air-spray a few things for yourself, you will find
yourself quite awed by the skills of those cavemen in the auto shops that
you might have previously taken for granted. I still take important work
(like a gloss black vintage cycle fender) to a shop with a real booth and
experienced hands. :-)
William S. Baka, Jr.
On 7/24/96 8:54PM, in message <4t6r60$f...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, Curtradio
<curt...@aol.com> wrote:
> The spray can that is.
> I want to leave the world of spray laquer behind and start "rolling my
> own" with an air compressor and an airbrush. I need to get outfitted with
> the right gear to do radio restoration work. I will never need to hook a
> nail gun or any pneumatic tools up to the compressed air.
> What do I need? How do those CFM and PSI ratings affect this kind of
> work? Is a "tankless" system too underpowered to do a good job? What about
> spray heads, etc? Is there any brand that is particularly good (or bad)?
> Is there a great mail order supplier or should I buy locally? Is there a
> good reference book on this subject?
>
> I am looking forward to any and all comments on this subject.
>
> ----Curt
I can try to reply and help, I hope.
For small jobs all you need is a touch up gun, which doesn't cost too much or take
up too much air. A 1 H.P. or less should do pretty good for you. I have a car
painting gun and it works fine at 40 PSI and about 5 CFM, so a touch up gun should
be a lot less on the compressor. I think you will only need about 2 CFM, but you
will need a regulator to keep the PSI at about 40 to 45 for consistent painting.
Just remember you have to really clean the gun after each use.
Bill.
Jim Stephens
curt...@aol.com (Curtradio) wrote:
>
> The spray can that is.
> I want to leave the world of spray laquer behind and start "rolling my
> own" with an air compressor and an airbrush. I need to get outfitted with
> the right gear to do radio restoration work. I will never need to hook a
> nail gun or any pneumatic tools up to the compressed air.
> What do I need? How do those CFM and PSI ratings affect this kind of
> work? Is a "tankless" system too underpowered to do a good job? What about
> spray heads, etc? Is there any brand that is particularly good (or bad)?
> Is there a great mail order supplier or should I buy locally? Is there a
> good reference book on this subject?
>
> I am looking forward to any and all comments on this subject.
>
> ----Curt
Since Mr. Lbrty4us was kind enough to respond with exactly what I would
have said anyway, here is the number for Harbor Freight Tools, a very
reputable and resonably priced mail-order supplier.
They have what you need, tool-wise.
Regards,
Jimbob