The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop low volume paint srayer

I have a basic air compressor, 7 gallon I think...won't be home for awhile to confirm. I'm wondering has anyone used one of these to spray paint their stovebolt? I'm going for a nice rat rod, poor street rod look. At a minimum, the whole back half of the truck will need painted especially since all the metal will be new. (To far gone to be salvaged even by rat rod standards)! If this can be accomplished, what type of gun will I need? I plan on using a basic enamel paint unless otherwise advised.
I appreciate your input.

The size of the compressor tank is a secondary and minor factor when spray painting. You need to look at the performance ratings of the compressor itself.

Typically a compressor will be rated in terms of SCFM at a certain pressure. Those numbers need to be greater than the air required for whatever tool or spray gun you are using.

If your compressor operates on 120 volts the largest it will be is 2 horsepower. That is very marginal for continuous spray painting of a large area. A very large tank does increase the time before you need to stop painting.

Maybe someone will post a suggestion for a modern HVLP painting system.

You do not need a compressor and you save on paint-material.

I/we have painted three trucks with an AccuSpray HVLP system.

What the other guys said. I have a 3M AccuSpray gun that I tried to use on a 50+ year old 2 hp compressor I drug up here with me from CA in 2019. I painted a car or two with it and a suction feed Craftsman gun that came with the compressor back in the 60's, but it would not keep up with the HVLP gun. Even though the HVLP needs only 20 psi at the gun, there wasn't enough actual compressor capacity. I believe the 3M AccuSpray needs in excess of 6 SCFM. I bought a 60 gallon 5 HP compressor after that first attempt.
I believe Tim is referring to a gun with compressor built in, or a turbine air delivery system, but he'd have to confirm that.
Bottom line, unless that 7 gal compressor has a honking big compressor on it (and appropriate HP motor), it's not going to support a HVLP gun.

For what you want a Harbor Freight $16 HVLP gun will do the trick. Considering what the paint is going on stopping to let your compressor recover should not be a problem. Our guys use them for frame paint and primer coats and then just trash can them rather than cleaning them. Our finish guns are Sata for color (base coat) and the higher end Iwata for clear coat, neither of which should ever be exposed to a semi rat rod.

I'd suggest a gallon of latex house paint and a high-nap roller!
Jerry

That'd work too.

I bought a Eastwood Contours II Kit a few years back and they claim it only uses 4.3 CFM @ 30 PSI. I can’t prove their claim, but I did a complete repaint on a unnamed auto two years ago and supplied air with my 45 year old Craftsman 20 gallon 220v compressor that puts out somewhere in the vicinity of 8.5 CFM @ 40 PSI. The compressor kept up with the gun pretty well and even cycled on /off a few times. The paInt was midnight black base with a clear over top and it came out absolutely beautiful.

I think the way Eastwood gets that low CFM rating is the Contours Il gun puts out less paint, so it takes longer, but for a backyard mechanic like me, it worked great.

I think my setup is the minimum required to get a decent paint job.

Years ago we had a small craftsman air compressor (had the two wheels and handle to pull it tank looked like a 30 lb propane tank).We would have to make a copper coil from the compressor coiled so you can put the coil in a 5 gallon bucket with water then back to the tank to prevent water getting in the air even with a filter ,the compressor would run constant but kept up and after you would have a bucket of hot water

I installed about 30’ of 1/2 copper pipe in loops with a few drains to cool the air and a filter at the wall outlet. Even still, I install a small disposable desiccant air dryer at the gun.

I've been using a 60 gallon, single stage, 220v, 19cfm IR compressor that has no problem keeping up with anything. No waiting for it to catch up to me. Devilbiss Startingline guns for primer, HF Black Widow for finish coats. I started long ago with a CH 25 gallon, 5 hp and wouldn't keep up with anything! One lug nut, take a break, next lug nut, take a break. Cutting disc tools were useless.

I just finished painting my transmission and water pump with my Fuji turbine system. it's 110 volt and weighs about 30 pounds and is self contained. I live in Indiana and it is expensive to get dry air from a compressor. This was epoxy primer, base, clear. This was my first time spraying. Almost no over spray. Not perfect but not bad.

Nice job!

I'm going to epoxy the wheels on the Suburban today. If the warm weather holds up, I'll put color on tomorrow.