charliemyers
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Post by charliemyers on Jun 30, 2018 18:38:13 GMT -8
I’m not near ready to paint my camper yet, but I’m making plans. I haven’t selected my paint yet but it’ll likely be something oil based if I can find it somewhere that can tint it. I have decided that I would like to try my hand at spraying it on with a pneumatic paint gun. So about the paint gun, I don’t have one. Should I wait until I select the paint before I choose a paint gun? If so, what qualities in the paint do I need to consider when shopping for a paint gun?
Also I’ve seen that often people use a different gun for the primer than for the paint. Again, what qualties of the paint & primer determine the gun that should be used to spray it?
I hope this makes sense! And I hope that the answers are pretty straight forward.
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Post by danrhodes on Jun 30, 2018 20:13:47 GMT -8
I had great luck with a $10 harbor freight gun and tractor paint. Lots of very experienced painters use these guns and just toss them after a job since they are so cheap, it's not worth the effort. I cleaned and used mine several times.
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Jul 1, 2018 7:48:19 GMT -8
Two threads that may help:
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kudzu
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Post by kudzu on Jul 1, 2018 10:37:52 GMT -8
I have a couple of Harbor Freight HVLP guns and the are surprisingly good. Friend used them in his body shop for primer but he would use a much better gun for the paint. He was always impressed by them but said he couldn't bring himself to spray the cars final coat with one.
Thing is, there is 3 different model numbers listed now. There was one in specific everyone recommended so I am not sure what the going advice is right now. But I have been very pleased with mine.
Should mention my first one developed an air leak we never could find. I suspect it was a casting flaw so I bought another and keep it for spare parts just in case.
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charliemyers
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Post by charliemyers on Jul 2, 2018 7:18:33 GMT -8
Thanks for the replies! I too recently bought the $10 Harbor Freight gravity fed gun, but not necessarily specifically for painting the camper. I figured for that price I’d find some use for it somewhere. But if it’ll do the job, I’m not opposed to using it. nccamper Yep, I’ve read through those posts! That’s mostly what has given me the confidence to decide on spraying the paint on with a pneumatic air gun. I noted that you used a different gun for the primer than for the paint, but I’m not sure that I found why you did that or what primer/paint attributes were used to decide which gun was chosen for each. I’ll do a little more research and maybe I can ask my questions a little more intelligently and more specifically. |
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Jul 2, 2018 9:47:26 GMT -8
I noted that you used a different gun for the primer than for the paint, but I’m not sure that I found why you did that or what primer/paint attributes were used to decide which gun was chosen for each. The Ace primer on the Compact and 1500 was too thick to spray smoothly. On the Forester I used the same gun for both.
You'll really like painting. A lot of progress in a day. It's the prep that boring.
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aslmx
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Post by aslmx on Jul 2, 2018 16:21:51 GMT -8
I noted that you used a different gun for the primer than for the paint, but I’m not sure that I found why you did that or what primer/paint attributes were used to decide which gun was chosen for each. The Ace primer on the Compact and 1500 was too thick to spray smoothly. On the Forester I used the same gun for both.
You'll really like painting. A lot of progress in a day. It's the prep that boring.
was that ace primer thick enough to hide some imperfections like scratches and what not? |
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Jul 2, 2018 17:22:49 GMT -8
The Ace primer on the Compact and 1500 was too thick to spray smoothly. On the Forester I used the same gun for both.
You'll really like painting. A lot of progress in a day. It's the prep that boring.
was that ace primer thick enough to hide some imperfections like scratches and what not? Yes, some imperfections. But I was as meticulous about sanding as I could be. If you do a very light sanding after priming it will help. |
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aslmx
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Post by aslmx on Jul 2, 2018 19:39:01 GMT -8
was that ace primer thick enough to hide some imperfections like scratches and what not? Yes, some imperfections. But I was as meticulous about sanding as I could be. If you do a very light sanding after priming it will help. thanks. I’m reusing the old skin and it is far from perfect so I need all the help I can get |
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Jul 3, 2018 4:37:08 GMT -8
Yes, some imperfections. But I was as meticulous about sanding as I could be. If you do a very light sanding after priming it will help. thanks. I’m reusing the old skin and it is far from perfect so I need all the help I can get As a rule, if you can feel the imperfection, you'll see it. The higher the gloss, the more you'll see.
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