New Spray Gun

[John Samuel]

I am using a Star brand suction spray gun to spray NC lacquer. Generally, it is OK, but I am not completely happy with the slight unevenness in the volume of material in different parts of the "fan" of material exiting the gun.

So, I want to buy a new gun and seek guidance. From my research of this forum I gather the Iwata guns are highly regarded. Are there any other recommendations?

Finally, can anyone enlighten me as to the strengths and weaknesses (if any) of suction versus gravity fed guns?

Cheerio!

John

[Master Splinter]

Iwata are a pretty well regarded brand - they're the ones you'll find in many car paint shops. Devilbiss and Sata even more so. Go to a trade autopaints place, and they'll have all the good guns.

However - Star guns aren't that bad. I'd do a through clean and check of the gun first. Are you using the right tip size and line pressure??

Personally I prefer gravity fed as that means there's always a positive head of pressure at the paint.

Watch some of the videos here:

How to setup your spray gun - YouTube
How to clean your spray gun - YouTube

[rob streeper]

I am using a Star brand suction spray gun to spray NC lacquer. Generally, it is OK, but I am not completely happy with the slight unevenness in the volume of material in different parts of the "fan" of material exiting the gun.

So, I want to buy a new gun and seek guidance. From my research of this forum I gather the Iwata guns are highly regarded. Are there any other recommendations?

Finally, can anyone enlighten me as to the strengths and weaknesses (if any) of suction versus gravity fed guns?

Cheerio!

John

I grew up using suction guns. The older Devilbiss guns were great in their day. The suction guns are all limited as to the viscosity of media they can deliver, sometimes they are so sensitive that seemingly minor variations in viscosity will totally muck them up. I have used the suction gun that comes with the Titan Capspray 105 and when it works it does well but getting the viscosity right is very tricky.
The low end gravity guns such as those sold by Woodcraft work but I think that they are more trouble than they are worth. I have a small one that was given to me and it leaks air, the filter clogs easily and the fit of the fluid parts is so sloppy that the finish slowly runs out and down my hand. I use it only for spraying adhesives and fillers.
The new high quality gravity feed guns are miles ahead. Expensive they are but as they say for SnapOn tools, 'Buy the best and only cry once'. In addition to the cheapy have a SATA mini-jet. The cheap Woodcraft gun is clearly a copy of it but the function of the SATA is many orders of magnitude better. The only issue with the gravity guns is that you need a stand to hang them on when you pause in using them, in fact I don't know why a stand is not included with each one at purchase.
Cheers,
Rob


Rob

[John Samuel]

Thanks, guys.

I will make sure everything is AOK with the old gun first. I'll strip and clean/inspect it thoroughly and give it another try.

Not having much of an issue with viscosity, although the gun does not seem to produce as good a finish with the more viscous material, as we might expect.

Initially, I had the pressure set too high, but soon fixed that. It's currently running at about 35 PSI. Other than the unevenness in the fan, it seems to be working fine.

Cheerio!

John

[China]

Uneven fan pattern is usualy caused as said above by either a badly made gun or the gun is not completly clean, when tou clean it pay particular attension to the air cap and nozzle area