Thread: Small/hobby spray units.

Talk to the guys in an autobody repair & paint shop.
They are painting repaired sections with what we call "detail
guns."
There's a wide spectrum of sprayers in all sorts of price ranges.
Artists' airbrushes are probably too small.
Detail guns would be better than whole body repaints.

I had a look in Super Cheap Auto and the gravity fed detail gun looks about the size I’m looking for, & my compressor has the specs to run it.
Has anybody had experience with the current brand in Super Cheap (Black Ridge I think), or equivalents from Repco & the like?
Thanks, Peter

I have one of the Supercheap hvlp guns (1.4mm) which cost abot $60. I also have one of their 3 gun hvlp sets which cost about $100 - touch-up gun at 0.9mm, std gun at 1.4mm and another gun at 2.0mm. I bought it just to get the 2.0mm setup gun, for spraying sealer and acrylic which I figured was just going to ruin any gun I put it through anyway. I havent used the touch up or 1.4mm guns out of that set. I also have Star standard and touch up guns, which cost about $350 and $250 respectively - so I'm in a good position to make comparisons. I use these guns mainy to spray precat (nitrocellulose) lacquer.

The cheap guns do the job. I've never had a gun that drips or chokes or does anything bad so I guess they all work. I just found the Supercheap guns didnt atomise quite good enough for me - they were always a tiny bit grainy or orange-peely - which is why I bought the Stars. When spraying sealer, i dont care much about how it goes on because most of it soaks in and the rest is going to be sanded off anyway - so that is why I have stuck with the cheap gun for sealers.

Now after a couple of years (intermittent) use the Star gun is still good as new but the Supercheap gun is starting to show its age - leaks air somewhere near the handle and trigger action is no longer smooth - so I guess thats another difference between cheap and good guns.

Summing up, I guess you could say both the cheap and expensive guns do the same job - the expensive guns just do it a bit finer and for a lot longer.

I hardly use the touch up guns. I wouldnt use a touch up gun to spray furniture. I would use the std gun and just put up with the pauses. For reference, my 2.5 hp / 50 litre compressor takes 21 seconds to empty when spraying and 35 seconds to refill. In 21 seconds I can spray about 2/3 of a sq metre. In practise this isnt as limiting as it sounds because there is usually a lot of repositioning of objects to do etc. A bigger compressor would be brilliant but I'm limited to 10 amp.

Cheer
Arron

Thanks for the info Arron,
When you put it like that –expecting better quality /longer life from a more expensive gun - it sounds logical.
Peter

I've been using a Star 106 TG for spraying Wattyl Stylwood on mainly wood turnings and have done larger pieces like a rocking horse using a smallish SCA compressor (old model). The TG does the job well but the compressor struggles as above. Not a big issue though for me. I also use a very cheap $15 airbrush from ToysRUs to do small woodturnings. Buy a quality regulator/water trap and make sure fittings are kept in good order to minimise air leaks.