Spray Gun

Have you guys seen this Preval Spay Gun?

<http://paintprosusa.safeshopper.com/19/cat19.htm?450>

They have it listed on this site for $2.98: unfortunatley I just bought it at NAPA for $4.98, but I like the idea. But still at $4.98, I didn't think it was a bad deal.

I am going to use it to repaint my engine bay the color of my car. The DPO, had spraypainted it black. He did however leave a can of body paint in trunk, so I'm going to give it a go. I also want to touch up a few small dings and rust bubbles on the body.

If anyone else has used this before let me know.

I have and use one of those to get into really tight places when doing engine and trunk compartments. I will tell you two things. One the finish is very poor. Secondly if you are spraying two, or three part enamel ove rattle can it will blow up on you. You have to primer with water born primer first.

I think you're probably going to go through a lot of those $2.39 "power units". It might be OK for the occasional touch up painting, but I don't think you'll be that happy with it for painting the entire engine bay. But.....I may be wrong. What the heck...give it a shot....what have you got to lose??

I did mine using an ancient, small Craftsman air compressor with a leaky tank and a just-as-ancient air brush. Costco has a compressor about the size of mine (and probably more powerful) for $129, and a larger model that includes an impact wrench for $279. They obviously aren't first class tools but, for the price, would make a nice addition to the average guy's garage. Even a small compressor will easily put out enough air for an air brush, blow gun, tire inflation, blowing up kids toys and bicycle tires, air mattresses, etc. You'd be amazed how much you'll use it...

I just patched the holes in the bottom of the tank with a couple of sheet metal screws and some epoxy (which makes me an air compressor DPO, I suppose) - and it holds pressure again! Good for another 30 years I guess :-)

I tried one years ago to spray a new teflon gun finish and was very dissappointed. The finnish was very poor and I had no control ove the pattern. Basicaly, it sprayed like a cheap rattle can. BTW, Duplicolor has a much better nozzel on some of their rattlecans. These actually have a fan pattern that you can change the direction of like a real spray gun, by rotating the blue tip of the nozzel. Krylon now shows the same nozzel on the website. If you are goind to be shooting real auto paint, I'd suggest you investing in a real spraygun. Oh, and don't get a gravity feed model because it is just too hard to use in a tight place with the cup on top and the regulator hanging off the bottom. perhaps a touch up gun would be better in the engine bay. I just painted my engine bay last week and it's a big job to do it right

30 years or 1 year, whichever comes first!! :o)

I have a gavity feed, syphon(sp) feed in both standard and touch up guns. I much prefer the gravity feed as the cup doesn't get in the way in tight places. I use my standard size gravity feed for all my painting.

Thanks for the feedback. I know I should get a compressor and a half way decent gun, I will wait on the engine compartment. Flat black is OK... :( But I will try it to touch up a few things and let you know how it works out. For $4.98, I don't think I have too much to loose. Worse case, I have to go shopping for a compressor. :)

Me too. I've shot about everything you can think of at every angle, backhanded, in crannies, and everywhere with a big old Binks #7 with no problems at all. The lightest handiest gun I ever used is a Devilbis pressure fed gun with a remote 2 quart cup. Hang the cup on your belt, run the hoses over your shoulders to your gun hand, hold them taunt with your free hand, and you can paint every direction you can think of and anywhere you can reach into. I clear coated the PT-19 with that gun, got great coverage everywhere and nary a run.

Once you get one you will wonder how you ever did without it. I have a little 3HP 110 unit at home and I have done everything with it. Including an all over paint job, and DA work. It dose have to catch up with the DA. If I had it to do over I would get at least a 5 HP.

The Craftsman 110v compressors are now quieter than the first one that I burned up, and rated a 6 hp.

I've got a yellow Campbel Hausfield, "Extreme Duty" 4 gal pancake compressor that I use in my machine shop for small jobs. It sprays great but will not run an impact. It is quite as small compressors go, a lot quiter than one I bought for my Mom to use at ther house. Believe it is a CH as well, but it is black. The black one sounds like every stroke will be it's last. I'd recomend the yellow one to anyone that want's a small pancake type compressor

You can't get 6hp out of a "standard" 110v outlet; 3hp is max. The only way to compare compressors is by pressure and flow rate.

Richard

Get the biggest compressor you can; I promise you will be glad you did. A small one is fine, if all you want to do is small stuff, but they won't handle things like sandblasters or high speed cutoff tools etc. BTDT.

My antique is just 1/2 HP with a 7.5 gallon tank! It's really handy, but is very limited in what it can do by the small CFM it produces. One day I'll get a real one...

I actually have three compressors. The other two are 5HP two stage on 80 tanks. The little one is just so handy for my machine shop because the CFM required in that shop is so low. If you need to run a DA sander or an impact you will need a bigger comp. Before you buy, check out the CFM rating at 90# and compare that to any air tools you might have to use. A good rule of thumb is to allow at least 50% more compressor than load, the more the better. If you buy a small direct drive oiless comp, be sure that you hear it run first and be sure you can live with the sound!

I can put out more CFM than my compressor after a lunch at Taco Bell....

Theyn just lie about the ratings!! How do they get away with that??

Gary, there are a couple of ways to look at cfms. Manufacturers like to use displacement to figure cfms. This way they come up with a much higher number because pressure is not in the equation. Or they can qoute cfm at a lower pressure to boost the number. Some makers list cfm numbers at 50# and some list it at 90#. Still other list both. On any compresser the cfms go down as the pressure goes up. They are not actually lying, just not being totaly honest with the impression that they give you. Kinda like the way they rate HP on air compresser motors. Ever wonder why a 5hp air comp motor is not much bigger than a regular 2hp motor? The manufacturer have a special way to rate air comp motors that makes them look bigger than they really are. Similar to the way car manufacturers used to boost the hp ratings of their engines so they could claim more hp than their competitors back in the 60's. Many cars were sold simply because the it was to have 10-15 more hp that the compitition, and it all was BS

I know what you are saying as far as the CFM thing, I just doubt that there is anyway that you can make a 5 hp motor run off a 15 amp breaker!! It is obviously a lie!! What is it, 750 watts is one horsepower?? We would just have to work it out, right?? Isn't that really a max of 2 hp??? Also, I really doubt that they can make a 5 horsepower motor in that little package!! You know how big a REAL 5 HP MOTOR IS, RIGHT???