HVLP Spray Gun

[Curious]

Can any of you guys recommend what HVLP spray gun I should buy?

Im painting a restored car and would like it for general workshop use as well to paint different things.

I have a 3hp compressor with a 150l tank which I guess will do the job?

Any tips on what I need would be very welcome as the last time I painted a car was in the 80s with an old hoover gun and Permabell.

 

[carbon]

What paint are you going use? Look for a spraygun that uses 10cfm or less if you intend to paint the car in one go

 

[northwest]

and Permabell

Bloody hell, that brought back some memories (not all good either).

 

[Turbo]

One of the kits from spray guns direct would be my choice. I think they do a kit with 2 interchangeable tip sizes for primers & top coats plus 2 sizes of reservoir so you can use it as a touch up gun.

 

[eddie49]

The story of car paint:

classic car paint

history of car paint

www.clementandboggis.co.uk

 

[northwest]

One of the kits from spray guns direct would be my choice. I think they do a kit with 2 interchangeable tip sizes for primers & top coats plus 2 sizes of reservoir so you can use it as a touch up gun.

I cannot see any in HVLP format, LVLP yes but that isn't the same thing, can you point one out? Link maybe?

 

[pedrobedro]

Have a look on the Fast Mover site, they have a few options.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

I don't think 3hp will be enough for a gun and air fed mask.

 

[Jack_K]

HVLP is actually (from what I remember) a US legal requirement to reduce pollution and is not a better type of gun despite what marketing from cheap brands want you to think. Something like LVMP or LVLP is what you want. People import these types into the US as they are better (at least for people with small compressors)

 

[AVI_8]

HVLP guns require a lot of air hence the high volume part of HVLP.
Your 3HP compressor will struggle with that unless you’re only doing a bit at a time likely output would be around 9 CFM free air delivery and an HVLP gun will be looking at around 12-15 CFM.

 

[Morrisman]

HVLP is actually (from what I remember) a US legal requirement to reduce pollution and is not a better type of gun despite what marketing from cheap brands want you to think. Something like LVMP or LVLP is what you want. People import these types into the US as they are better (at least for people with small compressors)

It may not improve the finish but it makes a big difference to the amount of overspray in your workshop. When I painted my hot rod bright red I don't think the overspray went further than a metre from the body. With a normal gun there would be red dust everywhere in the neighbourhood.

And they use less air, I think, I ran mine at 22psi at the spray gun, little pressure gauge on the inlet.

Mine was a £30 cheapie from Machine Mart. I'd think the finish will be based more on how well you set it up, and how you mix the paint, rather than the gun quality.

 

[optima21]

The Fast Mover FMT3006 is a LVLP spray gun and they can be used continuously from a 3 HP compressor. as the compressor can supply more air that the spray gun can use. (the fast mover website isn't working for me)

Fast Mover LVLP Gravity Spray Gun 600cc 1.3, 1.4 or 1.8mm

FMT3006 - Low volume low pressure (LVLP) high transfer efficiency gravity feed top coat spray gun. Set up: 1.3 (Green), 1.4mm (Blue), 1.8mm (Gold)

classiccarpaintsdirect.com

if used continuously a HVLP spray gun is likely to use more air than your compressor can supply, so on extended usage even with a large receiver you may run out of air.

the disadvantage of the LVLP guns is that they transfer less paint than the HVLP guns so will take longer to paint similar items.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I've got an Apollo 1500 - very controllable

 

[Turbo]

I cannot see any in HVLP format, LVLP yes but that isn't the same thing, can you point one out? Link maybe?

Can't find them either, probably discontinued!
Here's something similar on the Fast Mover site.
https://www.fastmovertoolsuk.com/fast-mover-tools-spray-gun-kit-in-case.html

Lots of cheaper sets on Amazon, can't comment on quality.

 

[Curious]

Thank you everyone for your contributions. I didnt thing my compressor would have any trouble supplying the air to paint reasonably continuously, that os a surprise.

Again it was a friend who mentioned HVLP as being the way to go but he isnt a painter, just another enthusiast.

Even though I will be able to create a small booth within my workshop I did want to limit the mount of overspray that is in the air as I wont have an air fed mask, just good 3M twin filter mask.

What will a LVMP or LVLP actually mean in real terms? low or medium pressure I guess means it uses less air but how much of a disadvantage is the low volume bit over the high, would that mean a smaller fan pattern and less coverage?

Aside from the main topic is there a way to measure what the output of my compressor is in terms of CFM output?

 

[hotponyshoes]

Aside from the main topic is there a way to measure what the output of my compressor is in terms of CFM output?

That's an interesting question...
I've seen plenty of people talk about cfm output. Most of the time the talk is about how it does not live up to the manafactures specification.
I've not seem much talk about how to actually check the true cfm output of a compressor though?

Maybe if you had a regulator with/and a pressure gauge you would be able to test it.
I'm thinking if you had the compressor running and adjusted the regulator on free flow to a pressure where the pump was keeping up (ie. the tank was maintaining pressure and not rising or dropping) you might be able to work out something from that?

I'd also guess if you knew the size and stroke of the piston and the rpm of the pump you could calculate it easily enough but thete must be a few losses to account for if you do it that way. Maybe that's the way the manafactures spec it hence why they are lower in the real world?

Edit: the simple way might be to just look up the specs for your brand of compressor and round it down a bit to be on the safe side!!!

Edit again:
There is an online caculator that works it out, you just need to time how long it takes the compressor to fill the tank...

First link I found: (there is probably a metric version out there somewhere)

CFM Calculator for Compressed Air

Looking for a free and easy CFM calculator to determine how much compressed air your compressor is producing? Our online CFM calculator can help you properly size your air compressor and make sure you’ve got enough airflow to meet your compressed air demand. In this article, we are going to show...

fluidairedynamics.com

 

[bert]

I have to use 2 14cfm rated compressors linked to get enough air to run an airfed mask and a hvlp gti pro lite gun.

I've not long bought a walcom HTE gun for direct gloss and it uses less air than the hvlp

 

[AVI_8]

Aside from the main topic is there a way to measure what the output of my compressor is in terms of CFM output?

Give or take a bit the output of your compressor will be around 2/3rds of the quoted output of the quoted piston displacement by the manufacture.

 

[Curious]

Give or take a bit the output of your compressor will be around 2/3rds of the quoted output of the quoted piston displacement by the manufacture.

I dont have the details and the compressor is old.

I was more thinking is there was some kind of simple flow meter like the ones we might use to control welding gases I could buy.

 

[Turbo]

Thank you everyone for your contributions. I didnt thing my compressor would have any trouble supplying the air to paint reasonably continuously, that os a surprise.

Again it was a friend who mentioned HVLP as being the way to go but he isnt a painter, just another enthusiast.

Even though I will be able to create a small booth within my workshop I did want to limit the mount of overspray that is in the air as I wont have an air fed mask, just good 3M twin filter mask.

What will a LVMP or LVLP actually mean in real terms? low or medium pressure I guess means it uses less air but how much of a disadvantage is the low volume bit over the high, would that mean a smaller fan pattern and less coverage?

Aside from the main topic is there a way to measure what the output of my compressor is in terms of CFM output?

When I went from a standard gun to hvlp the thing that impressed me most was how much less paint I was using. I would guess at least a 50% saving in paint, which stands to reason because with hvlp most of the paint goes on the panel & isn't sitting in the air around you! It also means your mask filters don't clog up as quick.

It is a bit harder to get a nice flat finish with hvlp compared to standard, can get a bit of orange peel but with good setup & practice a good finish is possible. I believe that a good finish is even trickier with lvlp.

My 3hp compressor keeps up with my hvlp gun no problem, you could paint a full panel but more than that you might run out of air.