New gun help

[Hundleton1]

Hi everyone, been following this forum for a few months for various reasons, mostly my mig but I'm in the process of painting my harley, i used to paint a long timed ago, done a few cars and bikes but nothing recently, just ordered a gun, was recommended a DeVilbiss SRi Pro Spot Repair with TS1 and 1mm tip as I'm only doing bike work,wanted a good gun to have around, investing in tools is always a good thing, iv ordered it with the TS1 air cap and 1mm fluid tip and it will be here tomorrow.

All good untill i got talking to a guy today and was suggesting 1.3mm not 1. is the 1mm to small? I'm planning on metallic base coat and lacquer work

just need some advice really, to late now as it on its way

 

[steveo3002]

id say it will fine for motorbike parts

 

[richie00boy]

It is a mini gun and the tip sizes are not equivalent to a full size gun, 1.0mm is perfect. 1.3mm on a mini would be for high build primer.

 

[mr paint]

as above I use a sata mini jet with 1.0 set up all the time for small areas....metallic lays down just fine ..as dose the clear


Tommy

 

[Hundleton1]

thanks guys, was panicking there for a moment, never used a mini gun, cam in yesterday, very nice but very small cup,

 

[anjum]

You can fit a bigger cup or go for the 3m PPS system. Comes in a variety of cup and holder sizes, and allows you to paint upside down, sideways etc with no drips, I find it especially useful on the mini gun. I've just recently bought the mini version for tight spaces.
You can find the cups in more reasonable quantities on ebay if you don't want 50 off, which I think is a marketing error by 3M.
I can't find them on ebay at the moment. Usual problem.
I wonder if it's worth buying some and sending them out in smaller quantities (say 10 and one holder) if there's enough interest Probably get the adaptors at a reasonable price as well.
The adaptors are the same for the mini and normal size ones.

 

[Daz1968]

I have painted a mk1 mini with a devilbiss sri pro with 1.2 tip, other than having to mix the paint in a larger cup and keep my eye on the level in the gun it has given no problems, finish has been very good, much better than the cheap hvlp full size gun I used before, and due to low air requirements have ran it with an airfed mask on a 3hp compressor without any problems, which was main reason I bought it. Don't think I would buy another cheap spraygun now as quality is worth the money. I have used it with high build primer, solvent basecoat, 2k clear, upol 1k clear and 2k direct gloss and it performed well on all of them. I am thinking of getting a hs1 air cap for it to try some water basecoat but unsure if I need a 1.0 setup for that.

 

[Hundleton1]

well what a night, the plan was base coating and clear the tank metallic black,, it was pre preped, did the first base fine, was getting some dust in it so was trying to stop that, wet floor ect, half way through the second coat a major disaster, i had not put the lid on the cup correctly and as i come over the top of the tank a load of paint found its way out and onto the tank, i had to wipe it off as it was a huge lump, this also removed the first coat, so left it flash off, managed to wet sand it and start painting again, ended up doing 4 coats as was struggling with dust again in the garage, after the 3rd i did a very light wet sand with 1200 and then shot a final coat slightly further away from it, it seemed to let the flake show better, then spent half an hour cleaning the gun and did the clear, still got a few large dust particles in the top coat but was going to deal with that later until disaster 2, whilst tidying up and cleaning the gun i knocked over the bin, all the crap went into the air and where as i had a lovely mirror top coat i now looks like a golfball, whole thong is dimpled with dust, could not believe it, the joys of painting again after a 20 gap, although on a good note the metallic and top coat did look fantastic, the gun is superb,

now to leave it cure and then ill wet sand and see if i can pull it out with out recoating, if i have to then i do.

lessons learnt, also the problem of painting and cleaning in the same place

 

[anjum]

Sometimes we all have days like that, well I do anyway.

 

[marlinspike]

Just bad luck and as you say, trying to do everything in the same space. I would be interested to know what products you are using - primer, thinners, base coat, lawyer etc. Those sri pro guns seem very highly regarded, which is why they cost so much I suppose.

 

[Hundleton1]

thanks for the advice, going to wait a few days for it to cure and flat it back and see what i can get away with, was using MIPA paint, the gun was no cheap but iv learnt over the years that spending on the rite tools helps, been years since iv painted anything, the garage is out the question from now on just to much dust, being a place iv cut just about everything from steel to carbon and having crap everywhere makes it impossible to clean,

 

[pedrobedro]

Hang some plastic sheet and make a spray area while you are painting if you are not doing large items. I've done tanks and mudguards with no problem on a bench with cardboard shielding round them. Plan your moves before you start and you should get better at it as you do more.

 

[Daz1968]

I found the static plastic masking sheet good for attracting dust but I have been painting a whole car and dust has been my biggest problem with 2k due to how long it takes to dry off. It should be easy to build a small booth for smaller parts though, I am thinking of doing same for painting bumpers and other parts in the future.