Last night I got the spray gun connected (a bit of a job, since I got a 3 port quick disconnect manifold for my brushes and had some leaks to track down).
Eventually I got to painting with it using Auto Air Sealer White. I chose this paint because it would be a good primer for the color coat to come, and because I have a fair amount of it so I can afford to waste a bit of it in learning.
Bottom line was I did the booster first, and the gun worked great straight out of the chute. But, by the end of the booster, not much paint was coming out, just a lot of air. Huh? I figured maybe I should have thinned the stuff slightly, even though this isn't always necessary with bigger nozzles (the gun comes with a 0.6 mm). So I cleaned stuff out and thinned the paint down a bit. Still not much came out, and I realized I had plugged the nozzle. I figured out how to get it off (with supplied wrench) and clean it out. Then the paint finally came out OK, though I had thinned too much and it was a bit runny/orange peely due to surface tension effects on the smooth sanded lacquer based filler primer. I dumped the paint back out into a container (wasting much of it due to large surface area of the 4 0z cup). Added more straight sealer so the thinner would be diluted away. This time it all worked out fine and I got the sustainer primed.
Aeresolization was fine and coverage was great... the spray pattern is MUCH larger than the airbrush, actually a bit too large for my tastes, but I still have to learn a bit about the fluid and air controls. I was spraying at about 35 PSI for the gun inlet BTW, using CO2 from my tank.
In summary, I like the gun for bigger jobs. PAint sure goes on fast and smooth.
I'll post pictures tonight if possible.
Marc
Glad to hear it...
Try to dial down the air pressure a bit... although don't dial it down too much-- air pressure has a lot to do with atomization (how fine the droplets are) but it also has a secondary effect as to the width of the spray pattern.
There's usually a knob on the back of the gun that controls the pattern width... it controls how much air blows out of the "horns" on the cap-- which is what determines the spray pattern width. Less air means a narrower, more cone-shaped pattern.
Paint volume is usually controlled by a knob on the back that controls how far back the needle can go from the seat when the trigger is depressed. The less the needle opens, the less paint comes out.
It's often helpful to strain your paint... body shops usually have some little disposable paper funnels with a mesh strip glued over the end... this elminates any "paint skin" or lumps from inside the can getting into the gun and clogging up the works. If you don't have these, old pantyhose works good for straining paint as well.
If the gun clogs up, just take the cup off, use an old paper cup with some solvent in it, and run that through the gun until it clears... once it's spraying solvent freely, then replace the cup and go back to painting.
Yep, the larger the cup, the more paint you "waste". Just part of it... You'll get the hang of minimizing the waste with some practice... cleaning the cup and pouring the paint back in the can, washing everything and cleaning the gun THOROUGHLY (when you think you've cleaned it enough, CLEAN IT AGAIN! I usually disassemble my guns in a bucket of diesel fuel, brush all the parts clean, invert the gun and fill the tube with diesel and depress the trigger-- this allows diesel to dribble out the needle and seat and flush away thick paint... it also clears the air passages of any paint that might have gotten "backed up" in there as well... put some diesel in the cup and spray that out a time or two, working the needle and trigger multiple times to clear the seals, the needle, and the seat of any gummed up paint... then wash the gun with some mineral spririts and wash the cup out with mineral spirits to get rid of the diesel, put a little mineral spirits in the cup, and spray that out, working the needle multiple times again, to wash out all the diesel from the seals and parts... Fill the air fitting with mineral spirits and blow that out as well, working the trigger several times to get rid of any diesel and paint in the air passages. Clean the gun off with a clean rag or paper shop towel, dry the cup out thoroughly, take the cap off and dry it out thoroughly, and then put the gun back together and store it ON ITS SIDE in the box... This will prevent any paint crud that might be hiding anywhere inside the gun's passages from clogging them up (usually). I've got guns that are 20 years old and still work just fine from using this cleaning procedure... remember, you can't get them TOO CLEAN, but if you leave even a little bit of paint inside the gun somewhere in a bad spot, you can easily ruin the thing permanently.
Good luck and hope this helps!
Later! OL JR
