Devilbiss Paint Gun Setup (and general help)

Any questions about tools or supplies. Post your compressor/gun questions here.



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PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 9:13 am
Hello everyone. I am new here and want to try to get into painting a bit. I have a truck cab that I need to paint, but my daily driver just died -- so I essentially have an entire car that I can practice on. My question is how do I setup the gun?

First thing first though, I want to provide information about my setup if it helps you guys to offer hints / tips / suggestions.
So here's my setup at the moment:

compressor: 15 CFM @ 90psi
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200318461

I'm using a filter / regulator essentially at the compressor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0057D ... ge_o02_s00
and then have 40 feet of copper pipe to another separator, then hose to the paint gun, and I'm using http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NS ... ailpages00 at the gun.

The paint gun is Devilbiss Finishline 4 FLG-670
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007N6 ... ailpages00

For paint I was thinking about:
Eastwood's High-Build Self-Etching Gray Primer:
http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-s-high ... rimer.html
This basecoat: http://www.eastwood.com/low-voc-bouleva ... allon.html
and this for the clear: http://www.eastwood.com/low-voc-clear-a ... r-kit.html

Keep in mind I really have no idea what I'm doing here so I'm basically shooting in the dark. I have the paint gun and the compressor but I haven't bought paint so if you have a different suggestion please feel free to weigh in.

My thought was to take a piece of my old (dead) car as a practice panel, clean and prep it and go through the process of primer, base, and clear.

But before I even do that I would like to figure out how to setup the gun, so for my questions I would like to focus on that and cleaning. It seems like there are two adjustments on the gun, one related to when the air is applied and the other the amount of paint that's allowed to the nozzle when the trigger is depressed. ok so.

1. How do i setup the gun / know when it's putting down a good coat?
2. Does this have to be changed from nozzle to nozzle? I'm using the same gun for everything, so I assume i need a larger nozzle for primer and then need to move to a smaller one. Do I have to adjust the gun between these nozzle changes?
3. What / How do I properly clean the gun? Can I use lacquer thinner from home depot poured right into the hopper and spray until it's clear?

If I'm getting ahead of myself with these questions then what should I be asking?
I really appreciate the help.

Thanks.

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:56 am
Welcome.
First, I would dump the Eastwood paint idea. Check the online store here for the Tamco DTM 2k primer and their clear coats.
For base, I would recommend you try a middle of the line product. Most of the paint manufacturers offer three lines: their Premium products which cost a lot of money, their mid-line products which cost about 1/2 of their premium line, and then their bargain or bottom line products. Omni, Shopline, and most of the re-branded online stuff, are examples of the bargain basement lines. Some guys use them and are happy, I tried them and was not. For just starting out you will find it much easier and the finished paint job looking much better with the better quality paints.

Check out the Info Center and read some of the articles there and you should find most of what you need to know. If after that you still need some guidance, post your questions.

Here's a link to an article on Paint Atomization: http://www.autobody101.com/content/arti ... omization/
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31



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PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 12:31 pm
Thank you very much for the info. I will look into the paints you suggest and read up some additional articles.

So the material knob is the one that adjusts the needle and the "fan width" is the adjustment associated with the trigger / air?

I'll look for an article on cleaning.



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PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 12:35 pm
'68 Coronet R/T wrote:Welcome.
For base, I would recommend you try a middle of the line product. Most of the paint manufacturers offer three lines: their Premium products which cost a lot of money, their mid-line products which cost about 1/2 of their premium line, and then their bargain or bottom line products. Omni, Shopline, and most of the re-branded online stuff, are examples of the bargain basement lines. Some guys use them and are happy, I tried them and was not. For just starting out you will find it much easier and the finished paint job looking much better with the better quality paints.


So Omni, Shopline, eastwood, etc are "bargain basement lines"? What would you suggest for a base coat paint that would be a good start for a newbie?

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 12:54 pm
You have a decent gun there; twiddling those knobs is going to be related to a combination of fluid tip size, material viscosity, air pressure and application (gun travel) speed.

Practicing is a very good idea. You are generally going to want a full fan, and the fluid knob opened up all the way, then backed in a couple of turns - as a starting point. Shoot a stationary one-second trigger pull at a vertical target, gun tip approx 6 inches from surface - and if you material gives a nice cigar-shaped pattern with good coverage and no runs, then you should be good to begin practicing.

Before going nuts looking for base, do you have an autobody jobber (supply shop) near you? Start with asking them what they have then we can help you. There are plenty of decent quality inexpensive bases out there.



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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:49 am
chris wrote:Before going nuts looking for base, do you have an autobody jobber (supply shop) near you? Start with asking them what they have then we can help you. There are plenty of decent quality inexpensive bases out there.


Honestly I have never even looked for car paints before so I'm not sure where I would go to find them. I'm familiar with all the car parts shops around, but I don't remember seeing much for paints there (other than rattle cans), but I guess I wasn't looking real hard. I'll do a search online and go somewhere and get back to you.

Thanks.



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PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 5:52 pm
OK so I have found a paint supplier not too far from my house and I was told that they use DuPont paints. Are people happy with DuPont paints and is this a good paint to get started with?

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