Spray gun setup

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PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:34 pm
Got a few questions here about spray gun. I'm doing DIY budget job and I ended up usingI'm doing DIY budget job and I ended up buying a spray at 3000k spray that comes with three tips I'm actually going to use it for base clear and primer.
Anyway I've been doing some research on how to use this thing and I have a decent idea but still confused on a few things.
I understand all guns are different and they should be sprayed at the PSI set by the manufacturer.
Now basically obviously we are trying to paint and not get any runs while doing it and get the best coverage. From what I understand about the size of The tip of your thumb to the tip of your pinky holding your fingers straight out should be the distance between the gun and what you're spraying and that also should be the basic size of the oval when you spray. Like six to eight inches basically.

So what's confusing me is there's three knobs on the gun.
You have your PSI that's set on the regulator with the actual gun air knob always wide open
you have your fluid knob that controls how much fluid is going in and out
Then you have your fan.
My question is let's say I have a run what do I adjust is it the PSI or the fluid or the fan because I'm sure playing with them will give me different results.
Is my basic goal to get that 8-in oval without any runs. What adjustments should I make and why when I spray because playing with the gun I'm not really seeing too much difference. I see a drastic difference when I open and close the fan knob but not much with the other two



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PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2020 7:20 am
youre goal is to get that oval with even coverage across the whole oval. i dont look at how big the oval is. i want that oval,when i pull the trigger for about 2 seconds and right distance from my paper hangin on the wall, to have even coverage across the oval.
i set psi at the gun, then fluid control, then fan pattern. never touch that air knob on the bottom of the gun.


if you have a run with the gun set up properly, its not the gun. overlap,distance from surface, or speed you move should be adjusted.
basically-keep it simple. gun set up right then dont touch it. is the speed youre moving too slow? too much overlap? too close to surface?



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PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2020 1:45 pm
Okay so as long as I have my oval that has even spray throughout the whole oval I'm basically set up correctly. As long as it does not run.
Other than that I have to adjust my speed and distance got it.

Only thing is what do I play with on the gun to get that oval with even spray and no runs?



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PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2020 2:06 pm
Another question I have is about cleaning the gun. Like I said I'm using this for primer clear and base coat.
So far all I did was prime my bumper and clear my headlights but this is how I've been cleaning the gun.
I have a quart of lacquer thinner. What I've been doing is taking that whole court and putting it in a mixing cup because the mixing cup is bigger and I could fit the head of my gun in there. Then I take the gun apart, clean out the paint left in the siphon cup.
I take my cup that goes on the gun out and I put it in the mixing cup then I take the gun apart needle head and everything and I put it in the siphon cup and I pour the whole quart of lacquer thinner in the siphon cup that's actually in the mixing cup.
After I'm done cleaning everything I pour it back in the quart container.
So basically The thinner I'm using to clean was used to clean epoxy primer and clear coat so far so it's dirty but can I still use this.



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PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2020 6:53 pm
heyhi1 wrote:Another question I have is about cleaning the gun. Like I said I'm using this for primer clear and base coat.
So far all I did was prime my bumper and clear my headlights but this is how I've been cleaning the gun.
I have a quart of lacquer thinner. What I've been doing is taking that whole court and putting it in a mixing cup because the mixing cup is bigger and I could fit the head of my gun in there. Then I take the gun apart, clean out the paint left in the siphon cup.
I take my cup that goes on the gun out and I put it in the mixing cup then I take the gun apart needle head and everything and I put it in the siphon cup and I pour the whole quart of lacquer thinner in the siphon cup that's actually in the mixing cup.
After I'm done cleaning everything I pour it back in the quart container.
So basically The thinner I'm using to clean was used to clean epoxy primer and clear coat so far so it's dirty but can I still use this.


You do realize simply soaking gun parts in thinner is not actually going to get them clean, right? I could write pages on properly cleaning a spray gun but here is the distilled version-you want your gun to spray like the day it came out of the box, thus you clean it until it looks like it did the day you bought it. Does this make sense?

Also not 100% sure what gun you are using but a good rule of thumb is when testing your pattern (you can spray water that's fine but don't spray thinner to check your pattern, it doesn't come out right) from a distance of about 7 inches and with about 1-2 second trigger pull you should see a cigar shape on the paper you shot with even material throughout. Make sure your pattern isn't top or bottom heavy and is shaped like a cigar, not an hourglass or a sphere or anything. Also look at the droplets around the cigar, they should be fine not super big.

Most cheap guns are simple to setup open your fan all the way and pulling the trigger tighten the material knob until you feel pressure on the trigger, spraying pressure start at 20lbs and work your way up 1-2 psi at a time checking your pattern for the cigar shape but i wouldn't get the pressure up over 35 psi unless your shooting a pressure pot (unlikely.)

When you have the gun settings dialed in, something I suggest you do is see where you are most comfortable spraying at what distance from panel. I like to be right up on it, some people like a good distance. Point being, it doesn't do you any good to get your gun set to spray perfect at 7 inches only to find you are comfortable spraying at 4 or 5.

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