Fuji Mini Mite 4 GXPC gun for automotive

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 9:00 pm
Long story short I have a project car that’s in desperate need of a paint job. After figuring how much a 60-80 gallon compressor, wire 220-240v in my garage, and paint gun was going to cost I decided to go with a Fuji Mini Mite 4. From research I’ve found that air coming out of the gun are hotter than the ambient air due to it being heated through the turbine.

Which leads me to my first question, I’m hoping Darrel chimes in because I see him post all the time, and he seems to be very knowledgeable about these units. I picked up my paint and have a warm reducer for my clear with a temp raiting of 65-85 degrees. My base I’m using a medium reducer. Do I need to change to a hot and slow reducer? I’m in Washington state so the ambient air temps are not that hot at all. I plan on shooting in the late afternoon so ambient temp should be around 55-60 degrees. Switching reducers shouldn’t be an issue as I can just return the ones I have for different ones. I’m using Sherwin Williams ATX base and Dimensions Pro overall clear. I do also plan on laying down a primer sealer first. Can anyone give me some more info? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Chris-

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 11:42 pm
Hi Chris,
Well, that is definitely one of the better turbine motor set-ups out there bested only by the newer 5 stage units in my opinion. Based on your ambient temps your turbine is pulling that air in to begin with so it won't be overheating at all. If you can check your metal temp.s before shooting as they should be at least 65 +. I haven't shot anything out of the Sherwin Williams line in years so I can't help you a lot specifically there however turbines share a few basics with just about anybody's base and sealer coats. Primer sealers (depends on how high of solids) should lay down pretty well, just make sure you aren't dry spraying (overheating turbines tend to do this) or getting a "granular" texture to the surface. As for base most turbine systems make it look very wet going on but it pretty much flats out just like you would see from any normal gun.
Best advice? And yes, I know paint is expensive, do some decent spray outs with the entire paint system both in steps and complete. I mean what's $20 to $30 worth of wasted material compared to a lot of the bad "do overs" we see on here......food for thought......
Remember, turbine materials need more tweeking/reducing to get them to lay down right.....
Okay, so these are NOT the best pics. but maybe they can at least show you what a good 4 stage can do....
First, pic. is of the my new Fiero toy that I am doing a crapload of paint corrections to... notice the super duper tiger stripe patterns in the whole front end/nose section..... Second pic. is just the brilliant silver base (very generic TCP Global paint code). Excuse the gold reflections from the new LED lights that I am now moving to another building. That was mixed pretty much straight from the p. sheet directions. Last shot is with 2 coats of the Tamco Euro Clear straight off the gun. You can already see the reflections from my trees in that clear. Laid down pretty flat. Again, very little (maybe 2 to 3 % additional reduction at most) changing of the mix from the p. sheet.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:11 pm
Thanks for the reply Darrell. I actually over bought on material. I’ve got a gallon of clear and gallon of base. I am doing a full repaint all jambs included. But the car is a small coupe so I don’t believe I’ll have to use all that material plus switching to a turbine will reduce the amount of material needed even more.

I’m going to buy some beat up fenders from pick n pull or offer up to practice on first. I’m in totally agreement with you about having to respray the car. I guess I am just hoping that the activators I have don’t have to be switched for the slower ones. I can do it before I use them without adding additional cost. But if I crack them open and try them out and they don’t work. I then will have to spend more money to get slower ones.

After the paint is all said and done, I do plan on wet sanding and buffing. So some orange peel doesn’t bother me. If I could get it to look 85% of what the fiero you did looks, I’d be ecstatic!

Chris

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 2:56 pm
Yeah, it's kind of flip of the coin on the reducers you got there. Just remember on material savings....you've got complete control of that pattern down to about a quarter of the size of a dime so dial it down some when jambing. I end up always repackaging my leftovers so they keep for a long time.
If you can tweek your gun and materials enough you may not be dealing with that much orange peel...... turbines= 4 to 6 inches from the surface and slower app. speeds than conventional compressed air. Hey, and you might PM Nighttrain on here....he's had a Fuji system for quite some time now.....
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:26 pm
Chris, just noticed this thread, and yes my Fuji 4 stage (recommended by Darrel) sprays great. I've been experimenting with industrial water-based paints with it lately, and noticed they require more reduction, due to the higher turbine temps. AutoAir sprays well in it too. I bought an extra section of hose to curl in a tub of water (for cooling) if necessary. The Fuji viscosity cup helps to get the right reduction.

Darrel, slick looking Fiero. Were those tiger stripes there from the factory???!!!
If that's an 88 then it's the best of the run, and then Pontiac quit production. What a shame. GM was probably afraid Fiero was getting too close to Corvette performance...
"If you can't move it, paint it." - U.S. Army

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 12:34 am
Nope, the tiger stripes were done about 2 owners ago. It is a brilliant silver house brand from TCP Global with again, their house brand clear. Bad thing about it was the tiger stripes were in the base, then the clear was almost "puddled" into stripes over that.
And, no, it is not an 88 but an 87. I've got to say though the previous owner really made this a hi-po car in both power and handling. It has the entire 3800 SC II powertrain (including the 4T65 E HD transaxle) from a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix for starters. He moved the entire OBD II system over so I can scan and troubleshoot the car from the Torque app. on my phone. Also has all new poly graphite suspension with larger front sway bar and added rear sway bar. I've got the bigger Sunfire brake upgrade with the larger Summit master cylinder. battery was relocated upfront for better weight dist. And also in the handling department..... he installed a GM "electric" power steering unit which is user adjustable for effort. I have owned about 6 Fieros over the years with one of them being an 88 and I'll tell you, this is the best handling Fiero I've ever driven.
Yeah, it's a shame GM does that "kill" program with a lot of cars just when they are coming into their own. And, yes, the 1989 Fiero would have been a turbo V6 that would have been too competitive both on a performance and pricing level. Oh, well, the 3800, the Caddilac Northstars, and the GM LS 4 fit in the engine bay like they were made for it. Makes for a cheap, reliable, hi-po sleeper on the street. Hell, most people don't even remember the Fiero now. Tuner guys come up to me all the time asking what it is.......
They seem to like this when I open the rear deck lid.....
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:23 pm
OMG, that IS a sleeper.

I've always liked the Fieros but never actually owned one. Yours looks to be well-balanced in the power and handling, along with the shiny new paint. I'd rather drive something like that than any of these new cars any day...
"If you can't move it, paint it." - U.S. Army

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 11:41 am
Yeah, I was getting ready to do a kit truck build and just happened to run into this car on the Fiero Forums I still look at now and then. It was a car that had spent it's life in Vegas so not a spec. of rust anywhere. Our Fieros here in Ohio have pretty much rusted into the ground if not garage kept out of our salt/brine winters. These cars, when done correctly, are a great mix of performance and economy. I just got back from a 500 mile round trip over a long weekend. Cruise on 82 (passing at 92 as needed :) ) most of the time, AC on, packed with all our stuff and it still got 36 mpg. And then, you can still rip 0 to 60s in the mid to high 4 second range anytime.... So far I'm all in on the car at $7500 and honestly, I think I'd drive it anywhere, anytime....
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2019 10:49 am
Hey guys. Reviving this thead. To preface, I’m a complete newb to Auto-painting. Never done it before, though I have overall knowledge of sprayers from my days painting houses. I’ve used a Titan Capspray 115 in the past for spraying cabinets and it works awesome for that. 6 stage turbine setup. I borrowed that from a friend for my auto project.

I’m attempting a full repaint on my 2006 Honda Odyssey because it runs great but the clear coat is failing and I don’t want to buy a new van right now. It’s Springtime in Wisconsin so air is still cooler and a bit moist, i’m looking at mid-50’s temp at best..

Currently I’m just trying to get the gun to spray well. I’m testing it out on random pieces of scrap I have around the house, an old lawn mower, an old griddle etc lol. I’m sanding them out and prepping them the same way I will with the car. Problem
Is I’m getting lots of orange peel. So far I have attempted both primer and base coat and gotten orange peel on both.

I’m now realizing that I probably need to reduce further because initially I mixed the paints per the spec sheet, which is designed for a compressor sprayer. So from reading above, sounds like I should go ahead and reduce them a bit further? For the primer I used a 1.8 tip and for the base coat I’m using a 1.4. Anything else I can do to help myself or is this just trial and error?

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