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Hello! Now that the Canadian $ is back up and the price of spray guns is about half in the US of what it is in Canada, it MUST be a good time to buy a new one. I think I've narrowed it down to a Binks or a Walcom. Both HVLP and in the $300 range. I've heard good things about Iwata and haven't ruled it out but a similar gun is about $150 more. I need a 1.3 - 1.5 MM tip since it will be used for a bit of cabinet work also and I will be spraying mostly nitro.

I've never used a decent gun. I own a couple of inexpensive Porter Cable guns right now that have blown gallons of lacquer and have sprayed 2 guitars with them and had satisfactory results all around but would like to know what I'm missing.

I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on better quality guns.

Thanks,
Danny

Danny, I recently got one of the DeVilbiss Finishline spray guns and I have to say that it's a great gun and very friendly on the pocket book. I got it off Amazon which shipped from TCP Global which was a great company to deal with. I called them and told that what I was doing, what I was going to be spraying and this is the gun that they recommended to me.

You can get it in Canada at KMS tools for the pretty much the same price after exchange & shipping.

I really like this gun and I think it would be great for nitro as spraying the water base (EM6000) was excellent.

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Rod, I have been looking at the same gun. Sounds like you are happy with it.

Mike

I am Mike, it's a great gun for our purposes. If I were spraying several guitars a month or even per week I would probably step up to something better but this gun works just fine and really just sprays nice. Much much better than the crappy Chinese knock off guns I was using.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

There is also a Sata Mini Jet HVLP in the same price range that I have been eyeing.

That's a good deal Rod and I like the fact it comes with three tips. TCP is the company I've been looking at guns through. There's defiantly a lot to choose from.

If I was just spraying guitars I would seriously consider a Sata Mini. It's a little small for my needs and I'm afraid to look into pricing of there bigger guns. They won't post prices or sell them on the Net.

Thanks,
Danny

Thanks Todd, I know the Sata Mini is a great little gun but I also do 3 or 4 kitchens a year and need something that can put out a higher volume of material. The 2 PC's I use now have done me well but having never used a higher end gun I'm wondering how much better results I'll achieve. I'm pretty sure I'll be buying a new gun. It's a matter of how high end does one need to go to get great results.

Cheers,
Danny

if you are going to be using an HVLP gun for cabinets and such, you will need to go the route of a pressure pot system IMHO...I've found that I use about 1 gallon of material (lacquer thinned by 20%) per 5 sheets of plywood (which = 160 sf)...think about it, just how many times are you going to have to refill a 1 qt cup to do a kitchen?

doing the math (and from what I've experienced) you should invest in at least a 2.5 gallon pot, if not a 5 gallon pot. you can follow the route of starting off smaller with a 2 quart pot for using on guitars, but I'm sure you'll find it a real PITA for use in the field because of having to stop and refill the sucker...you will also find it worth the extra cost to invest in a pot with a manual agitator to keep the solids well mixed in your product to give a consistent sheen on the finish (I'm sure you're not going to be spraying high gloss on cabinets..at least not very often I would think)...

the good thing about a pressure pot system is that it requires less of a compressor to run properly....I use an old 2 HP campbell hausfeld twin tank (8 gallons capacity) that puts out ~ 8CFM and use a Binks Mach1 SL with a 93P air nozzle (its a new one with some interesting specifications that perfectly utilize the capacity of my compressor) and a #94 fluid nozzle...the bad thing is the extra investment in the pot...which is offset by the fact you can use a portable compressor as opposed to needing a really big one that would be a true PITA to get to jobsites...

most certainly you are going to want to invest in separate hose sets for different types of work...a longer set for cabinets on site and a much shorter set for use on guitars where you can hopefully keep things close and help mitigate the hassle of retrieving fluids from the fluid hose...