# Thinking of buying some spray equipment



## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Hi all,

I am looking to get my own spray equipment but what would I need?

I get the basics i.e. compressor, air lines and spray gun, but the specifics have got me scratching my head. Can you point me in the right direction? 

What exactly do I know to give me a good little kit to do some spraying? Not that I'll be spraying cars on a regular basis, its for the van. :thumb:

Cheers,
Dan


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Something like this perhaps:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wolf-Siou...Air_Tools_and_Compressors&hash=item566047b6b0


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## mr paint (Jul 11, 2009)

Are you spraying the full van /car?


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

I'll be spraying it bit by bit 

But yes the intention is to spray the whole thing.


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## Tintin (Sep 3, 2006)

Hi Dan. I have the Aldi 24l compressor but have only used it for inflating tyres so far.

I do plan to use it to respray my bumpers at some point.

The trouble with so small a compressor will be that it won't run a gun that requires a high cfm. The smart repair guns you see for about £15 are usually low cfm, but the bigger guns that pro's use to do whole cars require more grunt than these compressors can manage. Some top brands like Devilbiss are quite low cfm but cost ££££'s.

With a small compressor it will be very stop start as the tank empties and refills. Nor saying it can't be done, but whilst these small tanks can be used for say alloy wheels or smart repair, doibg a whole car will be difficult.

Had you thought of buying a used compressor? Or if you can wait, if you register at Machine Mart they eventually send you a code for 20% off.

Generally with compressors, the bigger the better. You could then use other air tools like a media blaster, which these small ones can't support. I wish I had bought a bigger one - pretty sure that it will be up to doing the wheels and bumpers but not much else.

The mig forum has a section on compressors and air tools. Lots of info over there to get you started.


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## Tintin (Sep 3, 2006)

Just to add, the cheap smart guns on eBay seem well liked over on the mig forum with even the pros using them for primer and alloy painting.


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Thanks Tintin - very informative. I know understand the difference between the type of compressors. I'll continue to have a look about.

A media blast function would be extremely useful - especially for the van.


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Out of interest what CFM should I be looking for?


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## Shug (Jul 13, 2007)

The more the merrier! 
Look for the FAD (free air delivery) Its more accurate than the general cfm requirement usually quoted. Different guns (and tips) will have different requirements. Compressor should be comfortably above that number.
I used a 40cfm compressor for my painting, but that's a bit overkill (borrowed from someone who uses big air tools!) My DeVilbiss finishline wanted 13cfm I think.


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## robdcfc (Sep 17, 2012)

1st thing to get is an airfed mask if your painting.


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## Tintin (Sep 3, 2006)

If you want to use 2k paint that contains iso's, you will need an air fed mask - and a big compressor to run it and a spraygun at the same time. You just need a good filtered mask like a £25 Gerson if you plan to spray non-iso primer, acrylic, cellulose, or water based paints.

Another thing to note if thinking of buying a used compressor is that the ones that look like bargains are often 'single phase' - this means they can't be run from a normal domestic supply, so are a bit less desirable to most buyers.


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## Shug (Jul 13, 2007)

Tintin said:


> .
> 
> Another thing to note if thinking of buying a used compressor is that the ones that look like bargains are often 'single phase' - this means they can't be run from a normal domestic supply, so are a bit less desirable to most buyers.


I think you mean 3 phase. Domestic supplies are single phase.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Tintin said:


> Just to add, the cheap smart guns on eBay seem well liked over on the mig forum with even the pros using them for primer and alloy painting.


Really ???? Pro Smart Repairers and alloy painters using £15 guns????
I guess it comes down to what you consider 'pro' to mean?

Pro can mean they manage to charge for jobs when using the cheapest of equipment (and probably materials) - turning out jobs that are of a bad quality, that everybody moans about, that give the industry a bad name. These are 'pros' only because they happen to label themselves as being 'in the industry'.
Or Pro can mean people that turn out quality work because they use quality equipment (and quality products) and they can quite rightly justify the higher price they charge simply because of the quality of their workmanship. 
These can call themselves 'pros' because they do a professional job.

I'm a Pro Smart repairer and I wouldn't consider such a low priced gun - even for priming! 
Even at the cheaper end of the market for priming I'd expect to pay iro £75, for painting iro £250 and a lacquer gun iro £300.

As the saying goes - 'A bad workman always blames his tools' .... proper professionals very rarely can


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## Tintin (Sep 3, 2006)

Shug - whoops, sorry, put them the wrong way round.

Squiggs - one of the guys who recommends the cheap guns for small parts is a guy who builds hot rods from scratch and his work is excellent. He is a professional in every sense of the word. I guess the difference is he has a workshop and can take his time spraying or correcting paint, whereas you need a good finish straight from the gun.


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