airbrush vs spray gun

[swarfrat]

Being a dry rotted pull behind a lawn mower tractor - there wasn't really any damage to the wagon - just the tire blew out.  It doesn't take much do damage your eyes, but given the age of the tire and its small size, it probably wouldn't do serious damage. But, as I tell my son "sound is moving air. Things that move air... are probably gonna make a LOT of sound."

 

[Rick]

One time I filled up my bike tire at a gas station.  Probably was about 12.  Mistake, even though the pressure was set at 30, the tire volume was too small, and it exploded.  I felt it in my face.  Fortunately, no injuries.  That was a discouraging 3 mile trudge home.  Lesson learned.

 

[swarfrat]

Went to go pick up the HF 2gal unit because I saw it was https://harborfreight.com/merchandising-promotions/hot-buys/4-gallon-200-psi-high-performance-hand-carry-jobsite-air-compressor-56339.html]on sale, and when I got there, they also had the 4gal 4cfm @90 sorta quiet one on sale too. 80db is a bit loud for inside the house,  so maybe I should've gotten the smaller unit and then just stick it on top of an old tank from a bigger dead compressor when a deal arises for shop use, but it's still much quieter in the shop. Shouldn't be a problem after the kid goes to bed if it's in the garage. So I picked up a compressor, a single action external mix air brush, and the 4oz detail spray gun, cause they're cheap and I'm curious.

 

[swarfrat]

Rewriting the whole post because ... the original I think would confuse my position.

We only sprayed water this evening. I tried both the external mix "airbrush" and the detail spray gun. I think the pattern put out by the brush is likely big enough to do a good job on a guitar sized object. With the detail gun, it's gonna be about four passes per side.  The main limitation I think will likely be the cup size. The brush came with a tiny 1oz jar and a 3oz jar. Well.. the 3oz jar is a "mixing jar" and doesn't come with a siphon lid. You can't spray from it.  I think there'd be less overspray with the brush - the gun puts out a LOT. 

I mixed up about 4oz of 2lb cut garnet. I've seen folks say you can spray 2lb, but most general advice says to shoot 1lb cut. I'm planning to shoot 1lb cut, but I wanted some 2lb for a wipe test tomorrow to see about color in the pores. I'm currently thinking shoot the whole thing garnet, maybe even dye it darker, then sand it back so it's just in the pores. I don't want it India ink black in there, just add some depth. Then grain fill (clear) and shoot blonde shellac over that.

I hope to get something on wood tomorrow. It's shellac. I often joke about metalworking - "It's just metal - you can always melt it down and start over." Shellac is a little like that. Only a few things don't go over it, you can pretty much blend coats any time you want to throw more alcohol at it. It's almost hard to screw up. Almost. I'm sure I'll manage somehow.  About the only thing you can't do is completely remove it from the pores.

 

[swarfrat]

Detail gun clogged on 1lb cut, but may not have been adjusted properly. (Which almost certainly means it wasn't). But aside from having to refill quickly the s. All airbrush actually did better than the gun..

And of course, the real reason I needed an air compressor:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/sQaPrHFClGc[/youtube]

 

[fleezinator]

So I actually own a HF HVLP spray gun. And it has one jar, and it's huge, and for something the size of a guitar body there's a ton of waste.  I'm sure if you're doing five or six bodies at a time, a real sprayer would be the only way to do it.

Looks like you’ve already landed on a solution but I’ll post up my experience in case anyone else is using a similar hvlp sprayer.

First I’ve got the Rockler version of the Harbor Freight HVLP. As I understand it, it’s the same Earlex licensed tech but the Rockler is a two stage turbine instead of HF’s one stage.

The trick is to use a preval glass jar or an 8oz mason jar as the smaller container for smaller paint batches inside the 32 oz jar.

Take a preval jar & vinyl tubing to make a little mini container inside the big container! Just drill 2 holes into the preval cap: 1 for the pick up tube (drilled a little smaller than the tube itself for a nice tight seal) and another hole for the turbine to pressurize both the jars. Yeah it's way hacky but I feel the functionality & results are all there

The Rockler hvlp is fantastic for its price point and versatile. I’ve stained my back yard fence, painted a room, finished some outdoor patio furniture and finished 3 guitars.

 

[NedRyerson]

I was waffling back and forth for months myself, but went with the Stewmac gun and the Husky AC from HD.

Still learning how to dial it in right.  I practiced with water at first, and then at game time, I used just plain lacquer (thinned to about 3:1) to coat my buddy's guitar.  I have the spray pattern where I want it to be, but I think I'm still pushing too much CFM and need to dial it back.  But I figured a clear coat would be a better hands-on experience than trying something fancy like a color burst when I'm not practiced enough for it yet

I needed to graduate from the Preval sprayers. They were okay at first, but just got aggravating to get any kind of precision.  The glass jars that came with it are handy, though.

Nice side effect was being able to inflate my riding mower's tires in seconds (yes, I used a pressure gauge ) and my kids' playground balls.  Son of a buck is loud as all get-out, however, in my little basement workshop, so I have to wear earplugs when I turn the motor on.