Paint spray guns/systems

[dedgemon]

single stage, or do they do base/clear. I've become a real base/clear advocate after spraying my '8.

[Mark Moyle]

single stage, or do they do base/clear. I've become a real base/clear advocate after spraying my '8.

Single stage.. No clear.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[N942VT]

Looks good Mark, hard to beat urethane..

[jaredyates]

To answer your original question Zane, I used the Harbor Freight compressor-driven "HVLP" guns for primer, and the sprayed covering steps. I used a turbine HVLP for the top coat, mostly because my work space didn't have enough electrical power to run a big air compressor. The HVLP turbine requires about as much electricity as a shop vac, but provides the kind of air that the gun needs, making it more efficient in that sense. The one I used was many years old, which made it cheap (free/borrowed in fact). As is often the case with tools, you can spend as much on aged spectacular tools as you can on new mediocre tools. Painting is a cumulative effort, where any single mistake in a long chain will be apparent in the end result. That's part of what makes it so challenging and rewarding.

You'll find a wide spectrum in the approach to paint input and results, and I don't think one is better or worse than the other. Each has benefits and costs. My "functional" approach is obvious to anyone who has seen our airplane in person, and even more so if it is parked next to a plane like Dave's (which is beautiful, in case you haven't seen it). One thing I tried to keep in mind throughout the build was that the end result was going to be a transportation tool. It could easily be destroyed at any time through any number of circumstances, with or without me present. I was thinking of ground loops, off-airport landings, SNF tornadoes (SNF fork lifts), hangar collapses, hail storms, fuel trucks, etc. As such, my priorities were making a safe, reliable, and functional transportation tool, so our paint finish serves to delay corrosion and to aid air-to-air and SAR visibility, not to make it an heirloom or a demonstration of the builder's pride or attention to detail. When our travel plans called for leaving it parked outside for a couple of weeks last fall in the wind and rain and snow, I wasn't biting my fingernails looking for a hangar. When I scraped the wingtip on the hangar door, I temporarily patched it with a rattle-can blue that's a pretty close match. If I had spent an extra 150 hours in labor or an extra $3000 on painting gear, the hangar door would have just as gladly scraped off flawless paint.

[bestbearhawk1231]

Z, I am using an Iwata LPH-400 spray gun...it is expensive but it does an amazing job. Makes me look like a lot better painter than I am. I am running it with a 15-20 gallon air compressor that optimistically claims 6 cfm @40 psi and it keeps up with the gun. The lph-400 is one of the best guns on the market and uses very little air to run. I started with a home depot gun that used a lot of air and didn't atomize correctly and had a lot of overspray. I borrowed a buddies iwata to see if my air compressor would keep up and was amazed by the lack of overspray produced by the gun. In my honest opinion, you definitely get what you pay for in the spray gun department. It does an amazing job with Stewarts, PPG, rustolium, cheap pre-mixed auto paint, and polyurethane. You simply have to use it to understand. Yes, you can get a good paint job with a cheap gun...but a pro quality gun makes it so much easier. I had never sprayed anything that didn't come in a can before this project and found it pretty easy to pick up. Once I saw the difference in overspray between the home depot gun and the Iwata, I knew that I would pay for the gun in paint savings. It makes it so easy to apply nice thin coats. Once I get to painting the wings and fuse, I will find another small air compressor to T into my exsisting compressor to ensure that I don't run low on air but for small parts such as wing ribs and attach angles the small compressor works great. I don't have one of those ungodly expensive filters...I drain the water from the tank and the basic air/water separator and run a disposable filter ahead of the regulator at the gun. I learned to use a spray gun by spraying primer on the internal wing parts that will not be seen.

[Ivan]

Hi Joe, my compressor says 11cfm at 40psi. It comes close to keeping up with my Finishline gun, but not quite. I'm going to order the iwata but want to make sure first. It looks like there is only three, but the part numbers confuse me. It says LPH-400-144LV 1.4 millimeter tip. Is this the right one? I'm using Stewarts. Thanks

[patrickh99]

I am planning to use the Oratex fabric; no painting required. http://www.betteraircraftfabric.com/oratex.html
Polish the wings or paint... I think I'll wait to see how the riveting turns out before I make that decision.

[geraldmorrissey]

I'm with you Patrick, no paint. Oratex and polish.
Gerry
Patrol #30

[whee]

I was with you guys on no paint. I looked into Oratex, got two color samples from them. Put them one a couple frames. Pretty cool stuff. I've decided to go with Stewart's.

[nichzimmerman]

Why is that Whee? I have never done fabric before but planned on going with oratex just for ease and weight. I would love to hear about any drawbacks.

Sent from my HTCD100LVW using Tapatalk

[AlabamaSlammer]

Why is that Whee? I have never done fabric before but planned on going with oratex just for ease and weight. I would love to hear about any drawbacks.

Sent from my HTCD100LVW using Tapatalk

Ditto this question, and what color(s)?




Sent from the 4th floor men's room using Tapatalk.

[whee]

I don't have any real fabric experience either. Couple years ago a local guy gave me some Ceconite and Stewart's glue to mess around with. It was really easy to use and make look good. I don't have any experience with Stewart's paint.

I ordered the Red and Blue Oratex samples. I really like the red.

I made up some frames so I could see how it was to work with.

It really wasn't too bad and with some practice you could make the round corners look better.

There were pretty much 4 things that made me change my mind:
1. It was a little harder to work with. Ex: you couldn't iron out wrinkles on the curved tubes like you can Stewart's.

2. The color is really thin and easily rubs off when ironing.

3. Because you aren't painting the tape edges are left exposed. I don't like how that looks and feels.

4. Cost. Quote I got from Oratex was $4500 if I cut and glued my own tapes and $6000 if I got the package they recommended. The quote I got from Stewart's was $2500 for everything.

I was willing to pay the extra cost just so I didn't have to paint but the other things things I didn't like pushed me back to Stewart's.

[JimParker256]

Was that the 600 (light airplanes) or the 6000 (heavy airplane's) version of the Oratex? I've only looked at the heavier fabric, and found I almost indestructible. Couldn't hardly scratch it scraping with metal implements, etc. I'm leaning towards Oratex as well.

[whee]

One sample was 600 the other was 6000. The paint rubbed off with the iron the same on both.

[Chewie]

Nice feedback, thanks!

[AlabamaSlammer]

Thanks for the info. I'm leaning towards the yellow, but the blue looks really good as well.

Your description of the thinness of the color and the exposed tape reminds me a lot of my old 4Runner and its paint job


Sent from the 4th floor men's room using Tapatalk.

[Ivan]

Hi, Newbie here. First post. I have the wings painted on my Avid Magnum, but my compressor doesn't quite keep up with my gun. I'm using a Devilbiss finish line three, and it seems to be quite the air hog to me. It needs about 25 psi to work properly with the Stewart system paint. I'm considering buying the Iwata lph-400-144LV with the 1.4mm nozzle, before attempting the fuselage. My compressor is rated at 11cfm at 40 PSI. Any opinions on whether or not this is a good move would be appreciated. Thanks.

[N942VT]

I've used Stewart's extensively, my Bearhawk is holding up perfectly after six years now. I restored a Meyers OTW last year with it also and did a Piper Pacer and a Cub with it. It's my favorite system to date for lots of reasons. I'm not sold on Oratex for a couple of reasons. I find the glue just hard to deal with, I don't like the way the tapes finish out and I'm not a fan of the overall finish of the fabric. There's nothing wrong with the system and I know some have had good results using it, Mark's LSA looks great as well as others I've seen but it's a personal preference that I have to be able to bury the tape edges and get a better paint finish. It comes with added weight though so there's the trade off.
Ivan, in my opinion a good spray gun is one of the best things you can do to ensure a quality finish but you need a compressor to run it, yours sounds like it would be working hard to continuously supply any modern gun, these guns may use lower pressures but at higher volumes of air so a high capacity compressor is best. Not that you can't make it work, you will have to let the compressor keep up with your spraying and not get ahead of it. The Devilbiss finish line is a good gun for primers etc, get a better one for the finish like the Iwata you mentioned or a Sata 4000 series etc. I've sprayed lots of planes, cars etc with the finish line but it's always a struggle compared to the newer / better guns. Whatever your budget will allow.
My opinions so take it for what it's worth.