Thread: Paint gun review

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Given these three choices what can anyone tell me both positive about the guns. Which has the lowest air consumption and which lays down the best finish. 1 ASTRO PDX3....FINEX 300....FINISHLINE 3 ) Vote the poll with your first choice gun....thanx....Gary

Those are kind of the bottom end of paint guns , and I couldnt recommend a good choice out of those 3 .
But if you want a damn fine gun with low air consumption ( may be a little more costly ) but well worth the money .
Go with a Walcom Slim S HVLP gun with the 1.3 needle and tip , as this is wha most Paint manufacturers recommend for their base coats and clear applications .

Here a link to a place where I buy my Iwatas from this company .
http://cgi.ebay.com/WALCOM-SLIM-S-HV...QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.spraygundepot.com/scripts...sid=0819144701


SprayTech

You see that's the problem....I came to this web site to see if the thinking was the same as another paint website. Now at this other web site the comments are extremly positive with some saying the Astro gun paints as good as his Sata gun. This is seconded by many many other people .Now I highly doubt that's the Astro sprays as well as the Sata , however on none of the websites I frequent have I found anything other than praise for these guns. All acknowledge that these are down the food chain as far as expence but not in quality. Just trying to get some different feedback.

Spraytech here is the man when it comes to body work and paint so what he says is most likely true. I know he is a Iwata man and swears by them. He is right, those are all low end guns but out of the 3 I would probably go with the Devilbiss Finishline 3. If you plan to do this for a profession I would suck it up and buy a expensive gun but if just for a hobby then you may get by with one of those guns. I am not professional here by any means but do know what is high quality and not. I see a ton of people using SATA and a lot swear by them but I think most people just get one and don't try many other guns and just SAY SATA is the best without actually KNOWING.
That's my oppinion anyways....

94vette,
I was not trying to Cut these guns , I have never used those guns mentioned , and could not give sound advice on the question.
You mentioned Air consumption , and the Walcom's Slim line requires only 3.3 CFM . So therefore it can be used with a small air compressor , as most do it yourselfers dont have The big 80 Gallon 7HP -2 stage 20CFM compressors at home .

I use nothing but High Dollar Paint guns as I need to have a quality gun that will take the abuse of all day spraying .

SATA's are good guns , but I dont like them , Personally I do not like the feel in my hand , ( its a bulky gun ) , and I do not like how it atomizes Base Color , Every painter sprays different , and you need to try many guns to find one that works & feels good to you !

SprayTech

the problem is if you paint for a living you do not use anything but the best equipment you can find. we cant help because we have'nt used them. all we can do is recomend good equipment which gets us into trouble , usually called several names and so on. we try to stress that the inexsperenced needs all the help they can get. quality gun , quality materials. i'm getting a little gun shy myself if at all possible go for a top line gun. if not it may be a roll of the dice. i'm not a fan of cheaper clones and stuff so i'll leave it at that. wish i could be of more help.

I've sprayed with both the Devilbis and the Finex, of the two I'd go Devilbis. I personally spray with a sata. Like Spray said, every painter is different. Many companies have a trial period and if you don't like it return it. Good luck and let us know your decision!

Astro makes a good entry level paint gun. DeVilbiss is not an entry level gun and should not be placed with this grouping. Hands down the DeVilbiss is the better of this bunch. Here in the shop (because of the number of painters) we use C.A.Technologies equipment because of the construction and durability. If you get an opportunity to try these guns do it. When Binks was disolved, many of thier engineers formed thier own company and designed a series of guns and equipment for the professional painter. They are very affordable.

Two other aspects to consider when buying a gun are the size of the job & talent of the sprayer.

A guy who sprays everyday can do a good job with a less quality spraying gun than a novice.

A large job(painting a car vs fender) requires you get around the car fast, thus you need a higher capacity gun & probably a better quality gun since you have less time to concentrate.

I have 7 guns, been painting for over 40 yrs & do a more consistant job w/the Sata, but there are newer guns I have not used.

If you are doing only small jobs & need to get by w/a cheap gun why not start out w/a Harbor freight purple HVLP gun($65/$35 on sale). Of the 3 you mentioned I would pick the Astro.

Good luck.....Don

because ive got a qul hvlp w/ a 1.9 tip and it sprays better than my sharpe sgf hvlp w/a 1.8 tip.Sharpe cost 175.00 astro 75.00.nuff said Mike

I agree with hellraiser. I know I am new here but after 28 years in the custom paint business, I have seen alot of pure painting hell due to using inexpensive paint guns. I mean paint ain't cheap in the first place and you're painting a whole car. That's alot of paint. I know because I've been there too many times.
One thing to know, if the gun is not evenly dispursing the paint, the surface gets this rough feel to it. This leads to nightmares that you would not believe. Guns like SATA's 2000 or their RP, literally throw that paint on there. It flows like you would not believe. I used cheap guns for years and Sata made a believer out of me.
You can always buy a used SATA, maybe look on ebay and then buy a new tip, needle, and spray regulator.

While on the gun subject i have a question. I have sprayed a few vehicals in my time, but always used the same gun i had bought a few years back. No, i was not spraying to get a quality job, mostly just to put some new shiny paint on it. My question is, is a gun with a top mounted tank better than a gun that has a bottom mounted tank? And what is the differance?

The difference in Siphon & top loader is that the top loader is a bit easier to handle ( meaning :Better balance and control ) There are HVLP's in both models , and conventional in both type guns .
Most Paint manufactures recommend using an HVLP though , as thats where the technology is designed , but doesnt mean you can not spray todays paints with a conventional gun . ( you will just use more and have alot of overspray .)

The HVLP's models are designed for todays BC/CC materials for better transfer & less air pressure at the gun : Meaning more goes on the vehicle then in the air like the guns of old. but requires more CFM's to use an HVLP . Less VOC levels too .

There are many brands out there from High dollar to cheap throw-aways .

Hope this sheds some light for you .
Spray

Almost spreytech, the only thing i dont understand is HVLP does it mean High Volume Low Pressure? And yes, it sure helped out alot. There are not to many great painters around where i live. Most are just your basic body shops that do not like to do expensive paint jobs because they are not into that kinda thing , so to speek. They would rather just chage a fender or 2, sand the car down and put some colour on it.
Another question for ya,
This would concern a base coat clear coat with alot of depth to it. After spraying the 3-4 coats of colour, do you have to let it dry in between the colour and the clear, then use really light sand paper, sand it, then spray the clear on, or can you just wait till the base coat it tacky and spray the clear right over it. And how the hell do they get the clear to look like its 1/2" thick?????? Dam that looks good.
As you can see, ive only sprayed laquer with a hardner added to it. I want to paint my 1 ton this spring so im really eager to learn.

I have these guns :

Gold Plated IWATA LPH-400 & Its good - good for pearls & kandies

Sharpe Titanium w/ 1.5 tip - Great for primer & lays down a wetcoat of clear might i add.....!!!

Finex 1.3 $85 cheapy - Works good for base coats

Sharpe mini w/ swivel cup(use for upside down) - Works real good

-- They all have thier own special place ...... No 1 gun can cover all areas