gravity or syphon feed paint gun??
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stmotorsports
Senior Member
i used to swear by my old production DeVilbiss syphon feed- it's from like the 1950's. That gun has a phenomenal pattern, atomizes insanely fine and almost infinitely adjustable spray arc. I finally sprung for a new DeVilbiss HVLP grvity feed last year, and now I can't decide which one I like better. I have't gotten to use the new one too much yet, but DEFINITELY a lot less overspray- like virtually none(!!). The gravity feed feels a lot better balanced, less hand/wrist/arm fatigue when you're doing big jobs but the cup on top sometimes gets a llittle awkward. The good part is the gravity has a cup liner setup so you can spray at any angle- even upside-down.
You almost have to decide for yourself
definitely spend the couple xtra bucks & get the hvlp tho- i even got an hvlp touch up gun.
You almost have to decide for yourself
definitely spend the couple xtra bucks & get the hvlp tho- i even got an hvlp touch up gun.
hondamidnighter
Senior Member
GRAVITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Yeah.
i spent like $70 for some good prime r(urathnene) that the guys at napa said was a really good high build primer and then bought a quarter of hgih soild clear coat....so then i was like...well i have access to this $20 syphon feed gun and it wasn't that good then i went up to f&f and ffound a $100 gravity feed....They were sold out of the syphon feed and the girl was like, yeah these guns aren't that good. I was like...uh...yeah they are...it is just that they are expesnive.
i bought a gravity feed and im going to try and use up some of my primer today on my hood.
btw, i talked to a buddy whose dad owns a body shop and he said syphon was better but you would need to run 2 coats of primer and that with gravity feed, it is hard to ge tthe paint not to run.
regarding the paint running, this gun has an adjustable pressure regulator on the gun, and a paint regulator on the gun.
i think i made the right choice.
nathan
i spent like $70 for some good prime r(urathnene) that the guys at napa said was a really good high build primer and then bought a quarter of hgih soild clear coat....so then i was like...well i have access to this $20 syphon feed gun and it wasn't that good then i went up to f&f and ffound a $100 gravity feed....They were sold out of the syphon feed and the girl was like, yeah these guns aren't that good. I was like...uh...yeah they are...it is just that they are expesnive.
i bought a gravity feed and im going to try and use up some of my primer today on my hood.
btw, i talked to a buddy whose dad owns a body shop and he said syphon was better but you would need to run 2 coats of primer and that with gravity feed, it is hard to ge tthe paint not to run.
regarding the paint running, this gun has an adjustable pressure regulator on the gun, and a paint regulator on the gun.
i think i made the right choice.
nathan
tylonalsnifnfool
Senior Member
all i ever use is gravity. i used syphon fed gun a few times and didn't like it as much. I have never found the can awkward but every non and then i hit the rear view mirror with it when i'm painting doors.
gravity>syphon x1000
gravity>syphon x1000
your buddies dad doesnt know what hes talking about...sorry to inform you and i dont want you to get defensive about it but that statement he made just is ridiculous. It has nothing to do with whther or not the paint is being gravity fed or siphon fed as to whether or not it will run. all guns that i know of gravity or siphon have adjusting knobs on them that adj the amount of product vesus air coming through the gun....you can set them to get virtually no product coming thorugh or almost all product its all in how you set it. Now iI will say from experience that i belive a gravity fed gun to be superior to that of a siphon feed, being that it can utilize less air pressure by not having to use pressure to siphon the paint out of the cup. also HVLP is absolutely the way to go be it gravity or siphon fed. In case you were not aware HVLP stands for high volume low pressure, which takes loew pressure levels and puts out high volumes of pruduct reducing overspray and product waste. also when painting in order to keep dust to a minimum you will end up opainting in an inclosed space. Now the less product you are putting intot he air the greater visibility you will have to see what you are spraying and how it is laying out. also just curious, what brand and type of high build primer did you get and also what line of high solid clear did you purchase? I buy all of my product through napa and know just about everything they carry and will be able to tell you whther you really got good stuff or the salesman was just tellin you what you wanted to hear. And another thing what are you painting because a quart of clear is not gona get you very far.
i am just running a test coat of clear on my hood iwth my "ghetto paint project" which is basicly a good primer + spray paint (rattle can) base coat + a good clear coat. My dad swears i will get tiger stripes which im sure i'll get.
I need to run to my car to grab the products.
* runs to car *
alright , the primer i bought from napa, clear coat was bought from GTC ( local hardware store chain)
primer is Econo-Body part # 15221
2k Urethane Primer-surfacer gray
clear coat is omni AU
fast topcaot product # MH167..
that is the hardner not the clear but it is the brand that counts i guess.
im glad that i bought a gravity gun. My buddy had his syphon feed today and It just felt like shit when i moved it around...plus with this gravity feed gun it is nice to have a presure regulator on it because then i can have the air presure cranked at the valve so other ppl can still use the air compressor
nathan
I need to run to my car to grab the products.
* runs to car *
alright , the primer i bought from napa, clear coat was bought from GTC ( local hardware store chain)
primer is Econo-Body part # 15221
2k Urethane Primer-surfacer gray
clear coat is omni AU
fast topcaot product # MH167..
that is the hardner not the clear but it is the brand that counts i guess.
im glad that i bought a gravity gun. My buddy had his syphon feed today and It just felt like shit when i moved it around...plus with this gravity feed gun it is nice to have a presure regulator on it because then i can have the air presure cranked at the valve so other ppl can still use the air compressor
nathan
hcivic.com
Senior Member
get a 25$ regulator at the end of you hose
not sure on the clear as you didnt buy it form napa but for the primer anything that is econo body is the lowest line of product they carry. Also yes you will undoubtedly get zebra stripes in the basecoat if it has any metallic in it whatsoever due to the fact you cannot cut the pressure down on a can in order to dust coat and stand all the mettallic up on end and make it all uniform
the primer i run is martin seniour i beleive the # is 5153 but ill take a look at my shop tommorow just to double check. it would probably cost you about 200 bucks at the least for a gallon with the reducers. also did you use laquer thinner or just paint thinner? paint thinner wont do shit you need laquer thinner. Also you NED to get the primer out of it before it dries up....i suppose its to late now im sure but, its gonna be a bicth to clean if it is hardened in there. You will end up needing to let it soak for a while if it did. Anyhow when i finish spraying i dump the extra product out, pour in thinner, put the cap back on shake it around for a while the take the cap off and pull the trigger to let the thinnner run through. Run it through for a bit then dump the rest out and wipe the cup all out good. Repeat process till clean, and after youve done that once the next time you go to do it while your running it through again run it on the cap to get it off from the cap then just wipe the cap pff after u do this.
I let some of the paint dry in my gun once and it took me 2 hours to clean the stupid thing, every part had to come off.
swanny
Senior Member
You need to keep a clean gun. Invest in a brush kit and a gallon of laquer (sp?) thinner to clean it. Remove all the needles springs knobs etc. after every use and clean them up. Dirty guns spray like shit and they'll leave some pretty big chunks on the finish. I usually keep a little bit of thinner in the cup inbetween uses.
hcivic.com
Senior Member
i blow about 250ml of lac thiner threw the gun after i clean it out to make sure i did not miss any thing
stmotorsports
Senior Member
IF you're planning using ANY kind of urethane topcoats- ie sythetic enamels, urethane enamels, base/clears/etc- you HAVE to use urethane primers. DON"T try to use any sort of laquer-based primers under any kind of urethanes. The reason for this is that when laquers dry, they get real hard and brittle- thats why old cars with original laquer paint it gets all crazed and crackly-looking after time. Urethanes do just the opposite- they dry, but they stay very resilient and compliant. Think of urethane bumper covers, suspension bushings, etc- almost kind of rubbery-like.
It makes it a pain in the ass having to do it this way cause laquer primer is mad cheap and you have pretty much forever to work with it- if it starts to dry & get too thick in the gun you can just add more thinner to thin it back down & keep working. Urethane primers you have to mix with hardener & you only have a window of 15-20 mins to do whatever you need to.
If you're only going to spray your final coats with 1-stage acrylic enamels, I've never had a problem using the laquer primers...(??)
It makes it a pain in the ass having to do it this way cause laquer primer is mad cheap and you have pretty much forever to work with it- if it starts to dry & get too thick in the gun you can just add more thinner to thin it back down & keep working. Urethane primers you have to mix with hardener & you only have a window of 15-20 mins to do whatever you need to.
If you're only going to spray your final coats with 1-stage acrylic enamels, I've never had a problem using the laquer primers...(??)
So the hvlp guns, they use less paint? Is there a significant decrease in the amount they use? ie 10% less? Is it easier to control runs with this type of gun? How well do they work pointing strait down?
hcivic.com
Senior Member
hvlp dosn;t use less paint they waste less and yes the work pointing straight down. and no run will happen you need to know how to chase them off the car
