Painting equipment

[EricR]

I have a few projects in the works that I would like to paint when finished.  The first being a prentice loader and a timberjack skidder.
I plan on using these projects to play around with painting with a gun.  How the finish looks is not as important to me as the durability and longevity of the finish.  Every thing will be sandblasted to clean metal.  I went to a finish master paint shop the other day and explained what I was doing.  He sold me a epoxy primer and for the finish told me to use a hardener that they sell added to rustoleum and spray away.  I told him I was willing to spend the money for something better  and didn't  want to listen to him but he kept insisting there was no need.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?  I find it very hard to believe the expensive paint isn't that much better.  I wasn't thinking I would use imron but something in between the 2

[moodnacreek]

Things I painted 35 years ago and still own prove that name brand epoxy primer is worth the money.  Singel stage 2 part top coats are also best but like the e. primer expensive. If you top coat with regular air dry enamel like rustoleum try to get 3 coats on as it will wash away over time and leave the primer showing.

[doc henderson]

You can go with some of the ag/industrial enamels and primer.  they take 24 hours to dry, you can add hardener for more gloss an durability.  i also like for little projects the Rust oleum prof. enamel.  it comes out faster in larger cans and i always have some gloss black to touch up the log splitter and conveyor, or the log bunks on the gooseneck.

[Resonator]

Some of the best paint I've used on machinery was John Deere yellow (from the dealer) that I used when I painted my backhoe. It was expensive ($75 a gallon then), but I put it on with a roller and was pleased with the results. Five years later and even the paint dripped and smeared on my trailer is holding up well. ;D

[barbender]

I have to paint my dump trailer due to MN salt, and I think it will be a bit of a laboratory for different paint and rust sealing products😂 Sandblasting some of the panels is kind of out of the question, there wouldn't be much left🤦‍♂️ Sandblasting is too expensive anyways, I'd just as soon buy a new trailer than put $3000-$4000 into a sandblast and paint job.

[scsmith42]

My only complaint with Rustoleum products are that when used outdoors they fade pretty quickly as compared with most mid and high quality automotive paints.

Their "hard hat" industrial spray paint is my go to product for spray painting stuff around the shop though.

I don't know if adding a hardener will improve the resistance to paint fading.

[peakbagger]

I used to be the "paint guy" for a corrosive industrial operation. Here my comments

Surface prep is everything in corrosive situations (like road salt and all the other deicing agents used on the road). Ideally every bit of visible rust needs to be gone by sandblasting. There are standards for surface prep and the absolute minimum is SP-1 solvent wash and then SP3 - power tool cleaning to get every bit of scale and loose rust off. Dont skip the solvent wash as grease can survive power tool cleaning. Also do not use shop air which is usually loaded with oil mist and moisture. Either use an oil free air source with an air dryer or invest in some good coalescing filters with an upstream air dryer.  

Iron oxide (rust)is still buried in the surface of the metal and if a corrosive liquid gets at it, it will spread rapidly and ruin whatever expensive paint you put on it unless that paint is a 100% barrier to moisture. Ideally a SP5 near white metal blast is the way to go immediately followed by a zinc rich primer. Few folks will do that, so various "rust converter" primers are used. Some systems use an acid rust wash, it converts the surface rust from iron oxide to ferric oxide. Ferric oxide does not rust but once water gets to it turns back into iron oxide and will start rusting again. Usually, those washes are washed off and then a moisture cured polyurethane primer (POR is one brand) or a zinc rich primer is applied, if the surface is clean with good rough texture they will bond quite well.

The problem is that primer is not a top coat, many of the primers like POR or epoxy based priers are not UV resistant. They need to be topcoated with a UV resistant layer. Epoxy is a great choice for indoor operations but when exposed to sun it eventually starts breaking down (chalking). The preferred top coat for outdoors is a two part catalyzed polyurethane. For folks who have been around for a while the well known Imron paint system is catalyzed polyurethane. The US military also used it for the Chemical Agent Resistant Coating (CARC) as it was durable enough to be steam cleaned without breaking down. The problem with catalyzed poly is the components are incredibly toxic and must be applied with supplied air equipment for the painters and controlled ventilation. Many vets had their lungs and kidneys ruined by CARC and the truck and auto painters did the same with Imron.

Imron and Imron like coatings are still out there but best to avoid them. They have mostly been replaced with moisture cured polyurethanes. The moisture comes from moisture in the air. That also creates an application problem, when spraying, the mist in the air can be breathed in by poorly trained or poorly equipped workers where it can get in the lungs and immediate catalyze in the lungs and once it sets up there is nothing that breaks it down. That is the other issue with poly systems, once it cures there really are no solvents that will break it down so clean up is difficult unless it is done immediately. The only way you get it off the skin once cured is to let it wear off or scrape the skin off. The mist from spraying carries so if its not done in a booth or separate building, the entire interior of the building will be covered with what feels like fine sandpaper. It can be brush applied which is lot easier, and it does tend to self flatten but its not going to be automotive like finish.

Someone with the skills can lay down a nice flat coat with a spray gun and if there are sags and runs, they can be sanded down and blended in once the paint cures. If either the old style two part Imron or new moisture cured systems are applied correctly, its effectively "forever" paint for most applications but usually someone scrapes through the surface coating at some point exposing the underlying metal and it not dealt with quickly and properly, the rust will start under the coating and it will start flaking off from the underlying surface. When rust goes active it expands so it break the bond between the coating and the underlying surface allowing water mixed with corrosives to seep farther in under the paint.

Ultimately to get a good long term coating you need to choose a system and follow the applications instructions, take shortcuts and its either going to fail early or people could have long term health issues.

I use the POR rust converter around the house with the POR primer. It sets up into a very tough primer, but as I mentioned it is not UV resistant. Ideally the top coat of UV resistant poly is applied within 24 hours for chemical bond, otherwise it has to cure and then be sanded or lightly brush blasted for give a good mechanical bond.    

[EricR]

Thanks peakbagger. I live on the coast so marine paint is easy to find.
https://www.pettitpaint.com/products/topside-paint-finishes/single-part-polyurethane/ez-poxy-easypoxy/

Would something like this do the trick?  Would you add a hardener to it?  Thanks

[barbender]

So Peakbagger, in a case like my dump trailer, getting it totally clean and free of rust before coating it isn't a possibility. What is the best thing I can do, with what I have? Even if I go over it with flap wheels etc, I'll never get all the pitting- I will be painting over rust. 

[moodnacreek]

POR has some disadvantages . It stays on well on rough surfaces only. Stable rust or sand blasted areas are where it adheres but not painted or 'new ' metal. Sanding it to gain adhesion is almost impossible so you have to buy their special primer to make color stick. Priming it before it drys is suggested. The process scares me. On the other hand it can be used with fiber glass cloth on rusted through areas. Works good on gas tanks also.

[Tom K]

So Peakbagger, in a case like my dump trailer, getting it totally clean and free of rust before coating it isn't a possibility. What is the best thing I can do, with what I have? 

Honestly, buy a new trailer. We deal with the same thing in our area, nothing you do will be more then a bandaid to make it look nice for a little while. Dump trailers seem to be the worse, by the time you get around to cleaning them up it's already too late. With what you would have cost wise into the DuPont make over you would be better off to trade and let someone else deal with it.
A friend of mine has a very similar background as Peakbagger and has very similar advice. He use to do quite a bit of sand blasting, get it clean (white steel or almost) then epoxy primer within 24 hours so it doesn't flash rust. He would usually top with a poly or epoxy topcoat. It is far from cheap to do it right.

[doc henderson]

If it is from abrasion from the firewood, consider some inside rub rails or a plastic liner to protect the powder coat or what ever they use.  If gloss black, just get some rattle cans to touch up the bare spots.  

[peakbagger]

Thanks peakbagger. I live on the coast so marine paint is easy to find.
https://www.pettitpaint.com/products/topside-paint-finishes/single-part-polyurethane/ez-poxy-easypoxy/

Would something like this do the trick?  Would you add a hardener to it?  Thanks

That special additive is one of the major components of what made Imron so great but so toxic. If you are willing to wear a respirator it does toughen up a system. As and aside years ago we sprayed a MG Midget with Corvette yellow Imron. Definitely a half ass spray job way before we knew about safety. Soon after, the owner left the road and ran it into the brush. It dented several panels but the dents popped out and with a bit of rubbing compound it didnt need a respray. I think I spotted it a few years ago and its still got that darn corvette yellow paint job.

BTW, if you are near Hamiltons Marine they are usually worth the trip. I tried some of the two part Epifanes they carry, its durable but pigment dispersion when brush applied wasnt as good as I hoped. It self leveled well but the pigment didnt move around. 

[peakbagger]

I agree with observation about POR but my experience is it applies to any good primer system, blasting gives a good surface texture and that is what paint grabs onto put it on smooth metal and it could flake. The POR "primer" is really rust converter with zinc. It preps the rusty surface which usually has plenty of texture. POR does cure quite hard in a few days and its rugged stuff but if exposed to abrasion its only a few mils thick of plastic so it can scrape.

One big warning with POR is do not buy in bulk as once a can is opened it cure when resealed and getting it open is darn close to impossible. Amazon sells 6 packs fo small cans I keep around for small jobs. Other tricks is to carefully pour it to old glass jars avoiding getting any on the threads. Storing the can upside down also helps and putting it in the freezer also prevents a cure. BTW POR and most other polys need 70 degrees to cure. 

If you go with top coat for UV make sure you apply it within 36 hours or you have to rough it up and depend on a mechanical bond versus a chemical bond. where the primer crosslinks with the top coat. If you leave POR primer in the sun it will chalk out in about summer.  

[Frickman]

Back in the day I used a lot of John Deere industrial/commercial yellow, John Deere industrial gloss black and International Harvester old agriculture red paint. I even painted work trucks with those paints. I can't remember what I used for primer. It may have been a good quality primer in a rattle can.

I didn't do much of the actual painting myself. Instead, I would invite young guys studying auto body at my local high school's vo-tech to do the spraying for me. I paid them well and they got to start a portfolio of their work. I would do most of the prep work myself and hire a kid to plug his gun into my compressor and spray away. One kid was a fourth generation body man who grew up in a body shop. He was really impressed with the quality of paints I used, especially the John Deere gloss black.

None of this painting was done on equipment destined for a museum. It was all on equipment I intended to use, so a few runs and other irregularities here and there were acceptable. With proper use though the John Deere and International Harvester brand paints worked very well and gave us few defects. And they ended up being a lot more durable than automotive paint.

[Frickman]

I am going to get up on my soap box for a bit here. If you don't want to read through my ramblings please don't. I just want to talk about the benefits of painting forestry equipment.

I liked painting my equipment and owning good looking equipment. Why? Let me list the reasons.

(1) I like to look at it. Enough said.

(2) It always seems like good looking equipment is easier to maintain and repair. I can see oil leaks easier, and it's a lot easier mentally for me to wrench on a good looking tractor than an old decrepit rust bucket. Just through the act of cleaning up and painting an old tractor I fix a lot of small problems that may later develop into big problems. 

(3) I think this is the most important benefit. When I rolled on to a job with a good looking tractor it made me look more professional. By design much of my equipment was thirty to forty years old. When I showed up with a thirty year old skidder that looked brand new the landowner knew I would take as great care of their property as I do of my skidder. I couldn't call myself a professional timber harvester if I didn't run professional looking equipment.

OK, get down off your soap box Frickman.

[EricR]

Frickman. All those points makes sense to me.  I'm just trying to make things look a little better drips and whatnot are fine with me. I'm probably going to try the cheap harbor freight paint guns.  Don't need a pro job just hoping it will look good for a while.

I have a friend that swears by the cat paint.  Just scuffs lightly and paints it on with a brush and roller.  Comes out pretty good

[doc henderson]

HF guns may be made in the same factory as the high end ones.  I use and like there airless for applying wax emulsion.

[EricR]

Just thinking out loud.  Someone should come up with some primer system where you could prime parts as you prep them and when you are ready to topcoat mist it with something that softens the surface so it will stick or doesn't fully cure until it is top coated ( their are some fiberglass resins that work this way).It's a lot to try to prep/blast, prime and topcoat in the same day.  It's humid/ damp and I live very close to salt water. If you don't prime the day you blast it's rusty the next day

[scsmith42]

I agree with observation about POR but my experience is it applies to any good primer system, blasting gives a good surface texture and that is what paint grabs onto put it on smooth metal and it could flake. The POR "primer" is really rust converter with zinc. It preps the rusty surface which usually has plenty of texture. POR does cure quite hard in a few days and its rugged stuff but if exposed to abrasion its only a few mils thick of plastic so it can scrape.

One big warning with POR is do not buy in bulk as once a can is opened it cure when resealed and getting it open is darn close to impossible. Amazon sells 6 packs fo small cans I keep around for small jobs. Other tricks is to carefully pour it to old glass jars avoiding getting any on the threads. Storing the can upside down also helps and putting it in the freezer also prevents a cure. BTW POR and most other polys need 70 degrees to cure.

If you go with top coat for UV make sure you apply it within 36 hours or you have to rough it up and depend on a mechanical bond versus a chemical bond. where the primer crosslinks with the top coat. If you leave POR primer in the sun it will chalk out in about summer.  

Have you ever tried displacing the oxygen in the storage container with argon?  There is a commercial product called "Bloxygen" that is basically argon in a can.  You simply spray it for a few seconds into your partially consumed can of paint and if forms a barrier on the surface to keep oxygen away.
It works great with most woodworking finishes that would otherwise develop a skim coat or harden in the container after opening.

[Tom K]

I'm probably going to try the cheap harbor freight paint guns.  Don't need a pro job just hoping it will look good for a while.

I have a friend that swears by the cat paint.  Just scuffs lightly and paints it on with a brush and roller.  Comes out pretty good

I know the type of gun can be somewhat personal preference, but I would much rather have a pressure pot then a cup gun. Haven't a pressure pot you are not limited to the direction you can hold the gun like you are a cup gun. I've got a couple cheap 2qt pot guns I use a lot. For the size of your project it would even be worth looking into a 2 1/2 gallon pot & gun. The cheap ones would work fine for you and really aren't that expensive. Just make sure you have the right tip size and cap for the thicker paint you'll be spraying, or be prepared to thin it down. 
I have also heard people say good things about Deere and Cat paints, the key with them is to always use a hardner. 
What your doing cleaning up and repainting is much simpler then trying to fix rust and stop corrosion. As long as you don't have deep rust and corrosion you should be able to decrease and clean up the surface rust and you should have pretty good luck making it look good for awhile. 

[peakbagger]

Years ago we had a demo at the mill of a flame applied coating system. There was something like a pressure pot with hose and gun that had a propane line run to it. With the gas turned off it sprayed a fine plastic powder. When the gas was on there was peizo trigger that fired off a flame that melted the plastic and sprayed a stream of molten plastic onto a properly blasted surface. They were selling it for plow trucks and sanders. It laid down a thick coating that looked like it was well bonded. I thought it was an interesting idea but I never saw it used anywhere other than our demo. The claim was once it was applied it could be reapplied and it would fuse to the layer underneath. 

[Walnut Beast]

HF guns may be made in the same factory as the high end ones.  I use and like there airless for applying wax emulsion.

Sata spray guns made in the same factory. I don't think so 😂

[Walnut Beast]

Cyanide is what makes Imron so nasty!

Polyurethane paints give off cyanide gas when being sprayed. The paint is safe when in liquid or cured form; the gas is only released when sprayed. If you are ...

[Walnut Beast]

That paint right there was and still is King for

  durability. From Aerospace, jets, big rigs and everything in between! 

[kantuckid]

The moisture cure paints-POR & KBS are also sold by other coatings mfg.'s. I've used them on motorcycle frames & gas tanks and find them finicky compared to any good equipment enamel. TSC runs sales on their enamels that are hard to beat in gallons. Moisture cure-they store very poorly even when you use a spray in the leftover portions. I've had to toss some very pricey paints that I did all the right things to store them.
 KBS in IN sells the similar product line to POR and is sold by a local AP's store chain KOI near me, but web sales mostly to buy the entire lineup.
 
 Peakbagger pretty much nailed it IMO.

 I will say that certain colors will do better in exposure dues to the pigments involved. Reds are notorious for fade, also orange as close on the spectrum. There's a hard fast reason why yellows are used on equipment.
Other than rust, sandblasting is not a must do-the big if is how well/what condition the old finish is in and what type of coating it is. 
Trailer mfg's don't use the most expensive coating on the market IMO. To suggest they cannot be suitably re-coated is wrong minded? The prep is what it's all about more so than have you sprayed a lot, etc.. Noone wants a crappy job but honestly, I can tolerate much more (runs, drips, orange peel, over spray, etc.) on a working item, like say a skidder, than a high dollar car hood. 
How deep yer pockets says much about what you'll use. 
Doc-I personally use off brand, cloned spray guns but you'd be hard pressed to find a pro AB painter who wants a HF spray gun :D 

[doc henderson]

HF guns may be made in the same factory as the high end ones.  I use and like there airless for applying wax emulsion.

Sata spray guns made in the same factory. I don't think so 😂

ok, some "higher end/name brand" ones then.     I think many (not all) "high name recognition" companies get things relabeled and infuse a diff. color plastic.  
https://www.satallc.com/sata-spray-guns.html#:~:text=SATA%20is%20a%20leading%20spray%20gun%20manufacturer%20who%E2%80%99s,care%2C%20while%20each%20nozzle%20set%20is%20manually%20fine-tuned.

[EricR]

What lead me to try the harbor freight guns was I watch chad hiltz (bad chad) on Facebook on occasion.  He had a show on discovery channel for a while.  Some of the stuff he does is kind of questionable in my opinion but he builds a lot of cars and paints  them with HF guns and they look good.  If a "professional" can paint a car with one I'm sure I can paint some equipment with one with satisfactory results.  At $20 a gun you just buy a new one every project. 
My craftsman/box store  tools 98% or the time get me to the same place as those who swear by snap on.

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Here's my $.02:

My older trucks (89 GMC K3500 dually dump and 91 GMC Jimmy) I applied POR to the frames and have also done so with other vehicles I have owned. The key to POR in my experience is to use their etch prep stuff (I spray it on with a spray bottle) and follow their instructions to a "T". On my Jimmy, I didn't top coat it. I've had it on for over 8 years and it still looks great. UV exposure is not as much of an problem on a vehicle frame that is covered by the body for the most part. That being said, the Jimmy is garaged and only comes out in nice weather.

The 89 is a work truck and has a flatbed dump on it. That frame is exposed to the sun but has not faded in the 2 years I've had it. On the past dump trucks I've had (and I'll probably do this one as well if I ever get some free time) is to top coat the frame with TSC implement black with their hardener. 

I have used the TSC implement paint as well as Rustoleum paint with the TSC hardener with great results! I've painted hay wagons, trailers, truck frames, etc. I've had great success with a brush (this combination of paint and hardener levels nicely leaving very minimal if any brush marks in my experience). When I've cared enough to want a super good finish, I use the approx. $12 Harbor Freight purple spray gun. At that price it's basically a throw away, good paint brushes cost more. But it does a really good job!

The key to the TSC and Rustoleum top coat paints IMHO is the TSC hardener. It makes all the difference in the world. I painted my hay wagon 12 years ago and if I washed the grime off it and let it dry it would still look like the paint is wet. 

[btulloh]

X2 on pressure pots and cheap guns for painting equipment. Pressure pot is well worth the extra cost for sure. Hardener is a must. Good enamel paint made for equipment is worth it also, but Rustoleum or TSC implement paint is not bad, as mentioned. Personally I would go the extra mile on the primer and use two part epoxy, but the top coat window is short and may be harder to manage. Ospho or similar on raw metal for sure.

Lots of good info mentioned above - everything from perfect industrial approach to good enough for basic improvement.

Good luck with it.  It will turn out fine.

Pressure pot!!!

[EricR]

I may try the hf pressure pot.  Seems like a little bit of a pain to clean.  How do you clean the hose?

[Ed_K]

 

 I painted my Taylor Skidder with TSC cat yellow 12 yrs ago with a roller and a fine brissle brush. There weren't many brush marks which I brushed over where I used the roller. It's been outside since I painted it. It doesn't look bad but it also only has 600 hrs since the total rebuild, so not many scratches  8).

[btulloh]

One thing worth mentioning that I haven't seen here -

Depending on the size and capacity of your compressor, heat can be a problem. The more often the compressor has to cycle to keep up with the gun, the hotter the air coming down the hose. Warm or hot air will change the way the paint comes out of the gun, which will affect the ability of he paint to flow out or even adhere.  Really warm air will have you spraying dust because the atomized paint will dry before it reaches the surface.  You're probably aware of that already, but I mention it just in case. . . .

[snobdds]

We paint all our equipment with John Deere Industrial Black Blitz paint.  It holds up well...

[Don P]

Trying to beat the moisture I had the little compressor  in the ranger with the AC on full tilt trying to feed it drier air, never thought about the heat coming down the hose. I went Kobalt for the gun but t sounds like the HF is cheaper. It was not made in the same factory as a good gun.

[kantuckid]

Moisture control is a monster here in E KY when trying to paint. Good moisture control will involve a serious moisture collection device and avoidance of certain weather. Many painting larger equipment are further restricted to doing so outdoors so it gets even harder to pull off.
I drain my tank and use both an AC device and a small moisture in-line filter as well to paint plus avoid a rainy or otherwise humid day.
Rural King has a good line of enamels in equipment colors too. 
The more recent HF guns are far better than the junk they sold some years back. Auto body pros I know never, ever use a HF gun as they need quality plus tip choices that match the job & materials and their skill level.

[doc henderson]

many ways to skin a cat or deere.  A thousand dollar paint gun, will not make a newbie a great painter.  a great painter can do a great job, even with a 10 dollar gun.  the two combined is the best for an old sentimental car to go to shows with.  I like the idea of rolling and brushing on big equipment.  there is a lot of waste with spraying.  overspray, and wasted paint in the clean up process.  I use rattle cans of urethane for small projects so there is no clean up, and i get a great sprayed finish on things like coasters, ect.  for a refurb, it is nice to paint some stuff as you go.  good luck on your project.

[snowstorm]

rolling and tipping of paint is used on boats mostly. if done right it can look very good. not just any paint will do. pettit epifanes and alexseal and others make paint for rolling and tipping. the roller is foam 4" wide the brush is used to very lightly go over the paint to take the air out. i painted one boat that way. 50 ft away it had a shine like a new car up close ok some place layed out better than others. it can be wet sanded and buffed if need be. one thing about this type of paint they say not to wax it. it will hold its shine for over 10 yrs. 

[Tom K]

I may try the hf pressure pot.  Seems like a little bit of a pain to clean.  How do you clean the hose?

They are a little more difficult to clean, and do waste more paint because of the cleaning process. Essentially the steps are the same as a cup gun, but you need to run solvent/cleaner through the pot/hose until clean. on my little 2qt pot gun it probably takes about a pint of thinner to clean, it has about 6' of hose. Bigger pots and longer hoses would take more. Obviously you wouldn't want to hook up a 2 1/2 gallon pot to paint a small area since you would waste more paint then you used. 
I haven't looked at the cost of the HF guns/pots, but if I were you I would look at getting a 2 qt and a 2 1/2 gallon setup. From what you have said I think a 2 qt may be a good fit for priming the smaller areas right after blasting, and the 2 1/2 gallon good for top coating larger areas at one time. There are quite a few other sources for guns & pots, it would be worth it to look around and find what would work the best for you with they type of products you plan on using.

[doc henderson]

I think you can set a smaller container such as a gallon of paint, inside the pressure pot with the dip tube in it.  so you should not have to clean the 2.5 gallon container.  you can push most of the paint out, then clan with solvent.  mine is however still new in the box.  I used to leave primer in a gun, but if left for days, it may clog.  the low pressure system I got for wax emulsion, I only cleaned once a year or so, and it was good to use as needed.

66839.pdf (harborfreight.com)

"Note: As an alternative, an entire can of properly thinned and strained paint can be placed inside the tank. This method reduces the need for cleanup. Do not move the tank if using this method to limit spilling."

[jb616]

I just bought the mid price Harbor freight HVLP gun ($69) to paint my car after i hit a deer and i have to say it did a very good job. I have used name brands in the past and this was right up there with them. I would say it would be more than good enough to paint equipment as it did a great job spraying my clear which is what I use to rate a gun. 

[Walnut Beast]

It will work but no way that gun would hang with a Sata gun. The rule is cheap guns for primer and good guns for top coats

[Walnut Beast]

I've had Sata in the Low volume low pressure gun. 

LVLP spray guns are better than HVLP spray guns because they produce few defects. This is because air bubbles can be produced in high volume which can cause a lot of defects. The LVLP uses low pressure and a thin nozzle which allows a low volume of paint to be pushed out of the gun.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, that's almost always a good rule. A year or more ago I was chatting here with Tule Peak about how he achieved the finish on a really pretty job and learned that after running through the whole range of high to low cost guns they found the 18 buck HF gun worked best for his needs, they don't even clean them, just replace. I bought one a week later but have yet to work up the gumption to try it. Hopefully the next project.

[Walnut Beast]

I would recommend and

 I had this pressure unit with their good gun. Excellent setup. And yes you still need the hoses , gauge and good gun. DeVilbiss guns are good and that's what it was paired with

[doc henderson]

for use of miniwax spar urethane (cheaper by the gallon), I have used the 9 dollar smaller HF ones.  i also just buy another if i forget to clean it soon enough.  I usually fill with spirits and spray until clean.  may not clean much between coats.  sure beats brushing on big project.  I also often do brush on rough stuff like bark or knots.  then light sand and spray a few final coats.  There is little point in a beginner buying a thousand dollar gun for a one off project.  Ill take a finish from an expert sprayer with a cheap gun, over the alternative any day.

[Old Greenhorn]

.... Ill take a finish from an expert sprayer with a cheap gun, over the alternative any day.

This last part is why I hesitate. Back in the day I had a pretty nice car that 'got totaled' ('67 Galaxy 500 with a drop top, 390, with a 4 Bbl, it moved pretty well ;D). Anyway I found all the parts and rebuilt the whole nose after I straightened the chassis. I built a tent over it and my Pop had nice Binks commercial guns with a vast set of nozzles (I still have those). I got all the advice I could from the autopaint guys where I ordered the paint. This was 20+ years before the internet thing. I built a tent enclosure over the car (that took a weekend) and waited for the lowest humidity day I could find. Primer looked super, sanding was easy, but when I shot the final finish coats I wound up with orange peel. I was sick. All that effort and I could not get the paint to lay without that orange peel effect. I decided to live with it. It was a how car and it looked pretty nice after compounding and waxing.
 6 months later, the car 'got totaled' again. Harder to get parts that time, but I did. I straightened the chassis again and replaced the whole nose again. (hood, grill, radiator, bumper, fenders, headlights, etc.) This time I sanded and primed it only and took it to Earl Shibe's for a $59.95 paint job. I got there an hour before they opened and did all the taping and masking myself out on the street. I slipped the painter 50 bucks before he started and he did a super job. It's a skill thing and ever since then I have been avoiding getting back on that horse again. Maybe it's time.

[fluidpowerpro]

When I was a teen the same thing happened to me. Spent weeks getting my 72 Pontiac LeMans ready for paint only to have it orange peel. I actually cried. Ended up wet sanding and buffing and it turned out ok. In hindsight I think the issue was an old, non oil free compressor with poor filtration. I learned a lot from that experience and not all of it had to do with painting...

[barbender]

OG you must be a quick learner. So did you total any more after this? 😂

[doc henderson]

OGH you know you could have just repainted it.  You did not have to wreck it again.  My ol 07 HD 3500 is silver, but the clear is peeling in a repair spot done professionally.  i have considered going flat black.  easy top touch up.  

[Walnut Beast]

Here is a good explanation. The problem is you are asking definitive questions about spray guns that will in reality make no usable sense to you until you actually spray paint with a good quality gun. As someone else already told you -- the main difference between a cheap $30 gun and an expensive $350 to $600 gun is atomization (the ability of the gun to break up the paint into fine droplets as it comes out of the gun). The cheap paint gun you bought will in most cases work good for primer, lacquer, oil based paints (like for painting furniture) and it should handle acrylic enamel decently. But I can speak with experience of many years painting in that the cheap spray gun will NOT do a good job of spraying acrylic urethane in single stage or clearcoat. The cheap guns are older gun designs that were not designed to correctly spray acrylic urethane topcoat paints. What you can expect with a cheap spray gun spraying acrylic urethane single stage or clearcoat is excessive orange peel and/or runs in the paint (usually both in the same paint job). Which all goes back to that single word - ATOMIZATION. Cheap spray guns work fine in my book for spraying primer but don't expect to cheat the hangman by buying a cheap spray gun and expect to get a show winning paintjob straight out of the gun. 

[Don P]

Ahh, I've been trying to paint the truck with a drywall texture gun, AKA the booger flinger  :D.

[Walnut Beast]

With some serious elbow work you can wet sand all the way down to 2000 grit and buff out to a glass finish 😂😂

[Walnut Beast]

Heck you could spray and get a decent finish with a Graco airless sprayer. Maybe that's what I should have used when I painted a Kenworth with 550 bucks a gallon just for the color years ago 😂

[Old Greenhorn]

Doc, I did sand it down and tried again, same results. The finest paper I could get was 400.

FPP, I may have had the same problem and never knew it.

 Barbender, I did not. The next accident I had was at least 25 years later, then another 10 years after that. Just to be clear, neither of those totals was my fault. In the first I was on a main road and a fella pulled out of a side street to make a left across the front of me, he saw me too late, we made eye contact. I thought he would stop and I swerved to go around his front end, instead he sped up and I opened a seem on the side of his car from the front of the drivers door to the rear bumper. He got a 'failure to yield' ticket. The second was on a Parkway, 55 mph bumper to bumper traffic and the lady in front of me slammed on her brakes when a bird flew low across the front of her car. I pushed her electric tailgate right up against the back seat on that station wagon.
 Those last two accidents I had was another "slam on the brakes' in front of me to make a turn they nearly missed, and the last when I was stopped waiting for a guy to make a left turn and I was rear ended by a new driver that was not watching the road and just drove right into me. My son got rear ended in the same spot and the same situation, but he had a 10,000# warn winch in the rear receiver and was hit by a brand new Mercedes sport coupe, which mostly drove under his truck but took quite a hit from that winch. The Mercedes was totaled, the truck was fixed in a week or so. Bang and bend. It's a work truck.