# What's Your Paint Spraying Setup?



## Bojangles1594 (Aug 24, 2021)

Hey Guys,
I'm new to this forum and to woodpainting. I'm looking to get a spray gun to start spraying finishes on drumsets. Anyone have affordable recommendations for the necessary equipment? I'd also like to see what you guys use to spray your finishes.


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## J_L (Apr 22, 2014)

What type of finishes are you looking to spray? 

I spray lacquers, conversion varnishes, dyes, toners, auto clear coats, etc. out of HVLP cup guns attached to my compressor. Here's the main gun I use below. I use an inexpensive husky (from home depot) cup gun for spraying stains or dyes. I am about to pick up another gun for spraying pigmented finishes. 









For bigger spray jobs, I go with a pressure pot. It holds a lot more finish to I'm refilling less and the gun is also way smaller to deal with since there's to cup attached.


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## B Coll (Nov 2, 2019)

Bojangles1594 said:


> Hey Guys,
> I'm new to this forum and to woodpainting. I'm looking to get a spray gun to start spraying finishes on drumsets. Anyone have affordable recommendations for the necessary equipment? I'd also like to see what you guys use to spray your finishes.


I use a Graco 4 Stage Turbine hvlp. I have several guns but my favorites a a Fuji T75G Gravity feed and a cheap AeroJet RS1 non-bleeder cup gun. If you choose a turbine, you can get away with a 3 stage, it just might make it difficult to shoot heavy body finishes and latexes if the need ever arises. For clears, stains, and toners a 3 stage would be fine. Fuji has some pretty good package deals.


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## Bojangles1594 (Aug 24, 2021)

Thanks guys! I've been wanting to put stains and dyes on raw drum shells. I'd also like to use any other finish that would enhance the wood grain. Looks like I'll be heading in the 'gravity-feed gun' direction. Seems perfect for the small scale of the drums and would be good for doing fades.
What tip sizes would you recommend? Drum shell sizes usually run 10"x3" to 24"x20" (diameter x depth)


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## BigCountry79 (Jun 2, 2021)

I would like to spray paint on some cabinetry and face frames but I have no clue on the guns or compressors...


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## Bojangles1594 (Aug 24, 2021)

BigCountry79 said:


> I would like to spray paint on some cabinetry and face frames but I have no clue on the guns or compressors...


I found this article on Gravity-feed guns. I think it might be what you need for your project.
Gravity Feed Guns
I think as long as the compressor can meet the operating pressure of the gun, everything should be okay. I have to check on craigslist or FB marketplace to try and find one. I also know nothing about compressors


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## jdonhowe (Jul 25, 2014)

Assuming "affordable" is a key word, and you're likely not making your livelihood a paint sprayer, check out the Harbor Freight "purple gun". There are lots of reviews and videos online. Check CL (or HF) for compressors. Cheaper, smaller compressors are noisy, but tolerable, and plenty adequate for the small projects you plan on.


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

I have the HF green siphon feed and it'll shoot thinned latex no problem, but you do have to clean it after use right away unless you enjoy picking bits of dry paint from tiny holes.. Personally I like siphon feed better than gravity feed...easier to shoot from various angles without dripping paint everywhere..


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## J_L (Apr 22, 2014)

Bojangles1594 said:


> Thanks guys! I've been wanting to put stains and dyes on raw drum shells. I'd also like to use any other finish that would enhance the wood grain. Looks like I'll be heading in the 'gravity-feed gun' direction. Seems perfect for the small scale of the drums and would be good for doing fades.
> What tip sizes would you recommend? Drum shell sizes usually run 10"x3" to 24"x20" (diameter x depth)


I run a 1.8 tip in my main gun. The biggest thing when using a cup gun is the viscosity of the liquid flowing through it. You could get a ford #4 cup to check the viscosity. That's how I learned. Then I realized that it's more important how the liquid flows out of my gun than the ford cup. The ford cup just provided a reference point for me to learn how to adjust the liquid for the gun. Here's how I check and thin my finishes to flow and spray well. This is for a gravity gun.

Let's say I'm shooting lacquer. I'll put the lacquer straight into the gun (without the air hose connected) and pull the trigger. Make sure the fluid valve is all the way open so you're getting the maximum flow. If the finish just dribbles out, it's way too thick. Add a calculated amount of thinner or retarder (usually 10% of the amount of finish in the cup is a good start) and mix. Pull the trigger again and see. If it's still dribbling - still too thick. If it's starting to flow, how far is it shooting out from the gun? If it's barely clearing the nozzle - it's still too thick. I keep doing this until the finish streams out of the nozzle about 3-4 inches from the gun when holding the gun level. At this point, the finish will spray well. When doing all of this testing, I'm letting the finish flow out of the gun back into the can of lacquer.

Once it's flowing well, make sure to note how much reducer/retarder you added. I do this as a percent so that the math is easy. The amount of reducer/retarder will change throughout the year based on the weather. Most of the year it's hot and humid here so I'll add more retarder (15% ish) than thinner (5%ish) or maybe no thinner at all. The thinner flashes off real fast, so it almost speeds up the cure time. This can make it hard in hot weather to get a good finish when spraying bigger panels. That's when the retarder comes in. The retarder slows the flashing off of the solvents allowing more time for the finish to flow out together which helps with larger panels. In cold weather, too much retarder will just take forever to cure. 

I'll usually grab a scrap of plywood or cardboard to check the spray pattern and dial in my settings before spraying the piece. 

If you're using an air compressor (not an HVLP turbine), air pressure at the gun is important. I've sprayed with way too small of compressors before. It can be done, but it's not fun. You'll usually run out of air (which changes the spray pattern as the air gets depleted) and then you'll have to stop mid spray to let the compressor catch up. I've made male to male air hoses and connected multiple smaller compressors together to get more air. I currently run a 30 gallon oil filled husky air compressor which is borderline too small for regular spraying. I did replace the air pressure switch in the compressor so that it kicks on sooner (at 110psi instead of 90psi). This helped tremendously because previously, as the pressure in the air tank was falling (between 90-100psi), the spray pattern would change. Now I can spray continuously without issue. 

Get an air/water separator for your compressor. However, don't attach it to the compressor. Run a short 25' line and then plug it in there. Plug in the hose to your spray gun from there. After the compressor has been running for a bit, it heats up. It also heats up the air inside the compressor and the hot air allows moisture vapor to pass through the air/water separator if it were right at the compressor. By adding 25' of hose, it allows the air to cool and the water droplet size to increase enough that the air/water separator will do it's job. For years I ran a separator at the compressor and at 25'. The one at the compressor would barely have a few drops of moisture and the one 25' away would be full. 

Clean your gun well when you're finished. If you're not going to be spraying for a while, completely field strip it and clean all of the individual components. Your future self will thank you for doing this. If you're going to use it within a week, after rinsing it well with thinner I'll usually just store a few ounces of retarder in the gun to keep it from getting crusty inside.


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## DrRobert (Apr 27, 2015)

I picked up a purple gun and it worked - for a while. My conclusion is ok for dyes, shellac, but if you want to spray a nice top coats IMO a better gun is advisable. 1.3mm tip.

I’m not a pro finisher, I’ve just done enough of it to recognize differences in quality. I picked up a Husky and so far I’ve been happy with it.

If you need to invest in a compressor, I would take a look at turbines. I have a Sprayport 3 stage and it does a decent job. I’ve heard Fuji has better guns.



BigCountry79 said:


> I would like to spray paint on some cabinetry and face frames but I have no clue on the guns or compressors...


IIRC you need at least a 4-6 CFM compressor, 30-40 gallon tank.

With a gravity fed, the paint and getting it thinned right is key. It can apparently be done, but I’ve never had success with latex and gravity fed HVLP. That said, it probably depends on the paint. I have sprayed ProClassic ok, what I mostly use now is pigmented lacquer (Target Coatings).

For the investment required, you might take a look at some of the Grace airless sprayers. I’ve never used one, but I’ve heard they do a pretty good job.


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

BigCountry79 said:


> I would like to spray paint on some cabinetry and face frames but I have no clue on the guns or compressors...


I'd go airless for this application....


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

DrRobert said:


> *I picked up a purple gun and it worked - for a while.* My conclusion is ok for dyes, shellac, but if you want to spray a nice top coats IMO a better gun is advisable. 1.3mm tip.
> 
> I’m not a pro finisher, I’ve just done enough of it to recognize differences in quality. I picked up a Husky and so far I’ve been happy with it.
> 
> ...


The "purple gun" from Harbor Freight has been a favorite of You Tubers for ever! I buy them in 3's on sale. Mine have lasted a very long time, even with my less than thorough cleaning methods. The last time one stopped spraying good, I took it all apart and found paint residue in the air passages, no wonder it quit, my fault! I've had spray guns for over 40 years and I've painted car and trucks with 2 step epoxies and primers and lacquers, but I've always had several air compressors. My largest is an 80 gal. 17 CFM unit that will deliver all the volume I ever need. There are HPLV guns from Harbor Freight in price ranges from $20.00 to over $140.00. There are pressure pot guns for spraying large quantities of paint in one setting. There are gravity types which will hold enough paint for several cabinet sides and frame in one fill. 
I use the purple gun for almost all my quick and dirty auto repairs and small woodworking projects. 
I used it on this 1980 Chevy truck restoration project:


















Woodworking Talk







www.woodworkingtalk.com


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## Bojangles1594 (Aug 24, 2021)

J_L said:


> I run a 1.8 tip in my main gun. The biggest thing when using a cup gun is the viscosity of the liquid flowing through it. You could get a ford #4 cup to check the viscosity. That's how I learned. Then I realized that it's more important how the liquid flows out of my gun than the ford cup. The ford cup just provided a reference point for me to learn how to adjust the liquid for the gun. Here's how I check and thin my finishes to flow and spray well. This is for a gravity gun.
> 
> Let's say I'm shooting lacquer. I'll put the lacquer straight into the gun (without the air hose connected) and pull the trigger. Make sure the fluid valve is all the way open so you're getting the maximum flow. If the finish just dribbles out, it's way too thick. Add a calculated amount of thinner or retarder (usually 10% of the amount of finish in the cup is a good start) and mix. Pull the trigger again and see. If it's still dribbling - still too thick. If it's starting to flow, how far is it shooting out from the gun? If it's barely clearing the nozzle - it's still too thick. I keep doing this until the finish streams out of the nozzle about 3-4 inches from the gun when holding the gun level. At this point, the finish will spray well. When doing all of this testing, I'm letting the finish flow out of the gun back into the can of lacquer.
> 
> ...


Thanks that was really helpful! 

How many square feet do you usually spray?
I figured I shouldn't have to spray anything bigger than 12 sq ft
I think the average area per drum would be about 5 sq ft, what compressor would provide enough capacity for this?


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## Bojangles1594 (Aug 24, 2021)

woodnthings said:


> The "purple gun" from Harbor Freight has been a favorite of You Tubers for ever! I buy them in 3's on sale. Mine have lasted a very long time, even with my less than thorough cleaning methods. The last time one stopped spraying good, I took it all apart and found paint residue in the air passages, no wonder it quit, my fault! I've had spray guns for over 40 years and I've painted car and trucks with 2 step epoxies and primers and lacquers, but I've always had several air compressors. My largest is an 80 gal. 17 CFM unit that will deliver all the volume I ever need. There are HPLV guns from Harbor Freight in price ranges from $20.00 to over $140.00. There are pressure pot guns for spraying large quantities of paint in one setting. There are gravity types which will hold enough paint for several cabinet sides and frame in one fill.
> I use the purple gun for almost all my quick and dirty auto repairs and small woodworking projects.
> I used it on this 1980 Chevy truck restoration project:
> 
> ...


Nice work!
I was wondering what would be a good compressor for a 5 sqft - 12 sqft coat, with a 45 psi gun?


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

My problem is finding a sprayer that works with my compressor. It is a large, heavy (200 lb) Ingersoll-Rand P1.5IU-A9 model, a vertical "hand-truck" 20 gallon compressor.








Ingersoll Rand P1.5IU-A9 Single Stage Air Compressor






www.ingersollrandcompressedair.com





-> It yields only 5.2 CFM at 90 PSI or 4.6 CFM at 135 PSI.

The Harbor Freight purple gun says 6 CFM at 40 PSI, which is close. We tried one, but it didn't seem to work. It might have been pilot error.








20 oz. HVLP Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun


Amazing deals on this 20Oz Hvlp Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.




www.harborfreight.com





-> Any suggestions?


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## Bojangles1594 (Aug 24, 2021)

Tool Agnostic said:


> My problem is finding a sprayer that works with my compressor. It is a large, heavy (200 lb) Ingersoll-Rand P1.5IU-A9 model, a vertical "hand-truck" 20 gallon compressor.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I read somewhere that it's better to have 50% more cfm than you need, but I don't know if that's the problem.

I noticed there's a version of the purple gun with a regulator, but it uses 12 CFM @ 45 psi! Why is the CFM so high, compared to 6 CFM @ 40 psi without the regulator? It seems like you'd need a pretty big compressor to achieve 12 CFM.


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## J_L (Apr 22, 2014)

Bojangles1594 said:


> I read somewhere that it's better to have 50% more cfm than you need, but I don't know if that's the problem.
> 
> I noticed there's a version of the purple gun with a regulator, but it uses 12 CFM @ 45 psi! Why is the CFM so high, compared to 6 CFM @ 40 psi without the regulator? It seems like you'd need a pretty big compressor to achieve 12 CFM.


Potentially for spraying thicker viscosity finishes. The extra air will help atomize the finish better. 

My compressor makes 5.5 scfm at 90 psi. As-is, it would be more than enough for you. What I found is that when the pump was running, it could keep up with my spraying no problem. My only issue was the pressure switch was low enough that my spray pattern would change before the pump would kick on. After a few seconds, it would spray great again. I replaced the pressure switch with a higher PSI switch and it'll spray all day now.

Another thing to consider, larger compressors are great for blow nozzles (for blowing sanding dust off parts or cleaning out tools, etc), pneumatic sanders, die grinders, and an assortment of other air tools. Smaller compressors that won't keep up with spraying won't generally run those other tools either.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

Bojangles1594 said:


> I read somewhere that it's better to have 50% more cfm than you need, but I don't know if that's the problem.
> 
> I noticed there's a version of the purple gun with a regulator, but it uses 12 CFM @ 45 psi! Why is the CFM so high, compared to 6 CFM @ 40 psi without the regulator? It seems like you'd need a pretty big compressor to achieve 12 CFM.


This why it is so important to read the specs, all of them before deciding to buy one! That applies to a spray gun AND the air compressor. I always run full pressure to the gun with a regulator at the base, so I can control the pressure easily. I hold the air "wide open" and determine what that pressure drop is and then adjust the regulator according to the specs on the gun.


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## J_L (Apr 22, 2014)

Bojangles1594 said:


> Thanks that was really helpful!
> 
> How many square feet do you usually spray?
> I figured I shouldn't have to spray anything bigger than 12 sq ft
> I think the average area per drum would be about 5 sq ft, what compressor would provide enough capacity for this?


I'll spray as little as one piece of molding to a full kitchen. Spraying is hands down my preferred method of finishing. See my previous post on my compressor - hopefully those specs help you understand your options.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

here's You Tube video I stumbled on just today that explains how to set up your spray gun, air pressure and fluid volume:


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## GCTony (Apr 5, 2018)

B Coll said:


> I use a Graco 4 Stage Turbine hvlp. I have several guns but my favorites a a Fuji T75G Gravity feed and a cheap AeroJet RS1 non-bleeder cup gun. If you choose a turbine, you can get away with a 3 stage, it just might make it difficult to shoot heavy body finishes and latexes if the need ever arises. For clears, stains, and toners a 3 stage would be fine. Fuji has some pretty good package deals.


If you don't have a pretty large compressor and don't see a need in the future the turbine systems are pretty hard to beat. For under $500 you can get a 2 stage Fuji that works great unless you intend to spray latex or oil paints. Even then thinning the latex a little, the Fuji sprays fine.


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## B Coll (Nov 2, 2019)

Bojangles1594 said:


> Thanks guys! I've been wanting to put stains and dyes on raw drum shells. I'd also like to use any other finish that would enhance the wood grain. Looks like I'll be heading in the 'gravity-feed gun' direction. Seems perfect for the small scale of the drums and would be good for doing fades.
> What tip sizes would you recommend? Drum shell sizes usually run 10"x3" to 24"x20" (diameter x depth)


The needle/nozzle set up is dependent on the viscosity of what you are spraying, and your gun setup. The correct way would be to use a viscosity cup. Your gun should come with a chart of recommendations based on the cup type and time. That said, most waterbornes and solvents work well with a 1.3. Thin materials such as dye stains and shellac I use 1.0.


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## Bojangles1594 (Aug 24, 2021)

GCTony said:


> If you don't have a pretty large compressor and don't see a need in the future the turbine systems are pretty hard to beat. For under $500 you can get a 2 stage Fuji that works great unless you intend to spray latex or oil paints. Even then thinning the latex a little, the Fuji sprays fine.


yeah, it looks like buying a sufficient compressor brand new is pretty pricey. I’ve been looking at used ones and may go down that route.

I like the idea of turbine systems, but don’t like that I’d only use it for painting.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

Bojangles1594 said:


> yeah, it looks like buying a sufficient compressor brand new is pretty pricey. I’ve been looking at used ones and may go down that route.
> 
> *I like the idea of turbine systems, but don’t like that I’d only use it for painting.*


YUP, put it on you small block Chevy for additional HP.


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## DrRobert (Apr 27, 2015)

@TA, you do need a regulator on the gun. IIRC for most products it’s around 20 PSI and you dial in the gun from there. But I could be wrong.

@bojangles every shop needs a compressor, but think about what you need a big one for other than painting. Air tools? I‘ve got a 5HP 80gal behemoth sitting there and the only air tool I use is a little die grinder and once in a blue moon an air sander. I haven’t used an air impact wrench in years, I use an electric impact. I originally got it b/c I was going to restore a 65 mustang which never happened.

So my suggestion is get a turbine sprayer. But you still need a compressor, if for nothing else blowing off before painting and cleaning the gun. A small one or even a pancake compressor will run nailers, staplers, and blowing stuff off. They’re just loud as heck.


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## KellyCraig (Feb 12, 2021)

I use a 4 stage Titan predecessor. With the right needle set, it'll do latex or thinner products. After using it and conversion units, like my Accuspray, I'll take the 4 stage, IF I could only have one.

It's light and easy to pack around. Much more so than any conversion type running off a compressor.

Interestingly, I even spray texture with it on jobs that only require a few square feet of area touched up, though that is said to require about 45 psi, and the HVLP only puts out about 8 psi, but at around 85 cfm. 

Anyway, they show up on craigslist and FAKEbook from time to time at a fraction of their original price of around fifteen hundred.


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