Air Compressor for HVLP Spray Gun help needed

[MoparGuy68]

I’m in a difficult situation, poised for failure and I need some advice on how to salvage my Rallye wheel refinishing that has already been set in motion.

This is the situation. Thus far I have primed the wheels with Omni MP17X Epoxy Primer. I did this using and Iwata HVLP gravity spray gun #9276. The gun requires 12 CFM, which I didn’t realize when it was sold to me by the shop that supplied the paint.

The compressor is a RIGID pancake 2.6 SCFM, 6 Gallon tank, 1.5 HP. After doing this I have now painfully learned that this Pancake compressor is woefully inadequate for feeding air to my spray gun.. It runs continuously and can’t maintain a constant 20 psi at the gun, even for 2 or 3 spray passes with the gun.

My primer was applied two days ago, and I must get paint on it by end of day tomorrow. It only has a three day sit period. I used a 1.5 needle for the primer. I got some spattering of the primer during the spraying.

There is a used Coleman Powermate compressor for sale in my area. 27 gallon tank, 5 HP, 5.6 CFM (not SCFM) at 90 psi, 8.2 CFM at 40 psi. I noticed the label on this compressor says CFM instead of SCFM, like most consumer compressors have. Maybe this compressor might do 10 CFM at 20 psi?

Do you guys think this compressor will allow me to get decent paint coverage on the 4 primed wheels with Omni MTK Acrylic Urethane with a 1.3 needle?

I need to make a decision to buy the compressor tonight.. anything at Harbor freight, Home Depot or Lowe’s looks like it would be less CFM than this Coleman unless I get the most expensive, and largest compressor they have available.

I feel I need some other compressor for spraying the Argent Silver for it to look decent. The primer came out OK, considering the pancake compressor that was used.. now that I know the gun is supposed to require 12 CFM, I am shocked that the primer came out as good as it looks.

 

[eldubb440]

dont panic.......you can hit the epoxy with a red scotch pad and paint it any time, if your recoat window closes.......i never trust it anyway, i'd even red pad them the next day. takes 2 minutes

 

[MoparGuy68]

I just got off the phone with the seller of the Coleman. I told him my situation and that I’m not sure if I really have room in the garage to store this big compressor he has for sale if I buy it.

He offered to rent it to me for one day for $100, which includes him bringing it here in a pick up truck tomorrow morning, and picking it up and taking it away on Sunday! I said, “Yes! You have a deal!” I’m so glad I contacted him tonight! He is a lifesaver!

He said he used it to paint a trailer using an HVLP gun, so if it worked for a trailer it should handle my wheels! He has had it in storage, and is not using it much anymore that is why he said he listed it for sale.

 

[MoparGuy68]

dont panic.......you can hit the epoxy with a red scotch pad and paint it any time, if your recoat window closes.......i never trust it anyway, i'd even red pad them the next day. takes 2 minutes

Thanks, I wanted to avoid having to scuff up the entire surface area of each wheel. The gray primer coat, sprayed this past Wednesday afternoon, was actually my second time priming the wheels. First time was Monday afternoon / evening with black primer. I was mistakenly given black primer instead of gray at the paint shop.

I went ahead and shot them with the black primer on Monday because I had already taken a day off from work to prime the wheels, and it was too late to go to the paint store to get the correct gray primer. The wheels had already been sitting for five days after media blasting and I didn’t want the bare metal to flash rust. So that was another reason why I decided to use the black primer on Monday.

I chose to re-prime gray for several reasons. To extend the time window to Saturday afternoon. So the Argent silver would be applied over gray instead of black and not look too dark. My painting technique the first time around left a lot to be desired and I ended up with some runs on the wheels which I had to sand off.

Wednesday morning when I picked up the gray primer from the paint shop, a new employee with 20 years experience painting automobiles, including wheels, gave me several pointers on the correct way to do it. Using his techniques I managed to cover all the wheels with gray primer without getting a single run anywhere!

 

[YY1]

...or you could go buy a $19 harbor freight gun.

I painted the roof of my 66 with that gun and a 2.5 CFM DeVilbiss compressor.

Came out great.

 

[65pacecar]

...or you could go buy a $19 harbor freight gun.

I painted the roof of my 66 with that gun and a 2.5 CFM DeVilbiss compressor.

Came out great.

I agree, The HF Purple handle gun is actually a really good spraying gun, surprisingly good for the money.

 

[MoparDanMan]

I just got off the phone with the seller of the Coleman. I told him my situation and that I’m not sure if I really have room in the garage to store this big compressor he has for sale if I buy it.

He offered to rent it to me for one day for $100, which includes him bringing it here in a pick up truck tomorrow morning, and picking it up and taking it away on Sunday! I said, “Yes! You have a deal!” I’m so glad I contacted him tonight! He is a lifesaver!

He said he used it to paint a trailer using an HVLP gun, so if it worked for a trailer it should handle my wheels! He has had it in storage, and is not using it much anymore that is why he said he listed it for sale.

Well if you can get out of your predicament for $100.00 that wouldn't be too bad. As far as room, I built a small room off the garage and put my 7.5 horse 80 gal 2 stage compressor in it. This not only gives me more room in the shop but it also makes the garage quieter when it's running and keeps fumes from sucked into it.

 

[MoparGuy68]

I was able to paint the wheels this past Saturday. It was NOT pleasant trying to use a compressor with a 15 Amp motor plugged into an outlet that is on a 15 Amp circuit breaker.. This was a big surprise after he had already dropped the compressor off and I paid him $100..

I lost count of how many times that compressor tripped my circuit breaker when it tried to auto cycle. Each time I had to switch off the compressor, set the gun down, walk around to the side of the garage, raise the breaker panel door, reset the breaker, then turn the compressor back on. I got lucky and it would actually run until it reached max pressure when following that routine. First time it tripped the breaker I thought I wasn’t gonna be able to use the compressor at all.

You can’t get much more of an adverse condition and environment than I had for painting a set of wheels.. I never imagined the monsterous amount of overspray that would fumigate the garage. If I had not had my car covered with an old car cover and completely covered with two layers of plastic on top of that, I would’ve ruined the car.. I don’t remember the overspray being so bad back in 1992, but back then I was painting out in the open and not inside garage. I’ll never spray automotive paint through a spray gun inside my garage ever again..

I wore a respirator mask, goggles, earplugs, old hat, old pants, old long sleeve shirt and shoes. After completing the painting the bottom of the shoes were so badly covered with paint residue I had to throw them in the trash. In contrast the same shoes didn’t look too bad after shooting the primer. The paint on the other hand destroyed them.

It was suggested above that I use a cheap Chinese $19 spray gun from Harbor Freight... Really??

I used a $200 Iwata gun. And the outcome of all this was OK, but nothing to rave about. Was not happy with how the black paint went down. The black primer sprayed better than the black paint.. The argent silver looks decent.

The red compressor is what allowed me to complete the job, though with difficulty.

 

[YY1]

As I said, I got very good results with that $19 HF gun and a measly 2.5 CFM compressor.
I also used that same gun with my big compressor to paint the engine bay of my Satellite.

I actually painted my rallye wheels with a spray can, then cleared them with a spray can.
They turned out great, too.

 

[Ceedawg]

Save your money and buy an 80 gallon 220 volt single phase 5 horse 2 stage cast iron compressor, best money ever spent. Get the best one you can find too.!

 

[YY1]

three letters-

C

F

M

get the most CFM @ 90 psi you can afford.

The other specifications are secondary.

 

[1KoolBee]

Get a HF touch up gun , non HVLP, non LVLP. Just a plain old touch up gun. I’ve painted lots of stuff successfully with one. If you are serious about painting with real gun and air tools, a 5 horse 2-stage compressor is a must.

 

[Mopar Hunter]

Post some pictures of your wheels and see how they turned out, I know it’s been 3 1/2 years.

 

[Rich H.]

I Hate to pile on a Zombie thread, however I see this kind of thing quite often and wanted to chime in:

"It was suggested above that I use a cheap Chinese $19 spray gun from Harbor Freight... Really?? I used a $200 Iwata gun."

The comment to get a touch up gun is on point.
LVLP is desireable with a tiny compressor.

Sadly the original poster could have used a $1500 dollar gun made by any manufacturer on the planet, and if the tool's air consumption was greater than the compressor, the same headache would have resulted.

#1 If you're going to do this stuff, you have to 1. know your compressor specs, and then 2. purchase a spray gun that operates well below that.

If a person loves the Iwata brand, Iwata makes awesome spray guns that can operate within the air volume limitations of a 2.4cfm pancake compressor. Like this one, for example, the LPH80.

Secondary benefit considering the mess, and the cost of materials:
The gigantic clouds of overspray also won't happen with a small tip/low air consumption spray gun like an LPH80. You will get a little, but nothing like what full sized spray guns will produce. This is a HUGE benefit when working in a home shop and shouldn't be understated.

An LPH80 is made to do exactly the kind of thing this job required. A full sized Air Gunsa is made to paint larger areas, like entire vehicles or panels.

This is how we learn.