Compressor or paint gun?

[Arthurdaily]

I have been looking through old posts in preperation for buying 'something' to spray my car with - some people have said the apollo range of sprayers is good, and quite cheap really, others say a compressor - my question is if I were to go the compressor route, what is the minimum cfm I need for spray painting? Now I know people will say 'huge', anticipating I'll buy other tools - but the only other thing I might need is a sander / polisher for paint, so taking that into consideration too, what is the minimum cfm?

Thanks in advance!

[linearaudio]

From my past experiences- the requirements for a sander will be the limiting factor, they seem to be quite air-hungry, like air wrenches!
I have had fabulous results from my "Earlex" spray station, much the same as an Apollo. Very convenient as you can spray anywhere within reach of a 240 volt extension lead, and seems to give less overspray than a conventional set-up!

[bmcecosse]

Lidl's excellent compressor deal is on TODAY. Maybe too late tonight now...... You can only hope they still have one tomorrow morning - be there when they open!

[AM8255]

When going for the compressor look at the litres per minute, most cheap ones do 100-200 litres.
Most "good" sprayguns (Devilbiss, Sata or Iwata) need 300 to 400 litres of air per minute.

[Arthurdaily]

God that looks good - cheaper than a paint gun of any sort... would this 270 a litre compressor be able to run a paint gun though??

[bmcecosse]

Of course it can....... it holds air at up to 150 psi in the tank, and the spray gun works at ~ 30/40 psi. So yes - it will easily allow you to spray a panel - - then stop for a few minutes before moving on to another. But frankly - I find it best to just spray one panel at a time - that's more than enough fumes for me at any one time.......

[Arthurdaily]

Just been watching the lidl videos... they even sell the sand blasters and paint guns... brilliant! Thanks BMC - I'm working tomorrow from 7am, will rush to lidl at 3.15 and hope to God they still have 'em!!!

[Arthurdaily]

Yippee!!! They had one left, and an extension real and a sandblaster gun and accessory kit - but no paint gun, but loads of them on ebay. Thanks for the pointer BMC.

[bmcecosse]

Well done - but I am v dubious about the 'sand' blaster..... In which you should NOT use 'sand'. Silicosis springs to mind -

[Arthurdaily]

Well, maybe not sand... I'll need to read up what you use in it!!

[bmcecosse]

In industry - we use glass beads. But eg walnut shells - and all manner of other 'grits' are possible.

[irmscher]

Better to buy wisely in the first place than to have to buy again

[Arthurdaily]

Hi BMC - would this stuff be okay?

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... e-powder-2

[bmcecosse]

I guess so - of course you should put a sheet down to try to capture the grit for re-use....... Wear face shield and dust mask..