Naive Air Brush question

[Jerome Hess]

Team,

New to the forum, rather new to building (2 years 5 guitars 2 amps).

Most of my finishes have been hand applied, typically transtint, hand rubbed all the way to the clear.

HOWEVER, many of my favorite 'commercial' finished are sprayed on.

I spoke w/ a guy in my area who makes probably 15 - 20 a month and of course hes got a pro HVLP system he uses, and while not horrenduly expensive, at $300 more than I think I could justify.

However, a decent air brush, with compressor, van be had for 1/2 that.

has anyone ever used an air brush system to apply your primary finishes?

I know a LOT of folks use them for custom artwork and fine details, but wondering about a solid body, or even a semi acoustic?

Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

Thanks

J

[Rodger Knox]

I've tried spraying lacquer with an airbrush and could not get it to work. I was also using an aitbrush compressor, something more heavy duty might work better. If I thinned the lacquer enough to get it to spray decently, it was too thin to get a "wet" coat, it dried almost on contact.

[Chuck Tweedy]

It's not a practical solution for the entire finish. The volume of finish that an air-brush can lay down is tiny compared to a real gun.
It would take forever, the coverage uniformity would very poor, and you would be certifiably insane by the time you were done.

[Rodger Knox]

It's not a practical solution for the entire finish. The volume of finish that an air-brush can lay down is tiny compared to a real gun.
It would take forever, the coverage uniformity would very poor, and you would be certifiably insane by the time you were done.

That was exactly my experience, although I quit before insanity set in.

[Jerome Hess]

well thanks for the ideas.

thats why I asked!

save some aggrevation if not $

[Eric Baack]

harbor freight has decent guns in the $20 range, make sure it is an HVLP. You can get a compressor for $100 and that should work. You would probably want an oil/water filter to make sure the air is clean going into the gun. That is plenty to spray a guitar. You may have to stop a bit to let the compressor catch up but it should work well enough for a guitar.

[Jerome Hess]

EB

See thats interesting on another forum, who shall remain nameless, but deals primarily in fenders 1st guitar, they all recommended that for a decent compresser 6+CFM at 90PSI +/- 30gal

so far I havent been able to find a compressor ike that in the $100 range.

HOWEVER, if you guys know of one I'm all about it!

even the ones on CL in my area are 150 w/ thise numbers

J

[Eric Baack]

mine is 10 gallons that i got at menards for 100 bucks. got my gun for 20 on harbor freight.

[Jerome Hess]

well ok, that certainly sounds reasonable, because most of the forums have said HF's guns are ok.

thanks

j

[Eric Baack]

They are sufficient. of course there are nicer ones out there, but it's cheap enough and works well enough that you can learn a lot before deciding to drop the coin on a nicer setup. And you can always use a small air compressor around the shop.

If I'm feeling lazy, I get spraymax 2K clear. It's an aerosol based 2 part urethane. it has 2 compartments and once you push the button to mix it, you have 24 hours to use it. Of course, the same safety precautions apply as to other 2 part urethane type products.

[Jerome Hess]

Eric, thanks for that recommendation, I hope to be ready for a clear coat this weekend, maybe I'll give that a shot!

J

[Jerome Hess]

Eric,

Is this the SPraymax product you were talking about? It looks like they have several different kinds.

http://www.repaintsupply.com/pd_2_part_2k_aerosol.cfm

Jerome

[Warren May]

The airbrush is good for shading in a sunburst or touchup but it won't keep up for an entire guitar finish, or at least not for me. I tried it on a couple of guitars but found that PreVal units actually gave me a better finish than the airbrush. I've also tried the pancake compressor and HF gun and I'd agree that you need a compressor that will keep up with your gun. A touch up HVLP type gun works pretty well and some have lower volume demands. I bought the small StewMac gun recently hoping it will hold up better than the cheap HF and ebay ones but it looks very much the same quality as one you can get for half the price at HF or Northern.

[Ryan Mazzocco]

The problem with the small compressors seems to be the regulators. We have used the 5 gal pancake by porter cable for years and they always held up fine for spraying lacquer. It finally quit so we got the small dual tank hitachi, (don't remember how big it is) and it keeps up fine too. One day we needed an extra compressor to split up to do two jobs on the same day, but only one compressor. So my dad went down and bought the HF 5 gal pancake and it simply could not keep up. It wasn't that it didn't have enough air, but when you pull the trigger you still had plenty of tank pressure but it took forever for your regulated pressure to build back up. So rather than nice even strokes you got quick bursts. We also use the HF spray guns and we like them just fine. The more expensive ones are probably much better, but I've never used one so I don't know what I'm missing at this point and these get the job done. When they go bad (and they will) they're cheap enough to buy extra and have one waiting and ready to go.

[Eric Baack]

Yep, that's what I've used. It gives a beautiful glassy finish but it is a 2 part automotive grade urethane, so ventilation, respirator, etc are required.

Eric,

Is this the SPraymax product you were talking about? It looks like they have several different kinds.

http://www.repaintsupply.com/pd_2_part_2k_aerosol.cfm

Jerome

[Jerome Hess]

Eric I really appreciate all the suggestions, I think I'll try the 2k on my next strat-o-tele, I hoped it would be ready tomorrow, but its been so wet everything iaking a REALLY long time to set