Compressor

[gtsteve]

I hope this is in the right place.

I am in the process of preparing my Mk2 GT for full respray, I will be doing it at home and am about to buy a compressor.
Can anyone suggest a good compressor for sup £200. I will be doing the whole car with the wings,bonnet and boot off and windows out. although this is the first time I'll have sprayed a car I think that I am a perfectionist so confident I'll achieve a reasonable standard. Just got to wait for my back to get better and I'll be able to finish prep work. so far one side and the bonnet is ready also have one rear quarter window out (easier than I thought it would be).

Any advice would be great.

Steve

[MikeH]

Anything under £200 is pretty marginal for spraying. Depends on the equipment you use, but for a whole car you want a big tank (ideally 100 litres or more) and about 3hp.

LIDL sometimes to a 50 litre 3HP compressor for £179, which would just about cope, although you might need to stop and let it catch up occasionally. The Slough store had some in last week.

[Nate]

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+T ... d40/sd3164

sip 50l 2hp £209

they also do extra tanks that are easy to connect to increase the stored air volume.

look out for machine mart vat free days too

[gtsteve]

Capacity is not to much of an issue as im a plumber/gas man and i have 2 spare accumalators in the garrage one 100 litre and one 25 litre both are tested to 12 bar and they didn't cost me anything. I figure i can link it all up with lever valves so i can vary the capacity dependant of task in hand.

[The Autoad]

Where are you doing the spraying? In the garage at home? And what paint system are you using? Gravity or suction fed gun?

[gtsteve]

Where are you doing the spraying? In the garage at home? And what paint system are you using? Gravity or suction fed gun?

Going to do in my garage using water based and 1k laquer i think (helios blue) and I am going to rig up extractor using a car cooling fan and a bit of makeshift ducting. Not sure on the gun yet any advice will be great.

[The Autoad]

At this time of year you may struggle a bit with water-based in your home garage. Water-based likes a bit of warmth (around 20C) and air circulation. Could be possible though. You need to allow water based to completely dry between coats and don't tack rag it as you would with solvent basecoats between coats as you risk dragging/contaminating the paint. Build up even thin coats, don't pile it on and finish with a drop coat.

You can get a fast thinner for 1k lacquer that would be suitable for your environment.

I'd go for a gravity fed HVLP gun, it operates at a lower pressure than a suction fed, much kinder if you don't have a large compressor. For colour and lacquer look at a 1.4 fluid tip.

[gtsteve]

At this time of year you may struggle a bit with water-based in your home garage. Water-based likes a bit of warmth (around 20C) and air circulation. Could be possible though. You need to allow water based to completely dry between coats and don't tack rag it as you would with solvent basecoats between coats as you risk dragging/contaminating the paint. Build up even thin coats, don't pile it on and finish with a drop coat.

You can get a fast thinner for 1k lacquer that would be suitable for your environment.

I'd go for a gravity fed HVLP gun, it operates at a lower pressure than a suction fed, much kinder if you don't have a large compressor. For colour and lacquer look at a 1.4 fluid tip.

Thanks for that advise, sounds like you know your stuff. Would it be sensible to use solvent based then. I am always happy to change if the finished product is better and easier to do.
Gravity HVLP it is then!!!

[The Autoad]

The 'accepted' practice is to go for a solvent basecoat and 2-pack lacquer in your scenario. The solvent basecoat will flash off far quicker than water based and you can lightly tack rag the dust off between coats of the basecoat. Again, thin even coats and a drop coat to finish with metallics. Then follow with the lacquer, a grip coat then a full coat. Second coat if you want to but no more until its completely dry as you risk solvent pop. You can flat out any dirt or other imperfections and recoat the lacquer again to build depth, but its not really needed if you start with a good lacquer product.

You could look at a 1k lacquer with fast thinner also but to be honest I don't know too much about their application over a solvent basecoat.

Wet flat the lacquer 1200 - 2000 grit depending on how much orange peel/dirt etc and mop and polish.

You can go for waterbased but you will still have to lacquer over the top. The good thing about waterbased is that it is is far less prone to reactions to the underlying surface than solvent basecoat. Are you primering the car before paint or just scuffing with a scotch pad?

I should issue a Scirocco Register safety warning (TM) here, 2-pack lacquer contains isocyanites which are nasty. Buy a bloody good mask (air fed if you have a mahoosive compressor) and after you have put a coat of lacquer on get the hell out of there until you are ready for the next if you are spraying in a poorly ventilated environment. You have been warned!

[gtsteve]

You can go for waterbased but you will still have to lacquer over the top. The good thing about waterbased is that it is is far less prone to reactions to the underlying surface than solvent basecoat. Are you primering the car before paint or just scuffing with a scotch pad?

I should issue a Scirocco Register safety warning (TM) here, 2-pack lacquer contains isocyanites which are nasty. Buy a bloody good mask (air fed if you have a mahoosive compressor) and after you have put a coat of lacquer on get the hell out of there until you are ready for the next if you are spraying in a poorly ventilated environment. You have been warned!

I am planning on scuffing surface rather than prime whole car. I was kinda aware of issues with 2k lacquer was hoping to get away with good mask, but not air fed (not sure if wise???)

[Maikki]

You have 3 big problems when spraying in garage:

- Dust. Clean garage extremely well, use plastic to cover places and spray water before painting to get dust away from air.

- Temperature. water based paints and 2k laquer works best when temperature is around 20-22 celcius when spraying. You can help drying with fast hardener. Higher temperature fastens drying = less problems with dust

- Colour matching. This is hardest parts because temperature, pressure, spraying distance effects.

For scuffing the car before painting buy Kovax super assilex blue (500grit) or yellow (800 grit) and assilex pad. You can prepare old paint with them by hand faster than with traditional sanding papers and DA-machine. And for orange peel use Kovax green buflex (2000 grit). best thing with Kovax products is that you use them dry so you'll see all the time what you are doing compared to wet sanding.

My Rocco goes for overspray in 2-3 weeks. Colour is LC6V and I'll be using DeBeer colours and laquer (8-414). After base 2 coats laquer. Then 1 week drying and sanding with Kovax produts then again 2 coats of laquer and sanding. I'd rather use DeBeer speed clear as laquer but unfortunately it's not yet back in production. Also LC6V is so old colour so it won't get new 900+ formula

[The Autoad]

Hey Maikki,you work in a bodyshop? I'd like to have a play with dry flatting of orange peel as I am pretty old school and flat it wet to eliminate any risk of clogging the abrasive.

Steve: The 3m 4277 mask is very good as a disposable. Maikki is right, wet the floor in the garage before you paint to try to keep the dust down.

[gtsteve]

Steve: The 3m 4277 mask is very good as a disposable. Maikki is right, wet the floor in the garage before you paint to try to keep the dust down.

Really appriciate all advice recieved so far every one keep it coming, may open spray shop soon
Its amazing how much i've learnt from this forum.
hoping to get to some shows this year with the GT and meet some of the members.

[Maikki]

Hey Maikki,you work in a bodyshop? I'd like to have a play with dry flatting of orange peel as I am pretty old school and flat it wet to eliminate any risk of clogging the abrasive.

Steve: The 3m 4277 mask is very good as a disposable. Maikki is right, wet the floor in the garage before you paint to try to keep the dust down.

I sell products for bodyshops and I also have own detailing business.

Forget the old skool style and try dry flatting. Kovax products are so far best that I've tried. Their bite is unbelievable and they last at least 5 times longer than traditional abrasives because they use metal as abrasive. There's no problem about clogging if you remember to clean abrasive once in a while.

[james butler]

aldis are currently doing a compressor 2 1/2 hp and 25litre tank. i can recomend this compressor as i have one and use/abuse it A LOT.
£100 or near enough
they are also doing air tools which are reasonable for diy.