Best cheap Spray Paint Guns for DIY CNC builder or small workshop

[Desertboy]

The title of this thread is; "Best cheap Spray Paint Guns for DIY CNC builder or small workshop"
With key words being, "Best cheap"
Boyan is therefore not trying to say these are as good as 'expensive' spray guns but rather, these are the best he's found that are 'cheap' spray guns.
So if the reader is looking for a cheap spray gun, one of these is a good choice but if the reader wants a better spray gun then look elsewhere.

As cropwell said, the price of solvent is an issue now, gone are the days when you get a gallon of parafin at the local shop.
That's why I buy a pack of dirt cheap paint brushes for non critical work because it's cheaper to bin them than clean them after use.

I bought 25l's of Thinners (We do a lot of vinyl removals on vehicles it's a bastard to clean the glue off) was cheap try car parts suppliers, but normally I chuck the paint brushes anyway as I use £land ones ;)

Is Paraffin the same as kerosene? In which case you get a gallon of it from any local fuel supplier for a few pounds it's often called 28 sec.

[johngoodrich]

Honestly, I would prefer to offer these $20 money spent to a poor guy, instead of purchasing the Chinese-made sprayguns. Maybe the worst purchase ever for me. And what really bothers me is that (for some unexplained reason) some people still insist that the Chinese-made less-than-$10-worth sprayguns are "great"! Well, no - they are not. Sorry!

i'm a bit skint at the moment. Can I have that $20?

[cropwell]

As cropwell said, the price of solvent is an issue now, gone are the days when you get a gallon of parafin at the local shop.
That's why I buy a pack of dirt cheap paint brushes for non critical work because it's cheaper to bin them than clean them after use.

I bought 100 foam brushes for £10 so at 10p a pop it just ain't worth cleaning them and they give a good result with any water based paint, PU or enamel paint. They are not recommended for French polish but they are OK. I would not even try them with cellulose, but I just don't use that any more. Two pack is probably a no-no.

[cropwell]

Is Paraffin the same as kerosene? In which case you get a gallon of it from any local fuel supplier for a few pounds it's often called 28 sec.

Paraffin, Kerosene, White Spirit (and many others) are all basically the same straight chain hydrocarbons, with a varied mix of molecules each with 9 to 17 carbon atoms. Any more it goes to oils and waxes, any less it is petroleum or gas.

In the 60's, working in a lab, there were gallons of ligroin (7 or 8 carbon atoms) we never used. A lot of it went into my petrol tank

Cheers !

[JAZZCNC]

I bought 25l's of Thinners (We do a lot of vinyl removals on vehicles it's a bastard to clean the glue off) was cheap try car parts

Well you've obviously never used my Tar & Glue remover best in business.!!

[paulus.v]

After reading Boyan's post I order both models that he recommended.

Claiming that a brass nozzle cannot be removed from an aluminium body spray gun is hilarious.

Here is what I've got. I haven't used them yet but they look good manufactured for 10$ and 12$.

[cropwell]

Claiming that a brass nozzle cannot be removed from an aluminium body spray gun is hilarious.

I very much suspected that would be the case. I have ordered the little gun. You beat me to a similar post (pipped me at the post ).

In one of the criticisms of the K3, it was stated that the upper screw adjuster was for 'paint volume', whereas it is for the air volume, adjusting the shape of the cone of paint. The F75 has a fan spray pattern.

My K3 is on order.

[Woodfish]

I hope my experience of having played with a good few 'top end' guns (at someone elses expence) in a past life may be useful? I am of the opinion that if you want consistant high quality results in a professional environment, you should do your research thoroughly and then buy the best tools you can afford.

However, if like me you are not in a bodyshop where punters pay thousands because the colour of their car does'nt match their new dog, you will be looking to get the optimum bang for your buck.

I own three guns and two airbrushes, none of which are used more than half a dozen times a year but all of which produce perfectly acceptable results when reconditioning machines and on stuff I make to sell. I have not paid more than £20 for any one of them.

When buying cheap, make sure that you can strip every component before you buy a gun, a conversation with the seller works wonders. As soon as your gun arrives, strip it and make sure that you know exactly what every part does, before you put any paint through it.

My best acquisition was given to me by a neighbouring workshop owner, who said it didnt work. I plugged it in to air, undid all the valves and slowly homed into an acceptable pattern by adjusting them down. All was fine, so I took it back to give him the good news and found that he had just loaded up a brand new £300 Iwata!

Without exception, all needles in cheap guns are manufactured from low quality materials using the lowest possible manufacturing techniques. Look at a cheaply produced needle under a scope and it looks a bit like barbed wire when compared to a quality needle. This does nothing to help the life of low quality 'O' rings that the manufacturers use.

Swapping to a quality needle of the same size is an (expensive) alternative, but a better one is to polish the needle using 1500 wet/dry and finishing with metal polish. This works well for me and only costs a bit of time.

Keep a good stock of good quality 'O' rings, best quality 'O' rings are cheap so I replace them often. Acetone, epoxy paint and gunwash eat them for breakfast.

I prefer to spend the money I save buying frequently used quality tools rather than 'investing' big money in stuff which is hardly ever used.

[cropwell]

I received my K3 spray gun this week. Of course I had to dismantle it to clean it !

The gun requires the use of specialised equipment to disassemble, fortunately I had the kit needed, a 13mm six sided deep socket and ratchet handle.

[Clive S]

I received my K3 spray gun this week. Of course I had to dismantle it to clean it !

The gun requires the use of specialised equipment to disassemble, fortunately I had the kit needed, a 13mm six sided deep socket and ratchet handle.

Blimey Rob where did you manage to find the equipment I've been looking for ages.