paint spraying equipment.

I know its probably been done before but i wanted some specific answers. so sorry if theres other threads but id like some advice.

I want to get some gear and practice with it so i can learn to spray a good even layer of paint, obviously not professional finish, but id like to get to the stage where i can do a pretty good at home finish on bikes with minimal mistakes, runs, and with a decent amount of glossy smooth finish.

i mainly want to do this because i usually just use premixed touch up cans to a pretty good finish, but they come in very limited colours, options, and they suck for reliability some times.

so im looking at some new gear and wanted to know opinions on things like:

guns: looking between 50-100 dollars for medium sized panels, upto the size of a car bonnet basically. so not a full spray your car in one go job, but able to handle some medium panels like fairing.

do i go with gravity feed or vacuum feed, id like to imagine id be hanging the parts up but i know i will always have to tilt the gun a little bit.

also lowpressure or highpressure gun?


compressors: around a 2.5hp enough for a gun? or should i go bigger and bigger tank?

finally whats the majority of the gear i would need to spray paint at home?

compressor with fittings.
gun
thinner
primer
colour
clearcoat
sanding gear
a place to do it (dont worry, going to rig up a mini halfassed spraybooth composed of 2x4's and heavy plastic all around
safety gear (breathing stuff mainly, which we got but need new filters)

anything else?

any suggestions on the type of paint to shoot? i have never studied that far either.

regards, chris.

I sprayed my race bike fairings using a supercheap 2.5hp compressor and the basic vacuum gun that came with the kit.

I don't have a spray booth, and my shed is too dusty and has wayyyyyyy too much stuff in there to use as a booth, so I purchased a cheap Gazebo with 4 walls for about $100. Hung the panels from the roof frame and got a fairly good finish.

You list looks OK, but you'll probably need a couple for grades of paper, and dependant on you're choice of paint, probably cut & polish to finish the job. Also, don't forget primer, and etch primer if you are painting new plastics.

A good paint job is all in the preperation - good luck.

cheers mate, yeah i was thinking of getting one of those gazebos if they sealed up ok.

on this note, when i get some gear together, is there anyone in the sydney area that could show me a thing or two? just how to get started, use the controls on the gun (although thats what books and the internet are for) and just basically kick me off the edge.



decided to go HVLP gravity feed gun, apparently the low pressure guns apart from needing a less intense air compressor, apparently are better for overspray/and confined areas where you dont want a mega explosion of paint going in every direction.

There are some nasty carcinogenics in modern paints and you will need a decent face mask if you will be spraying in a confined space, don't forget it is also highly flammable so please take care.
Apart from anything else, you will also need to keep an eye on humidity levels, it's the major cause of "orange peel effect" when spraying at home.
Its not just about gun technique there are a lot of other variables, but the easiest and cheapest way is to practice with acrylic poster paints in your gun, and spray it on a sheet of glass - when you can spray that without run off then you will be ready to tackle the bike.
Remember, patience is a virtue and several light coats rather than 2 heavy ones. Clear coat, flat back, clear coat > polish