[kenseth17]

well finally got an opportunity to spray with my w400 copy from ebay. I sprayed some fenders and a bumper cover on a sunfire this weekend (only sprayed the clear with the gun) and so far I am pleased with it when you consider the price. I did get a little orange peel and there is a bit of overspray from the gun, but seems to be less then the old conventional sharpe I was using. I didn't really take the time to mess around with the gun settings and test to see where it was spraying the best. I am still waiting for a bigger job to truely test it, like a complete and spraying large panels like the hood and roof. One gripe I do have is that I did get a few small fisheyes. I want to blame this on the gun as I have sprayed quite a bit with my compressor and haven't got any fish eyes on several other jobs. I also wiped the parts down well before spraying and highly doubt the car was ever waxed. Guess I'll have to spray some test panels and see if I get any more fisheyes. I didn't get an opportunity to take any pics, and the owner needed the car back for work on monday.

[acsteve]

anyone had experience with the lvlp? zhipp and the hvlp zhipp. I used the hvlp? version and had good results I thought anyway. If I was looking to move up a notch in paint gun what would should I go to? devilbiss, or wait until I have $$$ for an Iwata. Also is the lvp w400 iwata a better gun than the w400 hvlp. advantages of one over the other. compliance is not an issue to me but laying down nice layers of base and clear are. thanks

[ken_c]

acsteve,
Paint guns- like audio- and lots of other areas of interest is unfortunately full of snobery and misinformation. When someone spends $300 on a paint gun then it is the best thing since sliced bread and anything lesser in cost is cr*p!

Reality may be quite different.

I own several Sharpe guns - a Platinum LV, a 998 pressure gun, an MGF mini gun.
Anyway, these are all nice guns, and I have some experience with them. Lvlp guns one and all.
The Tuulshed guns interested me and I was encouraged by message board reports to buy them. I picked up the lvlp LPH400 copy with the 1.5 tip (theres a W400 copy with a 1.4 tip available too - I presume it's compliant but may not be) and the R31 minigun - a clone of the LPH50.
So far, I've just blown water through them ro make sure they are not dead. Too wet and dreary here to paint anything. First impressions leave me scratching my head over how these guns can be sold for $32.50 and $18,50 respectively. The minigun produces a 3-1/2" pattern at 4" spray distance and the L400 a 12" pattern at 6". Incredible for the price. Most cheap guns stutter, spit and produce small patterns. Not these puppies.
I notice an earlier poster mentioned his gun pressurising his 3M-pps. I think I know why. My L400 had sealing goop on the cup mounting boss, when you look up the throat of the gun you could see sealing goop above the needle {careful - don't poke yer eye out }
So I cleaned this cr*p out - took an hour with a dental pick. Today when I blew water through the gun to check it out it PERKED. In other words air bubbled back into the cup as in the perking cleaning technique where you loosen off the air cap and squeeze the trigger half way.
I quickly realised that this goop had a purpose even though it was applied too heavily. A quick few wraps of teflon tape on the cup mounting boss and hey presto - no more perking.
These guns if they spray paint HALF as well as they spray water will be an incredible deal. I may pick up a W400 just to have a 1.4 tip/needle for the L400. At $32.50 how can you go wrong?
So is an Iwata worth $400? Not to me - never tried one but I can't justify $400 on a paint gun. Is an Iwata worth $400? To a pro, I 'm sure.
Just my ten cents.
Ken

[Ranchero_65]

So Ken you gonna buy another toy ??
Hoping to get to play with mine soon.

Take Care
Earl

[ken_c]

Originally Posted by Ranchero_65

So Ken you gonna buy another toy ??
Hoping to get to play with mine soon.

Take Care
Earl

Hi Earl,
Dunno,
Already have more guns than I need and I'd have to put actual *paint* through the el-cheapos before I buy another one.
IF they work as I am expecting them to though (based on what I've seen so far) I would definitely buy the W400 knock off as well. For about $40 shipped, it's like a cheap breakfast at Dennys!
Ken

[x711]

Hi Guys, I noticed that there were no detailed pictures of the Air cap
for the lph clone in this thread.

Typically most of the HVLP/Lvp guns bodies are the same with respect to
functionality. I would like to see more of a focus on the Air caps etc. The
cap and inner air nozzle is were the real magic or atomization takes place
in the gun.

For example, break down a Sata gun / break down a el-chepo. The bodies
might look similar but thats about all.

Its difficult to judge a potential gun purchase without seeing the most
important parts !!!!

Just my 50 cents worth.

Thanks ..... X

[kenseth17]

Hey Ken, the zhipp w400 copy seems well worth the money you pay for it shipped on ebay. Tuul shed was also good to deal with. Mine had a 1.5 tip though, not a 1.4. I am still dying to give it a good test, cold and snow and my truck broken down in the driveway in the way to the garage is what is keeping me from doing anything till spring time. I'll maybe take a side job or two when things thaw around here since people are asking already, and have a chance to try it out more. Need to take it apart and clean it out, maybe there was some oil from machining or something which is why I got a few fisheyes when I used it. The pattern looks decent though from the little bit I've sprayed with it, probably every bit is good as a cheapy if you bought it from sears or harbor freight, don't have much to compare it to as far as other cheap guns go, because my sharpe conventional I've used for years and years, but the material waste is the main reason I wanted to try a different gun. The ebay gun can't be hvlp though, even though it says so in the ads, you still have a good amount of pressure coming from the cap, and doesn't get reduced down by the gun. The real w400 is termed a complient gun. I am not a rich guy by any means, so spending $400 on a gun which isn't used everyday doesn't make a lot of sense to me without trying alternatives first. Feel like I am repeating myself, but since this thread is fairly long, maybe you missed the fact the w400 copy from tuul shed has a 1.5 tip from the auctions I've seen. I believe the gun bondo has is an astro, the one on ebay is made by a company in china (I know, I know, buy usa) named rongpeng.

[ken_c]

Kenseth,
I got my LPH400 copy from the Tuulshed on ebay. It has a 1.5 tip. I *thought* that the W400 copy came with a 600ml plastic cup and a 1.4 tip - if I'm wrong on the tip then sorry - bad memory I guess.
When I use my Sharpe Platinum Lv set to 50psi at the gun, I get almost *no* drop down the hose from the wall regulator.
I do use P-style fittings which are high flow versus the cheapo 'standard' fittings - this might help some. Anyway, I set the Zhipp to 50psi at the wall gauge (I know this is not the right way to do it if I were painting I'd do it at the gun but just to compare) and I noted a 5psi drop on the wall regulator when I triggered it with all adjustments wide open.
I have a Sharpe T1 - which I have never used except for this same test - and the wall gauge drops maybe 15- 20psi!!
Now, the T1-hvlp uses something like 13cfm (from memory) and the Platinum LV draws 7.5cfm. It would seem that the Zhipp is closer to 7.5 than 13 from this crude test so I bet it *is* hvlp.
I'd be curious to see if the W400 is the exact same gun as the LPH400 clone except for a plastic cup versus an aluminum cup or if it really is a compliant version. I *think* the specs on ebay are different but will have to check that.

Yes, it's well worth taking them apart and cleaning them - that sealing goop bugged me and had to go -I'm not sure it did any harm but it bugged me nonetheless.

I'm looking forward to warmer, drier times too so I can check the LPH400 clone out versus the Platinum. I wouldn't worry about spending $400 on a gun - check the web there are fabulous repaints people have posted using cheap guns. As the saying goes - it's the Indian, not the arrow that counts.
Ken

[kenseth17]

Hi Guys, I noticed that there were no detailed pictures of the Air cap
for the lph clone in this thread.

Can't help you with that gun, but here are some of the ebay w400 knockoff. Gives me an excuse to use a recent ebay purchase of mine, finally got a digital camera. On another note, only sprayed paint through it once, and I cleaned it up good afterwards. Hey even cheap guns you should keep clean. Had it hanging in the garage while spraying some latex house paint through another gun on some chairs for my mom. That stuff goes all over the place worse then auto paint. After only using the gun once, allready I got nice white specks all over the outside of the gun from spraying something else, and a quick wipe after with water, then lacquer thinner didn't take it off. Ohh well, gonna take it apart and clean anyways.

[tab]

This is really frustrating. Bondoking tells us about a very good quality W400 knockoff but can't tell us where to get one. Well thanks a bunch dude. The tuul shed guns on ebay are not the same, right? In all fairness to Bondoking, I stopped reading after a few pages. I couldn't take any more. lol.....

This ebay gun has a plastic cup. I'm not thrilled about it.

ebay gun

Now, having read some of the posts here, I will say that most paint jobs are ruined because of improper paint mixture, gun setting and spray technique. I can get a really smooth finish with my old Binks #69 and 1hp Sears compressor. I think that people put to much emphasis on the gun and not enough on the other variables.

[ken_c]

Tab,
There are two Tuulshed guns. The LPH400 knockoff has a nice quality 1 litre aluminum cup. The W400 has the plastic cup as you say.
Ken

[tab]

Ken_c: Thanks!

[BarryK]

[QUOTE=tab]This is really frustrating. Bondoking tells us about a very good quality W400 knockoff but can't tell us where to get one. Well thanks a bunch dude. The tuul shed guns on ebay are not the same, right? In all fairness to Bondoking, I stopped reading after a few pages. I couldn't take any more. lol.....


************************************************** *
Vince and Bondoking both have one of those guns, I don't think they are the same as the toolshed gun but I don't know.

As Milo pointed out a while back Even though these guns sprayed good the test of time is how they hold up after you take apart and clean the gun a 100 times. That I don't know.
I would think by now Vince and Matt have used these enough to tell you if they are the same as tool shed guns and if they are holding up.
There are two more guns out there but don't remember who I sent them to.

If there is good reports, I can do something with these guns as its a good friend that is importing these guns.

EDIT:
So none gets their panties in a wad, as was my original plan was to get these and pass along for cost. If they are the same as the Toolshed gun than I have no interest in doing this. If they are better we can look at doing this.

[tab]

Ken: Couldn't find that aluminum cup gun at TuulShed, you told me about. I don't like the looks of the Harbor Freight guns either.

Barry: Now does that mean that you don't know where to get these guns or you MAY be able to get some more for resale?

[BarryK]

I can get all I want but read the edit as its up in air right now.