Like the tip you see here on the right side? The one on the left is an Air Gunsa az3 hte hvlp 1.3 tip. And the one on the right I got from evil bay, small engine warehouse, he said these were supposed to be some package deal with a compressor. It has no name on the gun, but a tiny sitcker on the package says Devilbiss GT0602. Seller wasn't even sure if it was hvlp or not.

Well last week I saw this exact same gun and its hvlp with 1.4 tip at Lowes. Now with Ingersol Rand brand name on it for around $100. Thats 5 times what I paid for mine. At least I found out that it needs around 10cfm @ 42 psi. PSI seems high for this hvlp. Maybe because of the crappy nozzle tip design like you were mentioning? Almost thought of using it for base.

If i made a purchase mistake, not like I wasted much, but may save others losing $100 at Lowes. Should you avoid this gun?

 

The Harbor Freight 43430 "purple" gun that so many speak so highly of has that type of tip and it is an excellent gun for the price. The gun you have may be lacking in performance but the tip design itself does not seem to be the problem and it would seem that not all guns designed like this should be avoided.

 

pics of air cap

 

Well last week I saw this exact same gun and its hvlp with 1.4 tip at Lowes. Now with Ingersol Rand brand name on it for around $100.

Yeah, you got to watch that. This week I was looking for a cheap touchup gun, broke the trigger on the one I had. Went two local places including wally world and they didn't have any. At home depot they wanted 30 bucks for one. The one on display actually had cambpell hausefield instead of the husky name like the others that were the same gun. Drove across town to harbor frieght and pretty much the same gun was on sale for 10 bucks. The trigger also can be used on the CH gun I broke. The guy at harbor frieght kept trying to convince me to by an extended warrenty for another $10. I kept telling him no, that it was as much as I paid for the gun and my other one had lasted for many years till I carelessly broke the trigger. He goes what are you going to do if its not on sale next time. I says, wait till it does go on sale.

 

Red.... I'm with you. That cap looks like the one on my HF gun. The first one I got from them was junk. I sent it back and got it replaced. The replacement shoots great for the price. It's not an Iwata or Sata, but it didn't require me to take out a second mortgage on my house either.

Aaron

 

I use an Ampro at work to spray conversion varnish an wood every week. I have never been satisfied with the spray characteristics but it gets the job done. Its HVLP but uses 40 psi! What is the good cheap spray gun every one is talking about? The ampro cost about $100 :drunk:

 

Weird, The cheap gun that most speak so highly of is the Harbor Freight 43430 "purple" gun that is priced at $64.95 but is almost always on sale for $49.95 and right now it is only $39.95. It has that air cap design and these things do work really good, for the price anyway. It is a HVLP design that requires a lot of air but it does the job and as Adtkart pointed out it won't break the bank so at the price one can easily afford several for different jobs

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=43430

 

That harbor freight purple gun is identical to the ampro hvlp. and its half the price. I dont think I would paint my car with one but I am going to buy one for smaller projects.

 

Right, The 43430 purple gun from HF has this air cap and is a great gun for the $$ but like any,has to be in "normal" working order.Your also running 40-50# of air. Hehehe. HVLP, I think not.
The cheaper version is not HVLP but IMO is the same gun,just a different fluid nozzle/air cap but the kicker is,they won't interchange. I have a conventional knock off gun exactly like the Purple gun and the air cap will screw on but the nozzle is a different design/thread,so it won't fit. I've tried just the air cap and it just won't sparay right to save it's life so I just tossed it in the ,Maybe someday I'll fool with it pile.
MAIN reasom most of these no name guns won't spray right is that you don't have enough CFM to MAKE them work or they have some "issues" with their manufacture. They also just don't have the technology to give a good fan width like the good one's, These gun's IMO are NOT HVLP but rather RP as they ALL seem to require at least 40# to spray. True HVLP guns run around 30# or less. They for the most part are conventional guns with a gadget nozzle and air cap to give the required 10# at the cap for what that's worth.

 

Bee, I think you have it right, I was a bit disappointed with the 43430 at first until I jacked the pressure up to about 40# and after that it sprayed clear a lot better than my early model DeVillbiss Finishline. Before laying out $400.00 or so for a really good gun until I was sure about what I wanted, the 43430 served really well. Let's face it one can not realistically expect the performance of a professional gun for 50 bucks or less but even with my limited experience the 43430 produced good results.

 

You sure you have enough comressor with that MARK 1 Gun? I have the same gun labeled MARK1 with the same air cap and another identical to it with no name on it and they work flawlessly. I got the MARK 1 (1.4)from northern tool with a touchup gun and it was my base and clear gun for three years i painted at a Chevy dealership. I loved it. Now its been demoted to my prime gun after i bought a new 1.3 Sata RP. When i first bought the MARK 1 i tried painting with a small 3 hp compressor and it wouldnt ataomize but that is an HVLP thing.You need plenty of air! Now the MARK 1 has been a urethane prime gun at work for a few years and its pretty nasty so i bought an identical one at Big Lots for $28 to shoot my epoxy prime on my camaro project with.It doesnt atomize as well with a little compressor but at work its sprays beautiful. One of the best fan patterns i have ever seen.

 

Don't waist your money!

Like I said, you can't name something that I haven't tried! So don't waist your money on a gun with the air cap that is in the pictures I posted! Also, I have 3 sets of needles and matching air caps that I bought for this:
1.3mm, 1.5mm and a 1.7mm! If anyone wants them I will take $20.00 and you pay shipping!...

 

compressor

Trust me, it's not the compressor! I just dropped a $1000.00 on a new one! 80 gal. 5hp 17cfm @ 90 I have talked to several manufactures and also some local pros and that air cap will not atomize automotive paints correctly!!! At it's best there is still orange peel!

 

Camero, That compressor you have is certainly more than adequate for a HVLP gun so you don't have problems with air but I find it hard to believe that air cap pattern is a problem that should be avoided on any gun that has it since some do work well, most notably the HF "purple" gun. My 43430 ( I have two of them) that I used for clear atomizes just fine and will lay clear down a lot better than my old Finishline with less overspray. I am sure the problems you have are just as you describe them and from the sound of your new equipment they will be a thing of the past for you but most any cheap gun is going to be a crap shoot. I think it is going to be hard to convince the 43430 owners that their guns do not spray well, at least the ones with the air to power them.

 

Maybe you just got a bad one. I dont believe that 'all guns with that aircap should be avoided' just because your gun sucks. I have painted hundreds of jobs with mine and have no complaints.Actually bought another when the first one was retired.

 

Man.... DOn't tell 302/Z28 about that gun being bad. I think that is what he is using on his '34. He'll be real upset to find out that his gun really isn't working as good as it looks like.

 

Where do you set the fluid control? It will dump a ton of material if you have the fluid control wide open. I usually set mine to about half trigger. If your running it wide open that may be the problem. I dont care what gun your using if you have a lot of fluid with not enough air your going to have big spray droplets which will give you orange peel, a little fluid with a lot of air and it WILL atomize.Try backing down the fluid and upping the air pressure.

 

One of my disposable primer guns has that aircap design, it isn't a real good atomizer with a 2.0 fluid tip, but I wasn't expecting much. I can get it to lay primer just fine. A neighbor has a similar gun sold by Matco tools with a 1.4 tip that sprays surprisingly good, he needed a hand setting it up for a spray project last summer and after we dialed it in she sprayed just fine. Bob

 

RightALL seem to require at least 40# to spray. True HVLP guns run around 30# or less.QUOTE]

I am finding that 43psi with the trigger pulled is what gives me the best results with my HF 43430 gun. I have a green SataJet 90 that I have not used yet, may give it a try and see if it requires less psi to operate. Air volume is not an issue where I am painting, so I just set the pressure and the only time I stop is to refill the cup.

Vince

 

f body hit on something most painters don't realize shooting with HVLP guns that are used to conventional,which is, most painters I've talked with run their guns wide open on the fluid and paint like hell. Do that with a HVLP gun and IMO your going to have trouble. I run my fluid around 2 1/4- to almost 3 depending and I always do test sprays for a pattern check. Sometimes I'll even back it down to 1 1/2 if I'm using a small 4-5" pattern.
Your right Vince, 43 seems to be a good # for the purple gun and I run 48 to 50 for clear. Most of those guns have a color zone right on the regulator and it's 40-50 for their "green" zone. About that knock off conventional I mentioned earlier. The air cap I swapped on it was the multi holed one like we are talking about and it does actually make it spray better but without the correct nozzle it just dosen't get enough air to work like it should. When you look at the nozzle for that cap, it has a LOT more openings than the conv. nozzle and THAT is where the air for the cap comes thru anyway.

 

Nozzle study

Four of my guns. The two on the left both have H827 on the side and are non HVLP as far as I can determine. The one on the far left if a purple gun from HF. The one next to it is a red gun from The Tuul Shed and is the Zhipp brand name.

The third from the left is the W-400 clone

The far right is the SataJet 92 HVLP gun.

I have been using the red Zhipp gun for primer as I have a 1.8mm nozzle set in it. But notice the two different nozzle design among the two H827 guns.

The HF 43430 gun that I have been using is at the paint booth so I do not have a close up of it here.

I have not used the SataJet yet, as it is a loner and I was real comfortable with the 43430 HVLP gun. I have got to repair a flaw in the base coat of one of my running boards this afternoon and I am going to try the Sata and see how it does.

Vince

 

I thought I remembered the Satajet having that tip design from looking at one at a Friend's place and trying to describe the HF gun to him. If I am looking at that pic right the Satajet does have this design?

 

I thought I remembered the Satajet having that tip design from looking at one at a Friend's place and trying to describe the HF gun to him. If I am looking at that pic right the Satajet does have this design?

To be quite honest, I have not compared the HF 43430 nozzle design to the SataJet 92 that I have. The 43430 is not at home at the moment, it's still where the paint booth is. I will be going over there this afternoon and will compare them and maybe post a pic.

Vince

 

I was not really comparing the 43430 to the Satajet except for the air cap hole arrangement. The 43430 does have this "half moon" design and the statement was made that ALL guns with this design are flawed and should be avoided but if that is true it would be kind of hard to explain why some of these guns are so popular and well liked.

 

Red... I just checked my 43430 and it does have that arrangement of holes. Evidently it won't perform properly. There is a Viper Red S-10 owner that will really be unhappy to hear that. LOL

Aaron