Would like to know what guns are appropriate for gelcoat application, would also like a gun that could do double duty as auto clearcoat and maybe paint aswell along with the gelcoat spraying. Is it a HVLP gun that is used for gel? I would assume not since you need a high pressure correct?
You can quite easily put on gel-coat with a paint brush, for hand laminating, and there is no real need for spray application.
However you can easily spray using a cheap Chinese HVLP gun, but you would need a 2.5mm fluid tip, air cap, and needle set up.
Only problem with using a spray gun is that if you dont clean out out the gel-coat pretty soon after use, and it hardens the gun will be scrap!
Finally I would say if you want to spray gel-coat, you would do better getting a cup gun, and an HVLP gun for spraying paint.
hardened gelcoat inside an hvlp gun can be removed with a thorough soaking in paint stripper.
yeah I clean my guns out asap and still youll find that tiny bits clog up air passages and that makes for unpredictable spray patterns.
I use paint stipper to clean out tips and nozzles.
But you will see that alot of guns get ruined regardless. Ive gone thru 3 of them just from stuff starting to wear out and or get ruined with the acetone cleaners or paintstrippers.
Guns that leak air are not a safe bet for doing much of anything.
Seals on paint spray guns are not designed to withstand acetone and paint stripper, so I would think a proper cup gun intended for gel-coat might be a far better option?
sold my cup gun…I didnt like that it would drip if you didnt pay attention to how you had it pointed and I didnt like how it sprayed.
I like the setup I have now…it works
what do you have now?
how does one determine the amount of air flow that is required and the pressure required to spray? I would imagine that it depends on what you are spraying (viscosity etc). I have access to a smallish compressor unit with a tank(1-2gallon) maybe 80psi max, I’m not sure of the flow though.
That compressor doesnt have much hope of running either a cup gun or an HVLP gun with a 2.mm setup.
If you intend to produce motorcycle fairings, then I would say one carefully brushed coat of gel-coat is all you are going to need, as most fairings are going to be painted anyway, so you really dont need to bother with spray equipment.
I use a hvlp gun with a 2mm tip.
youll need at least 6cfm at 90 psi…I dunno I have two 80 gallon compressors hooked up in sync so I can paint and run a da sander at the same time if I want to.
that two gallon wont do shit for you…
youre probably gonna want to do like classic said…until you can afford the monster compressor.
I actually own a motorcycle shop so Im set up a bit differently.
Mininimum compressor for spraying gel-coat is going to be something like a 50ltr tank, with a 3hp motor. It would be possible to spray very small parts with something not quite to this spec, but performance wouldnt be good.
Thanks guys.