In preparation for painting the body, and RE-painting the seat in black, I brought the floorboards into the paint booth to practice shooting black paint. The boards haven't had any particular surface preparation, other than being sanded and primed. They will be covered with a mat.
I recently spent $40 (ack!) for a 1.3mm tip and fluid needle set for my "best" HVLP gun. This is the smallest set I can get for the gun. I wanted to try the big gun first. The boards were turned upside down and I sprayed away.
Right away I noted the orange peel that had plagued me through my last project. In addition, even though the air runs through a (cheap) filter, I got specks of contamination in the paint. I did not have one of those round black disposable filters on the gun (as shown above). Fine for the bottoms of the floorboards, but not what I want for the seat and body!
I've been having quite good - but not consistent enough - results with the little Badger gun. What I did different today, however, was to put a PSI gauge on the gun. (I need to reverse the filter and gauge). I was SHOCKED to discover I had a MASSIVE pressure drop between the compressor and the gun! The gun wants to work at 30 psi. The gauge showed that there was a full 10 pound pressure drop between the compressor and gun! I ended up bumping the pressure at the tank to 50 psi, and regulating it down to 30 at the gun. The results were ABSOLUTELY impressive! The gun laid down a beautiful, finely atomized and easily controlled film of paint on the tops of the floorboards.
By all means, if you are going to spray paint your carriage, PUT A PSI GAUGE ON THE GUN!
The bottom needle is from the little Badger detail gun. It is the "medium" needle of the fine, medium and coarse tips that were offered for the gun (which is no longer made - DeVilbiss offers an exact copy). I know that successful spray painting is the sum of a thousand tweaks, but I'm pretty sure that the fineness of the needle and tip on the detail gun are largely responsible for the fine atomization and resulting nice paint job that I haven't been able to obtain with the HVLP guns.
Obviously the tiny gun is not suitable for big jobs, but for everything on this little buggy, it seems like the perfect choice. And now, I am hoping that I have worked out the final detail of getting a great finish on the seat and body!
As a final note, remember that I am spraying old fashioned enamels. Results may be entirely different with modern catalyzed paints and clear coats!! This is what is working for me!
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